Cal Crutchlow will start fourth. The British rider is looking for his first career MotoGP win but his track record at Indianapolis has been nothing to write home about. An eleventh in 2011 and a retirement following an accident last year after only nine laps. Álvaro Bautista starts fifth for Gresini Honda. He is coming off his season best finish of fourth at Laguna Seca a month ago and finished third in the 250cc race at Indianapolis in 2009. Nicky Hayden starts sixth in what will be his final race for Ducati at Indianapolis. The American is looking for his first win since the 2006 United States Grand Prix and first podium since the 2011 Spanish Grand Prix. Hayden has two podiums at Indianapolis but the last two years have not gone as planned, a fourteenth place finish, two laps down in 2011 and a did not start in 2012 after being sidelined with an injury. Hayden's best finish in 2013 is a fifth at France.
Bradley Smith starts seventh ahead of the German of Stefan Brandl. Brandl scored his first career pole and first career podium at Laguna Seca. Valentino Rossi will start ninth, his worst starting position of the season. Andrea Dovizioso rounds out the top ten ahead of fellow Ducati rider and Italian Andrea Iannone with American Colin Edwards starting twelfth, the top CRT bike.
Aleix Espargaró starts thirteenth ahead of Danilo Petrucci and Randy de Puniet. Claudio Corti, Héctor Barberá and Michael Laverty will start on row six. Hiroshi Aoyama starts nineteen ahead of Bryan Staring and Yonny Hernández. Czech riders Lukáš Pešek and Karel Abraham start twenty-second and twenty-third with American Blake Young rounding out the field. American Ben Spies suffered a dislocated collarbone in Saturday practice and will miss his eighth consecutive round.
Moto3 and Moto2 races can be seen live at 11:00 a.m. ET and noon ET respectively on Fox Sports 1, leading into the Indianapolis Grand Prix at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Allmendinger Wins at Mid-Ohio
Second Nationwide Series start of 2013, second Nationwide Series win of the year for AJ Allmendinger as he took the victory in the inaugural NASCAR race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Allmendinger held off pole sitter Michael McDowell and his Penske teammate Sam Hornish, Jr. Allmendinger led seventy-three laps on his way to victory.
Max Papis finished fourth, his fourth career top five in Nationwide Series competition. Brian Vickers rounded out the top five ahead of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Elliott Sadler. Marcos Ambrose finished seventh after having to start at the rear of the field due to Ryan Truex qualifying his car. Justin Allgaier, Trevor Bayne and Jeremy Clements round out the top ten. It was Clements first career top ten finish on a road course.
Championship contenders Regan Smith and Austin Dillon both had disappointing days finishing fifteenth and twenty-first respectively. Other notable finishers include Kyle Larson fourteenth, Owen Kelly twenty-third, Ron Fellows twenty-fifth, Nelson Piquet, Jr. twenty-seventh and Travis Pastrana thirty-first.
Sam Hornish, Jr. takes a thirteen point lead into Bristol Motor Speedway. Elliott Sadler is now second in the standings with Regan Smith and Austin Dillon tied for third, fifteen behind Hornish. Smith holds the tiebreaker over Dillon with two wins to none. Brian Vickers is fifth in points, eighteen back. Justin Allgaier is sixth in points forty-seven back. Brian Scott is seventh with Trevor Bayne in eighth, one point ahead of top rookie Kyle Larson. Parker Kligerman rounds out the top ten.
