Catchfence

Top-5 practice speeds (mph): 1. Scott Dixon (225.474); 2. Alex Tagliani (224.739); 3. Dario Franchitti (224.658); 4. Vitor Meira (224.480); 5. Dan Wheldon (224.439).

Carburetion Day practice temperatures: Track ranged from 58°-59° F (14°-15° C) and ambient was a constant 69° F (21° C).

Firestone Carburetion Day highlights: More than 1,400 laps were turned in a busy final practice session before Sunday’s centennial anniversary running of the Indy 500. That brings the total laps turned this month to 10,265 or 25,662.5 miles – all, of course, on Firestone tires. Firestone returned to Indy in 2011 with the identical tire specification as run here and widely praised by drivers last year. Response has been overwhelmingly positive again this May, and today’s long runs solidified teams’ confidence in their Firehawks for race day.

From Scott Dixon, #9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The Firestone tires were good today. We did two full stints on two sets of tires. The wear was great and obviously they were very consistent. It was nice.”

From Al Speyer, Executive Director, Firestone Racing: “It was good to see so many teams take advantage of today’s practice session to run full stints after we’ve been so limited on track time these past couple weeks with the rainy weather. We were confident that the Firestone Firehawks would once again provide great durability and consistency throughout the stints, but it’s always good to see it validated on track. Now we can all focus on Sunday’s highly anticipated race. Conditions are expected to be vastly different then, and the teams and drivers that make the proper adjustments will be those who prevail. As usual, we’ll also see the unexpected here. But, after today, we’re more confident than ever that the Firestone tires will once again perform reliably and consistently, and help make the 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500 a race for the ages.”

- Firestone Racing, Press Release