Wheldon tops Indy 500 practice 1

Wheldon, who has led nearly 70 percent of the laps in the first four IndyCar Series races this season, clocked a lap at 39.9868 seconds at 225.074 mph around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda/Dallara.

He was just slightly faster than Helio Castroneves, whose best lap was 40.0007 seconds (224.996 mph) in the No. 3 Team Penske Honda/Dallara.

At the end of the day, Wheldon indicated the pole is within his reach but not his ultimate priority.

"Do I think we have a good chance at the pole? Yeah, I do," Wheldon said. "Do I think we're going to have a good go at it on Saturday? Yeah.
 
"But we're not going to do anything that would be detrimental to our race preparation. That's something I want to be adamant about with the team."

Others showing early speed in the first day of preparation for Saturday's pole qualifying included Tomas Scheckter, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon and Danica Patrick.

Kanaan shook down three of the five Andretti Green Racing cars, getting a solid baseline setup for Patrick and Marco Andretti before turning the fourth fastest lap of the day in his No. 11 AGR Honda/Dallara.

Ryan Briscoe had the seventh fastest lap of the day, followed by Sam Hornish Jr, Dario Franchitti and Kanaan in Marco Andretti's car.

Wheldon said he was nowhere near being fully trimmed out for qualifying, indicating that pole speed might top 230 mph Saturday.

"If we were fully trimmed out on the first day, Chip would kill me," said Wheldon, who won the race in 2005. "I don't think anybody is anywhere near being fully trimmed.

"What's positive is that the car seems to be very quick at a comfortable level of downforce. It's still turning good lap times, and that's what you need to win races around here."

Only one incident interrupted Tuesday's session: Jon Herb spun and hit the wall in his back-up car. He was treated and released from the infield medical center.

"It felt real good down on the bottom, and I guess that's when Ineeded to pay attention because the next thing I knew, I was sideways," Herb said.

"It's unfortunate, but fortunately we have another car, so we'll be all right."

Practice continues tomorrow at Indianapolis.

Tuesday practice speeds:

Pos  Driver              Speed
 1.  Dan Wheldon         225.074
 2.  Helio Castroneves   224.996
 3.  Tomas Scheckter     224.783
 4.  Tony Kanaan         224.622
 5.  Scott Dixon         224.564
 6.  Danica Patrick      224.457
 7.  Ryan Briscoe        223.676
 8.  Sam Hornish Jr      223.670
 9.  Dario Franchitti    223.591
10.  Marco Andretti      223.239
11.  Vitor Meira         223.022
12.  Michael Andretti    222.646
13.  Buddy Rice          222.525
14.  AJ Foyt IV          221.922
15.  Ed Carpenter        221.701
16.  Scott Sharp         221.131
17.  Sarah Fisher        220.143
18.  Milka Duno          219.830
19.  Davey Hamilton      219.180
20.  Jeff Simmons        219.074
21.  Buddy Lazier        218.808
22.  Kosuke Matsuura     218.398
23.  Jon Herb            218.384
24.  Marty Roth          216.951
25.  Al Unser Jr         206.930