David Stremme led the Indiana natives in Friday's practice sessions. Credit: Autostock

Stremme right at home with fast practice at Indy

Indiana native leads list of high-profile Hoosiers at Brickyard

SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- Quick, name the driver with Indiana racing roots who posted the fastest speed in Friday's first practice session for Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

Reed Sorenson crashed his car with five minutes left in practice and was forced to a backup. Credit: AP

Allstate 400 1st Practice Speeds Pos. Driver Speed Time 1. Schrader 180.321 49.911 2. R. Gordon 180.029 49.992 3. Bowyer 179.279 50.201 4. Hamlin 178.806 50.334 5. Mears 178.628 50.384 6. Earnhardt 178.614 50.388 7. Stremme 178.204 50.504 8. Wimmer 178.186 50.509 9. Harvick 178.137 50.523 10. Menard 177.855 50.603 • Complete 1st speeds, click here 2nd Practice Speeds Pos. Driver Speed Time 1. Ku. Busch 182.039 49.440 2. Kahne 181.995 49.452 3. R. Gordon 181.181 49.674 4. Riggs 181.097 49.697 5. Schrader 180.908 49.749 6. Bowyer 180.690 49.809 7. Johnson 180.296 49.918 8. Sorenson 180.256 49.929 9. Burton 180.238 49.934 10. Hamlin 180.234 49.935 • Complete 2nd speeds, click here NASCAR MinuteDrivers talk about how much an Indy win means to them FedEx PreviewNBC/TNT's Marty Snider previews the action at Indy Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Four-time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon? Nope. The former Pittsboro resident was 37th in the first of two one-hour practices and 24th in the other.

Defending race winner Tony Stewart? Try again. The native of Columbus barely cracked the top 30.

Ryan Newman, the Purdue engineering grad who has five consecutive top-10 starts here? Well, he was much faster later in the day but only 29th in the opening hour.

It was another South Bend native -- David Stremme -- needing to qualify on time to make the race, who was seventh-fastest on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a best lap of 178.204 mph in his No. 40 Dodge.

Stremme then backed up his earlier time with a solid 15th-place run in Friday's second session, easily the fastest of the cars not locked into the top 35 in owner's points.

"It's a brand-new car that we tested here," Stremme said. "I was taking it easy because we have to qualify it in."

Stremme's biggest concern was drawing a late number for Saturday's Bud Pole qualifying: He'll go out 37th in the field of 50.

"I don't know if we've got a shot at the pole, but I feel it's a good top-15 car," he said. "We figure that doing that [Friday during similar weather conditions that are expected Saturday] will be how we end up."

Stremme might have grown up a couple of hours from the speedway, but he doesn't have the same connection to the place that Gordon and Stewart have. While those drivers gravitated toward Midgets and Sprints, Stremme came up through street stocks and Late Model Stock Cars.

Still, Stremme can't help but be impressed with the place they call the Brickyard.

"I never ran an open-wheel car," Stremme said. "But there's a lot of history coming to Indy. It's a prestige race.

"It's amazing, the fans around the garage area and the facility here. It would mean a lot to win here."

Stremme's teammate, Reed Sorenson, was forced to pull out the backup car after a hard crash with just five minutes remaining in the second practice. Already eighth-fastest in the session, Sorenson lost control of the No. 41 Dodge exiting Turn 1, spun hard into the outside SAFER barrier and came to rest in the south shortchute.

The car suffered heavy damage to the trunk area, while Sorenson -- who climbed from the car under his own power -- was transported to the infield care center to be checked out and released.

The two fastest drivers in the first practice session may not be Hoosier natives, but they were certainly happy to be back home again in Indiana. Ken Schrader, who crashed while taking his Indianapolis 500 rookie test in 1983, led the field with a lap of 180.321 mph in his No. 21 Ford.

Robby Gordon, who came within three miles of winning the 1999 Indy 500 before running out of gas, ran 180.029 mph.

Speeds were significantly faster in the second session, as 12 cars broke the 180-mph barrier, including the No. 2 Dodge of Kurt Busch, who ran a lap of 182.039 mph. Busch has never started better than sixth in five Brickyard races.

The only incident in the first session came when Boris Said tapped the wall in his No. 60 Ford. The car suffered minimal damage, with slight scrapes on the right-rear fender.