Castroneves

INDIANAPOLIS -- Pit crews had a chance to show off their talents on Thursday afternoon, but once again, it was Spiderman who stole the show.

Team Penske had two of the fastest teams, and when Helio Castroneves' crew beat Target/Chip Ganassi's Jeff Ward to clinch the Coors Pit Stop Competition, Castroneves jumped the inner fence, delighting the crowd and his team.

"That's a warmup," said Castroneves, similar to his high-flying climb after winning last year's 500. "I went on the inside fence because that's where the pit stop is.

"The Indy 500 is the best race in the world, but for those guys here, winning Indy is good too, but for these guys here to win this, it's tops. They're the ones doing everything; I'm just pushing the brakes and leaving the pits. They have to put up with all the action and excitement, and this crew is fantastic."

His team made it clear that it hopes to take the defending champion to the outer fence again this Sunday. All three of Castroneves' pit stops came under nine seconds, the only team to break that barrier.

The win was Roger Penske' seventh in the competition, and his first since 1988. And it was clear that he has crews in place that could be the difference in one of the most competitive 500s in years.

	Castroneves and Co. cruised to another win at Indy Motor Speedway on Thursday.

"The Penske guys are real quick," said Ward. "If you are racing them out of the pits, you better be good on your own because they are real fast in the pits."

Castronoves' toughest competition? Team Penske's Gil de Ferran. The IRL teammates met in the semifinals, which Helio's crew won by more than a second. De Ferran is often called the "straight man" on the Penske team, and Castroneves plans to share a few words with his teammates.

"I will tease Gil a bit," he chuckled.

"There's always a little bit of competition," added John Piccittoni, the team's left front tire changer.

But all in all, it is about fielding the best team for Team Penske.

"Roger gives us all the tools and it's our job to execute," said Penske president Tim Cindric.

"There's no trash talking," said chief mechanic Rick Rinamin. "They (de Ferran's crew) did some great stuff. We knew we were into a fight. We all know each other. We're all friends. Everyone here is one big family."

Bobby Unser in 1981 and Danny Sullivan in '85 took Penske to the Winner's Circle in the Pit Stop Competition as well as in the Memorial Day weekend classic race.

Ward, who beat out garage mate Bruno Junqueira in the first round, saw his team complete four rounds all under 10 seconds. He's confident that will give his No. 9 car an edge this Sunday.

"We were 9.5 on all of our pit stops," said Ward, who will start on the outside of Row 5. "That's consistent. It was nice to see how quick they are."

Beer wars
Did the sponsors give Buddy Lazier a little advantage? Lazier's Coors Light team appeared to have lost to Kenny Brack in the first round, but a ruling by the Coors Light committee penalized Brack's team five seconds for a loose left rear wheel lock, thus giving Brack the win. There was no help for Lazier in the second round when he lost to Castroneves.

Meanwhile, Miller Lite's Jimmy Vasser had his shot at winning the beverage war end when his team lost to Ward in the semifinals.

Final practice
The track was open for two hours for the final practice before the competition, and all 33 drivers took part. The fastest lap was posted by Tony Kanaan, who reached 225.752 mph.

Under sunny skies, the two-hour practice had two yellows.

Rick Treadway had his car stall in pit lane, but he was able to return to the track shortly afterward.

Two-time champion Arie Luyendyk had a gearbox problem that he says could have ended his day if it was race day.

The most laps were run by Mark Dismore, who is still trying to catch up after missing a lot of practice time after getting a concussion during the first week of practice. Dismore completed 47 laps as he continues to try to get comfortable in his No. 99 car.

"At this point, being an exact science kind of goes out the window because we're just out of time," said Dismore. "We're just going to have to do the best we can. When we had our accident a couple of weeks ago, that kind of just changed everything. All the plans went out the window."

Overall, most drivers were pleased with their final day.

"I'm really pleased with the car," said Scott Sharp. "It's real easy to drive, comfortable. We're ready to go."

"I am pretty happy with the final run in the car," said Vasser. "The Miller Lite car felt really good, and we made it through the practice without any surprises. I have said all month that I thought we had a pretty good car for the race. Today bore that out to us as running in race setup we were seventh fastest."

45 and counting
Sunday's race will mark the 45th straight for team owner A.J. Foyt.

His first race came in 1958 and he then raced in 35 straight races. He's been back as a team owner for the last 10 years.

The 45 straight races is an Indy record, one that likely will go unbroken -- except by Foyt, who has no intention of slowing down.

His records, however, aren't just based on longevity. He's one of three four-time winners, along with Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears.

He also won the 1999 race with Kenny Brack as the driver, and the crew chief for Greg Ray believes the stars may be aligned right for another Foyt victory.

''The first 'Star Wars' movie came out in 1977, the year A.J. won his fourth,'' Bill Spencer said. ''And 'Star Wars Episode I' was released in 1999 when Kenny Brack won. I think we may have something going here.''

Just checking
When defending champion Helio Castroneves went to the garage area just seven minutes into the final practice session Thursday, some figured there was a problem.

Roger Penske's team just wanted to make sure that nothing was wrong.

''It's a new engine, so we want to make sure it's working fine,'' Castroneves said. ''The car is idling, so we wanted to work on it.''

Castroneves ran 17 laps and was the day's ninth-fastest at 224.191.

Pit stops