Standard Practice Goes Out at Indianapolis

What you see in the starting lineup for today’s Allstate 400 (formerly the Brickyard 400) is what you’ll get for much of the race, some top drivers say. That’s not always the case with NASCAR Nextel Cup Series qualifying.

Teams often use radical setups for qualifying and then go to more conservative combinations for race conditions, so that qualifying spots hardly matter.

But Saturday afternoon’s qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was much more of an indicator of the race itself, drivers said, because no practice or adjustments to the cars were allowed afterward.

So they all had to qualify on race setups, to get a precise feel for the 400 itself.

That made for a clearer snapshot of what today’s 12th running of NASCAR’s second most prestigious race, behind only the Daytona 500, should be like.

“We definitely have the car to beat, I think,” said Elliott Sadler, who won the pole in a Ford at 184.116 mph. “Everybody that we need to race for the win tomorrow was definitely in race trim.”

Jeremy Mayfield will start second in a Dodge after a lap at 183.053, followed by Michael Waltrip in a Chevrolet at 182.975 and Kasey Kahne in a Dodge at 182.837.

“When you can qualify like that with your race package,” said Mayfield, “which is what everybody pretty much did, it gives you a lot of confidence that you have a great car for the race.”

Initially, two full practice sessions were scheduled after the qualifying round, originally slated for Saturday morning. But a rainout of Friday’s practice forced rearrangement so that there was practice Saturday morning only, and the cars were impounded after qualifying.

Some other tracks had already obeyed NASCAR’s requests for an “impound” system this year, and most teams have liked it because it eliminates special qualifying efforts. They’re considered a waste of time and money for special parts.

But Indy officials, because of the importance of the $9-million event here, had decided to go with “happy hour” final practice before the rain made things turn out for the best after all.

“It worked out good for everybody,” Mayfield said.

“Impounds are cool,” said Waltrip, seeking to add a trophy from the 400 to his two from the Daytona 500 before he leaves the Dale Earnhardt Inc. team at the end of this season.

“They came along 20 years too late, though. Maybe I could have won a few more races if they’d done them a little sooner.”

Waltrip’s DEI teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., still may have to make a lot of adjustments to his car during pit stops in the race. Earnhardt qualified 27th at only 180.755.

Jeff Gordon, seeking to become the first five-race winner at Indy, qualified seventh, at 182.466 in a Chevrolet.

But mid-race adjustments have become routine for the man who won the inaugural 400 NASCAR race in 1994 and got his fourth victory at the Brickyard last year. Gordon, born in Vallejo, Calif., is a local crowd favorite at Indy because he lived in nearby Pittsboro, Ind., as a teenager while coming up through the ranks of racing.

The really thoroughbred favorite son, Tony Stewart of Columbus, Ind., qualified 22nd.

Stewart, the most ardent and vocal lover of the Brickyard among drivers, has never won here in 11 tries -- five in the Indianapolis 500 and six in the 400.

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Ed Hinton is a sportswriter for the Orlando Sentinel, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.