Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Practice - The 92nd Indianapolis 500 Round 5 of 18 in the IndyCar Series WET CONDITIONS LIMITED PRACTICE FOR THE INDY 500 TO LESS THAN ONE HOUR; MORE RAIN IS FORECAST FOR TOMORROW OVERALL: After wet track conditions kept pushing back the 12-6 practice time, teams were finally cleared to run at approx. 5 p.m. local time. The session ended with less than 10 minutes to go due to heavy sprinkles on a part of the track. Justin Wilson, No. 02 McDonald’s Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We weren’t able to accomplish a lot today.  We wanted to put a few miles on some parts on the McDonald’s car and that’s about all we did.  We went out at the end with some new tires after having run old tires before that and were trying to put down a baseline just to quantify a few changes we’ve made since Saturday and I got halfway around on my first timed lap and it rained.   As I was finishing my out lap the guys came on the radio and said it was raining in Turn 3.  Just when I was thinking we would get a chance to baseline it and learn something we had to stop.  We did a few laps on old tires and that was about it today.  We have a lot of work to do on Friday and Saturday in terms of race setup.”   FAST FACTS: Will be his second race at IMS and first in the IndyCar Series (ICS) after having competed here with Jaguar in 2003 where he earned his first Formula One point in the USGP with an eighth place finish after running as high as third.  He started 16th…He has competed on an oval track seven times…Qualified 17th but started 15th in the season-opener in Homestead due to two cars having their qualifying speeds disallowed.  Dropped one lap down when he was hit by Will Power on a restart after approx. 22 laps and had to pit to replace a deflated tire but rallied to finish 15th…Started third in his street course ICS debut in St. Pete but alternate fuel and tire strategies dictated by intermittent rain led to a ninth place finish after he led a total of 18 of 83 laps…Was the pole winner on Friday and Saturday in the Long Beach Champ Car finale and dropped to second on the start but engine failure on Lap 13 ended his race and he finished 19th … Gained valuable experience after he was first to qualify and started 22nd in Kansas, led five laps after staying on track while others pit and finished ninth…Is ranked 17 in the point standings with 71 and is sixth in ROY…Finished runner up in the Champ Car championship to the driver he recently replaced, four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais, in 2006 and 2007.  Was a championship contender until the conclusion of the penultimate race of each season. Graham Rahal, No. 06 Hole in the Wall Camps Dallara/Honda/Firestone:  “We didn’t get much done in terms of setup today but we had some parts we needed to get broken in so I guess we accomplished something.  It’s better to do it today than to waste time on another day but it’s tough to not be on track more.  I’m one of those guys that overthinks things a little too much and any time you are going over 200 mph and you see rain drops on your visor…  I don’t like that too much.  Overall we got those parts broken in and also know that the car has too much understeer in traffic.  Based on the forecast, we consider tomorrow gone.  The forecast is good for Friday and I think we’ll just work on race set up and even again on Saturday morning.  We had a good qualifying car so we’ll just throw that setup on and I think we can get in the field comfortably and go from there.” FAST FACTS: Will be his first Indy 500 and only his second on an oval track after having finished 12th at Kansas Speedway last weekend.  He previously ran in a junior formula, Star Mazda event in 2005 at the Pikes Peak oval.  In his IndyCar Series debut on a road/street course he became the youngest winner in major open-wheel racing in North America after winning in St. Pete on 4-6-08 at 19 years, 93 days old…He is ranked 10th in series points with 88 points.  1 POLE (1987) & TWO SECONDS AT IMS: The 2008 entry will mark the 16th year for NHR/NHLR in the event and the third since 1995.   Prior to 2008, the team prepared a total of 23 entries for drivers such as Mario and Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Paul Tracy, Bruno Junqueira and Sebastien Bourdais.  The entry of Justin Wilson and Graham Rahal in 2008 will bring the total to 25.  NHR’s highest finish in the Indy 500 is second place with Mario Andretti in 1985 and Michael Andretti in 1991 although team drivers have led many laps here.  Mario Andretti also brought the team its highest start in the event when he won the pole position in 1987. NHR’s 2004 entry of Junqueira marked the first time for the team to compete here since 1995 and they returned in 2005 with Junqueira and IMS rookie Bourdais. They have earned Rookie of the Year once, with Mansell in 1993 when he finished third.