Rainy weather slows Indy 500 preparations

INDIANAPOLIS -- The same theme kept coming up all through practice for the Indianapolis 500: Don't do anything stupid.

"I was probably a little too cautious, but I'd rather be safe than sorry on this," Donnie Beechler said Friday.

With temperatures hovering in the low 50s and brisk winds sweeping across the 2 1/2-mile oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it was not a great day to build speed for Sunday's final round of qualifying for the race May 26.

A cold drizzle in mid-afternoon shut down the track with about two hours to go, and deteriorating conditions caused officials to finally end the session 35 minutes early. That left several teams and drivers frustrated and added considerable urgency to Saturday's final full day of practice.

"It's hard to not try to get up to speed when we're running out of time, but at the same time the car uses up more road because there's not a lot of grip," Alex Barron said.

Twenty-four drivers qualified last Saturday, the first of three scheduled days of time trials. The second round of qualifying was rained out Sunday, making it even tougher on the drivers who hadn't already gotten into what will be a 33-car lineup.

Robbie Buhl, second-fastest of those already qualified, led everyone on Friday with a lap of 228.077 mph as only 29 cars and 26 drivers took to the track for a total of 649 laps.

The fastest of the non-qualified drivers were right behind, with Airton Dare at 227.435 and Indy rookie Barron at 226.195.

"You learn a lot of things, but it's not solid stuff," Barron said. "You don't know exactly where you're at for Sunday."

Bruno Junqueira is the fastest of last Saturday's qualifiers, winning the pole with a four-lap average of 231.342. Billy Boat, who has been on the bubble as the slowest qualifier the last two years, was again slowest and in the most peril of being bumped at 226.589.

Among the other non-qualified drivers on the track Friday, the next fastest were Shigeaki Hattori at 226.000, two-time race winner Arie Luyendyk at 225.826 in his primary car and 225.737 in his backup.

Jimmy Kite, a three-time Indy starter from Park Hills, Mo., stepped into the Sam Schmidt Motorsports/PDM Racing entry previously driven by rookie Anthony Lazzaro and got up to 225.193 in just 26 laps.

"I know these guys," Kite said of his new team. "I know they put a pretty safe race car out there. I had the confidence to go out and get up to speed pretty quickly. I think the car's got a 227 in it."

THE WINSTON: Matt Kenseth got a lot of help from his crew to continue his strong start to the season, earning the pole for NASCAR's all-star race in record fashion at Lowe's Motor Speedway at Concord, N.C.

Kenseth, the second-to-last car to attempt to qualify, capitalized on the fastest pit stop of the night to earn the front spot for The Winston and set an event record with his average speed of 143.442 mph.

Cars started their qualifying effort with a four-tire pit stop before running three laps. The combined time it takes to do it all counts as the qualifying effort.

Kenseth's Roush Racing crew, which won the annual pit crew challenge last season, changed all four tires on his Ford in 13.23 seconds then pushed him out for his run. He completed everything in 112.938 seconds.

RICHMOND TESTING: NASCAR is sending Tony Stewart and Rusty Wallace to Richmond International Raceway next week to figure out what, if anything, is wrong with the track.

Drivers vehemently complained about the track following the race there two weeks ago, claiming the new sealer officials put down ruined the surface.

-- From wire reports