Team Penske leads opening practice day at Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Team Penske swept the top three spots on the speed chart as practice for the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500 opened Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Twenty-four car/driver combinations ran a total of 731 laps without incident during the six-hour session.

Verizon IndyCar Series championship points leader Will Power was fastest with a lap of 223.057 mph (40.3485 seconds) in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car. He totaled 82 laps.

Juan Pablo Montoya, returning to compete in the Indianapolis 500 for the first time since winning in 2000, was second (222.502 mph) in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske car, and three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves was third (222.373 mph) in the No. 3 Pennzoil Ultra Platinum Team Penske car.

JR Hildebrand, runner-up in the 2011 race as a rookie, was fourth fastest (222.200) in the No. 21 Preferred Freezer/Ed Carpenter Racing car. Ryan Hunter-Reay, runner-up in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, was fifth fastest (222.134) in the No. 28 DHL car for Andretti Autosport.

Kurt Busch, who will attempt to compete in the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Concord, NC, the same day, got in his first laps with other cars on the Speedway.

Practice continues Monday, with , with qualifications for the Indy 500 slated for May 17-18.

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