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Tony Kanaan
Kanaan Pushes Foyt's Car to Top of Speed Charts in Final Indianapolis 500 Practice

Tony Kanaan set the stage for a fascinating 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil by driving a car owned by four-time “500” winner A.J. Foyt to the top of the speed chart during the final practice Friday.

2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Kanaan was fastest at 227.791 mph in the No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet during the final, one-hour practice on Miller Lite Carb Day. 2008 “500” winner Scott Dixon was second at 225.684 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

The 102nd Running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is scheduled for noon (ET) Sunday, with temperatures forecasted to reach 90 degrees. Conditions were similar Friday on the 2.5-mile oval, with sunshine and temperatures in the mid-80s.

“I think this is the closest that we're going to get as far as weather for Sunday, so we tried to optimize that and run in the heat conditions and see what are we going to do,” Kanaan said. “But really, if you haven't figured it out by today, you're in trouble. So we just really went through some exercise, gave the boys some pit stops, refueling, trying to gauge your fuel mileage and so on.”

Kanaan will start 10th Sunday in his 17th Indianapolis 500 but his first for Foyt. While Kanaan has seen nearly everything the “500” can offer, he is savoring the unique experience of driving for the legendary “Super Tex.”

“I walked into the garage this morning, and I thought it was the grandstand because we had 400 people in there, and everybody is eating ice cream and hot dogs, and that's AJ,” Kanaan said. “Everybody is an A.J. fan here. Anybody that approached me that wanted a picture said, ‘Hey, I'm A.J.'s friend; hey, I'm A.J.'s friend. I said, ‘A.J., you have a lot of friends here.’ It's completely different, and it's fun. It's busy at times, but I'm having a blast.”

Marco Andretti was third fastest today at 225.220 in the No. 98 U.S. Concrete Curb Honda, with Sebastien Bourdais fourth at 224.815 in the No. 18 Team SealMaster Honda.

Charlie Kimball rounded out the top five at 224.712 in the No. 23 Fiasp Chevrolet.

Pole sitter Ed Carpenter was 14th fastest in the final practice at 223.219 mph in the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet.

Danica Patrick, making the last start of her ground-breaking career, was eighth at 223.653 despite missing more than half of the practice with an electrical problem in the No. 13 GoDaddy Chevrolet. She turned only 15 laps, the fewest of the 33 drivers on track.

“At the end of the day, I’m actually glad for it, because had it been Sunday, we’d be done,” Patrick said. “I actually never mind getting bad luck and issues out of the way early on.”

Visit IMS.com to buy tickets or for more information on the Race Day schedule for the 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil.

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