Texas: Honda Thursday notes

Dixon Tops Opening Texas Practice

Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series points leader Scott Dixon led the way in opening practice Thursday night for Saturday's Bombardier Learjet 550 at Texas Motor Speedway, heading the speed chart for the second half of the 90-minute, full-field practice session.

Andretti Green Racing's Marco Andretti made a big move up in the final 15 minutes to end the night second fastest followed by his cousin, Roth Racing's John Andretti, in third. Dixon's teammate, 2005 series champion Dan Wheldon, ran fourth in the 28-car field, with Vision Racing teammates A.J. Foyt IV and Ed Carpenter rounding out the top six.

Activity at Texas Motor Speedway resumes on Friday with final practice and single-car qualifying. Saturday night's 228-lap event starts at 9:30 p.m. EDT with live television coverage on ESPN2.

Scott Dixon (#9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) quickest in practice: "Our car was very quick on new tires, but the handling got harder to predict as we put more laps on them. The wind and the almost constant traffic as the session went on made all of the cars move around a lot more. I think it's going to be a tough race on Saturday. With a field this large, if you make a mistake and fall back, you're going to have your work cut out for you. The nice thing about this place is that you CAN pass, but there's certainly going to be a lot of traffic for everyone to deal with throughout the race."

-credit: honda