Auto racing | Buzz is back for Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis 500 is new again.

Danica Patrick is a proven winner with a legitimate shot at taking the checkered flag, all the top teams and drivers are back for the 92nd running of the Indy 500, and optimism is high for what should, for the first time in 13 years, truly be "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."

Much of the buzz comes from the long-awaited unification of the two American open-wheel series in February.

Pointing to the strong mix of experienced drivers and young talent at Indy, longtime team owner Roger Penske said he's excited about the sport's possibilities, now that everyone's under the IRL IndyCar Series banner.

"You can feel and see the difference on pit road, with all the cars and people coming to watch practice and qualifying," Penske said.

The drivers, too, are caught up in a rejuvenated Indy.

"Everybody's back, and that's just an incredible feeling," said Tony Kanaan, considered by many the best driver never to have won here. "It's always a 33-car field, but this year it's just so competitive that anything could happen."

That includes a victory by Andretti Green Racing teammate Patrick, who last month became the first woman to win an IndyCar race.

Scattered through the lineup are nine drivers representing teams making the transition from the defunct Champ Car World Series, which was mostly a road and street racing circuit in recent years.

One such driver is 19-year-old Graham Rahal, son of 1986 Indy winner Bobby Rahal and one of the fresh, young faces IRL is hoping will bring the sport back to America's mainstream fans.

"We knew it was going to be tough coming over to the IndyCar equipment versus what we had in the past," said Graham Rahal. "But we are going to keep on learning."

Stewart's 2nd choice

CONCORD, N.C. — Only one race really matters to Tony Stewart, and he'll be more than 600 miles from it today.

He accepted long ago that his chances of winning the Indy 500 are slim to none, but that doesn't mean he has nothing to race for on Memorial Day weekend.

For Stewart, a win in the Coca-Cola 600 could soften the sting of not racing at Indy.

"It's Memorial Day weekend, it's the Coca-Cola 600 and this is all the teams' home track," he said. "This is a place you want to win at. This is bragging rights for all of us."

In nine previous Coca-Cola 600s, Stewart has five top-10s. His best finish was third in 2001, the second and final time he ran "The Double" by racing in Indianapolis — he finished sixth there — then flying back to Lowe's Motor Speedway for NASCAR's longest race of the year.

A later start time in Indy makes it impossible for Stewart to attempt the feat again. So he has to settle for the 600, and thought he finally had a win here last year when he led 55 laps late but was two laps short of the finish on fuel.

"I remember being so mad for the whole week because I lost the Coke 600," he said. "Just losing it in that fashion was hard to take."

Notes

• Kyle Busch stretched a tank of gas the final 68 laps to win the Carquest Auto Parts 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. It was his fourth Nationwide victory this season and eighth overall spanning NASCAR's top three series.

Greg Biffle of Vancouver, Wash., was seventh, Enumclaw's Kasey Kahne finished 17th, and Spanaway's Derrike Cope was 34th.

• Donny Lia became the first rookie in five years to win a Craftsman Truck Series race, using a last-lap pass to take the Ohio 250. Lia got by leader David Starr in the second turn of the 250th lap around the 0.5-mile Mansfield oval.

• Felipe Massa, who has won two of the last three Formula One races, gave Ferrari its first Monaco Grand Prix pole in eight years with a lap of 1 minute, 15.787 seconds in qualifying for today's race.