Briscoe leads going into Qualifying

In a dicy and excited opening practice at Chicagoland, Penske's Ryan Briscoe led the field into qualifying, beating out Ganassi's Scott Dixon, who led for much of the second half of the session. Points leader Will Power was third, with the Andretti Autosport cars of Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick. For the Andretti team, the session was marked improvement over past oval performances, which were marred by a lack of outright speed. However, both Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay led parts of the session, with Hunter-Reay showing the way early on.

The lone incident occurred when Ed Carpenter, in his return to Vision/Panther Racing, white-walled the car exiting turn four. No damage was apparent, but he didn't go back out during the session.

Qualifying is set to go off at 2:00 EST.

Full results of the 1st free practice session on Chicagoland