IRL: Firestone Phoenix Friday notes

The consistency of the Firestone Firehawks fitted to every car in today's practice session for the Pennzoil Copper World Indy 200 provided a solid foundation for teams to manipulate other components of their machines.

Quote from Bridgestone/Firestone Motorsports Director Al Speyer: "The first day of practice for every race is usually the toughest day for tires. Teams and drivers are playing with set-ups, seeing what will work and how far they can push their equipment. When you combine that with the first race of the season, with a mixture on new talent exploring options, we're always on double alert, working very closely with the team engineers to make sure the tires perform as expected and needed. Throughout the day we saw varying amounts of wear on tires, but as the afternoon session came to a close, it was apparent that the majority of teams are near where they need to be for the qualifying tomorrow."

Sam Hornish Jr., Pennzoil Panther Racing, Dallara/Oldsmobile/Firestone: "Even though there are four different types of cars on the track, with four different rubber compounds, my tires are working great. They're very consistent, lap after lap."

Firestone is beginning its second season serving as sole tire supplier to the Indy Racing Northern Lights Series, even though the competition remains open to any tire manufacturer.

Morning practice temperatures ranged from 96 to 103 degrees track and from 73 to 75 degrees ambient (F).

Afternoon practice temperatures ranged from 108 to 114 degrees track and from 81 to 88 degrees ambient (F).

-Firestone Racing