With qualifying in the books, we now look forward to the race.
Ryan Briscoe (top) won the pole, followed by his teammate Will Power and fellow Chevrolet driver Ryan Hunter-Reay. They will start 11th, 12th and 13th respectively due to their engine changes. Fourth-fastest Dario Franchitti will lead the field to the green flag in position one. Josef Newgarden will be second on the grid after qualifying 7th due to the the Chevy's of EJ Viso (5th) and James Hinchcliffe (6th) being penalized 10 spots for their engine changes. On the grid, the top nine will be Honda powered cars and the Lotus of Alex Tagliani will start 10th. Tagliani is the biggest, positive mover in the field, moving up eleven positions from 21th to 10th. The slowest Honda was James Jakes as he will start 14th, behind the three fastest cars from qualifying.
A complete, final grid can be found here.
This should prove to be a very interesting race, especially after the Barber round of the championship. With all the Chevrolets starting no better than 11th, it will surely be fun to see if these teams can make their way to the front of the field. This car stunned the paddock with all the passing at Barber, and many hope for the same later this afternoon. The top 12 from qualifying was split 6 Chevys and 6 Hondas but only the Honda of Franchitti made it to the Firestone Fast 6. The Chevrolets appear to have a slight upper hand but if passing proves to be difficult, Honda maybe set to pick up it's first victory of the 2012 season. Weather forecast call for a clear day with a 0% chance of precipitation. Coverage of the race starts at 3:00pm EST with IndyCar 36 as this episode follows Graham Rahal's weekend at Barber. Pre-race show begins at 3:30pm with green flag being a little after 4:00pm.
