NASCAR star Gordon tops practice

Because of his Winston Cup commitments has spent just two days on his qualifying setup for the Indianapolis 500. In the final minutes before Saturday's pole qualifying, he was the fastest of them all.

Gordon turned three laps above 231mph during Friday evening, topping out at 231.362 mph and making himself one of many favorites to win the pole position when qualifying begins Saturday.

"If you see a 232 lap, I won't be on the pole," Gordon said.""We're shooting at 230.9 to 231.2, right in there. There are a lot of variables heading into this. Wind, gears, barometric pressure, humidity, wing angle. This is going to be complicated."

Scott Sharp had just knocked Scott Dixon off the top spot with a 230.829 mph lap when Gordon put together his effort with 25 left in the session. The fastest lap came with a distant tow, but Gordon was alone when he recorded the other two laps. "This gives us a lot of confidence overnight," Gordon said. "I'm sure I can run four laps flat tomorrow."

Other strong laps were turned in by Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Tomas Scheckter, who each topped 230 mph in the heat without a tow. Brit Dan Wheldon also continued to show speed, as did Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran.