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photo: Shawn Payne

Conditions are currently notlooking good.  The IndyCar Series was able to fit qualifying.  Kansas is currently being pounded by rain and heavy winds.  The truck race has been canceled until Monday morning at 10 a.m.  I as well as everyone else hopes that the weather will clear over night so the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights can run tomorrow. 

The big story of the day has to be Newman Haas Lanigan Racing taking the front row.  Graham Rahal had the fastest qualifying speed at 211.311.  Doornbos had the 4th fastest but was bumped up to row 1 after Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves qualifying times were disqualified due to them dipping below the white line.  Danica who was 5th fastest at 210.470 will now start in P3. 

Wade Cunningham will start on pole tomorrow for the Firestone Indy Lights.  He had a best speed of 187.458.  Roudning out the top 5 are Sebastian Saavedra, Ana Beatriz, J.R. Hildebrand, and Pippa Mann.  Junior Strous who is the current points leader will start P17.

You an watch the IndyCar Series in the Kansas Speedway Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 tomorrow at 4 p.m. on VERSUS and VERSUS HD

photo: Dan Helrigel

The Firestone Indy Lights double header and IndyCar Series opener were less than uneventful this weekend in St. Petersburg.  With the exception of Friday morning the weather was stellar and the race conditions were optimal.  Versus did a great job of showcasing downtown St. Petersburg during the race coverage and showing off the location of the course.  They really sold the town to the viewers.

The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was full of surprises.  Graham Rahal, who seemed to be one of the favorites amongst the locals won the pole.  Unfortunately when the IndyCar Series took the green flag Sunday afternoon, Rahal was involved in a turn one incident as the field of cars, 3 and 4 wide in some places, had to bottle neck to make it from the runway onto the city streets.  That incident ended the day for rookie Mike Conway of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.  That is a tough start to the 09 season with Dad’s Root Beer on board as a sponsor.

Danica and Raphael Matos got into each other headed into turn 12 on lap 31.  Everyone in the stands waited for the drama to unfold.  A what appeared to be calm and collective Danica Patrick emerged from the car.  As Matos and Danica waited for the safety vehicle to give them a ride back to pit lane.  They CALMLY voiced their point of views of what had just taken place.  The fans were waiting to see Danica catch a tantrum or throw a fit, but to everyones surprise it was just the opposite.  

One of the big stories of the race had to have been Ryan Hunter-Reay.  Here we have a driver who lost his ride last season and was out of the seat up until about a week ago.  He recorded Vision Racing’s best finish ever finishing 2nd.  That is great for someone who had to jump in and set up a street course car in 3 days.  I am for one anxious to see how he does at Vision this season.  

Who is Junior Strous?  That’s what everyone was asking over the course of the weekend.  That was of course until he won both races of the Firestone Indy Lights double-header.  Strous is a rookie from the Netherlands that used to run in the Champ car Atlantic Series.  He ran a strong and consistant two races.  He is proved that himself along with The Winners Circle Group should be a force to be reckoned with on the road and street courses.  I would not count him out on the ovals either.  Strous was 6th fastest at the Homestead-Miami open test in February.  I am excited to see how this Firestone Indy Lights rookie does this season.

You can watch the Firestone Indy Lights highlights tonight on Versus at  6p.m. and a re-air of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg at 10 p.m.

Graham Rahal, while doing Versus promotions, took some time out to answer some questions on how he felt going into the first race of the season.  Graham is very optimistic and feels good going into St. Petersburg.  I don’t see why he wouldn’t be being that he won there last year in his IndyCar Series debut.  Let’s not forget that he ran really well at the off-season testing at Barber Motorsports Park.  

Graham also answered questions for fellow open wheel bloggers: Pressdog, is it May yet?, 16th and Georgetown

The IndyCar garages are beginning to come to life with the ballet of hauler parking as well as the unloading of cars and equipment.  The majority of the teams are still missing most of their crew and they are expected to be coming into south Florida late this evening.   The only crew that appears to be fully staffed at the moment is Target Chip Ganassi Racing. They are already hard at work at setting up the #9 of Scott Dixon and #10 of Dario Franchitti.  Robert Doornbos is already making his presence known in the garage area even though he is not present himself. (picture above)  Most of the garage and pit stall areas are already set up with equiptment.  Newman Haas Lanigan Racing has brought three haulers.  The 06 McDonalds sponsored car of Graham Rahal is already unloaded and in its designated garage space.  Members of N/H/L have confirmed to me that Milka Duno will be driving at the IndyCar open test scheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday evening. Vision Racing was seen hard at work on a car with Versus logos on it. This car has no number so I don’t see Vs. network being a potential car sponsor. As diligently as the crew was working on it, you would think that it was being prepped for testing. 

With a win from both of their drivers (Graham Rahal and Justin Wilson) It would seem that Newman Haas Lanigan Racing has stepped up to the plate and proved that they are a real contender in the IndyCar Series.  Given thorough offseason testing, these two drivers should start the 2009 season off strong.  Graham came into the series and won at St. Petersburg in his IndyCar Series debut.  He made quite a few rookie mistakes this season but quickly used them as a learning experience.  He has one win and two top ten finishes.   Justin has been consistent all season and it payed off on the last road/street course of the season at Belle Isle where he recorded his first IndyCar Series win.  Justin Wilson has one win, one top five, and five top ten finishes this season.