Regeln » An unofficial poll of drivers indicated

INDIANAPOLIS -- Scott Dixon insists that Ganassi Racing wasnt trying to bamboozle anybody. After struggling last week and failing to put a car in the fast nine for qualifying, the team led by defending Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan staged a rally on Carb Day. Kanaan was left atop the leaderboard Friday with a lap of 227.838 mph, while Dixon was next-fastest at 227.773 mph. "We definitely didnt do it on purpose," said Dixon, who will start in the middle of the fourth row Sunday. "We would like to roll out straightaway and be quick. I think we are normally." Kanaan will start on the inside of the sixth row as he attempts to become the first back-to-back winner since Helio Castroneves in 2003. Teammate Charlie Kimball will start in the ninth row. "We feel good about it," Kanaan said. "We worked pretty hard together to make up for our Saturday qualifying. We have great people back in the engineering office at Target Chip Ganassi Racing, and it really showed a little bit after qualifying and today." The turnaround by the Ganassi stable brought back memories of 2012, when the team struggled throughout the month of May. But by the time Carb Day rolled around, Dario Franchitti had posted the fastest lap of the day, and Dixon was close behind in second. That was how they would finish on Sunday. Franchitti went on to win his third Indy 500, and Takuma Satos last-lap spin into the Turn 1 wall allowed Dixon to finish second. Townsend Bell, three-time winner Helio Castroneves and rookie Mikhail Aleshin joined Kanaan and Dixon among the five fastest laps Friday. Andretti Autosport teammates Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti were next on the speed chart, while Juan Pablo Montoya was ninth-quickest. Kurt Busch stepped into Andrettis backup car and climbed to 15th on the chart. Busch wrecked his primary car in practice on Monday, forcing his team to convert a car that Andretti had planned to use at Detroit from a road-course setup to an oval setup. "Just had to get back on my horse," said Busch, who will attempt to run the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte on Sunday. "As the NASCAR guys always say, Got to thank my crew, but honestly, this is a thank-the-crew moment from Andretti Autosport." On a busy Carb Day at Indianapolis, here are five more things that happened: ANOTHER DOUBLE: As Busch becomes the fourth driver to attempt double duty, theres been speculation more NASCAR drivers may someday try the grueling feat. Buschs younger brother, Kyle, has said hell make an attempt if he ever wins a Sprint Cup championship. "I dont know why more NASCAR guys dont do it," former IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay said. "You only live once. Its two of the biggest races in the world, so why not do it?" BLOCKING RULES: An unofficial poll of drivers indicated very few want to be the leader in the closing laps of Sundays race. But Dixon and Kanaan believe murky rules mean the leader could potentially block attempts at a pass for the win without risking a penalty from race control. "We havent gotten clarification on that. You can defend now," Dixon said. If blocking occurs, Kanaan hopes it is fair. "I dont think its fair enough sometimes to be the leader that hell be exposed and hes going to lose the race because he was in the lead. It does not make any sense," Kanaan said. "There is a certain amount of defending that should be allowed." INDY IN (SLOPE)STYLE: Olympic snowboarder Nick Goepper, who took home the bronze medal at the Sochi Games, stopped by the speedway to check out the festivities. Goepper grew up near Cincinnati in Lawrenceburg, just on the Indiana side of the state line, and plans to watch Sundays race from the infield pagoda. "I remember the movie Rush that came out, the whole racing atmosphere. These guys are incredible drivers," Goepper said. "They have so much composure. Its amazing." GETTING COMFORTABLE: Paul Tracy still wants to be in a race car, but his time appears to have passed. Now, the popular Tracy has landed a part-time gig with NBC Sports Network. The original deal called for Tracy to work in the booth for six races, but it was expanded to include NBCs limited coverage of preparations for the Indianapolis 500, as well as two additional events later this season. Tracy said he struggled initially, and but "Ill get it figured out." Air Max Günstig Outlet . Austin Watson, Scott Ford, Filip Forsberg and Mark Van Guilder had the other goals for the Admirals (30-21-12). Scott Darling made 30 saves for his 10th win of the season. Air Max Günstig Online Kaufen . I wondered how NHL coaches would feel about a playoff schedule that allowed them to open a best-of-seven series on the road, which many claim to favour, yet still gave them the precious home-ice edge for a seventh game. http://www.schweizairmax.ch/. -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. Air Max Schuhe Outlet . "He came up to me and said, I want to train," said Toronto coach Ryan Nelsen. The 26-year-old midfielder is expected to play Saturday night when Toronto hosts D.C. United, returning to his Major League Soccer squad with mixed feelings about the Americans World Cup run -- sad that it ended when it did but proud of his teams performance. Air Max Günstig Bestellen . Wheeler scored at 4:58 of overtime, with Scheifele getting an assist, and the Jets beat the slumping Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Sunday night. MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Defending champion Kei Nishikori of Japan rallied to beat Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals of the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships on Friday. The top-seeded Nishikori will next play 35-year-old American Michael Russell, who upset third-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 6-3, 7-6 (6) in another quarterfinal match. Bogomolov broke Nishikori for a 3-2 lead in the second set only to drop his next two service games and lose the set. In the third, Nishikori fought off three break points to hold serve and broke Bogomolov in consecutive games to take a 5-2 lead. "Obviously, he was playing really well, I thought," Nishikori said. "He was hitting ball really flat and deep and wasnt making mistakes, especially from the beginning he was very aggressive. I wasnt maybe playing 100 per cent." Fourth-seeded Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan beat American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov 6-1, 6-4 in another match and will next face either Jack Sock or Ivo Karlovic, who play later Friday. Russell needed nearly two hours to finish off the former world No. 1 Hewitt. He was broken after double-faulting twice whhile serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set and also failed to convert a couple of match points in the tiebreaker before finally closing it out.dddddddddddd "Every time we play its a battle," Russell said. "Its kind of the mentality knowing, Yeah, youre serving it out. But this guy has a really good return. And vice versa the same thing when hes serving." Russell is the second-oldest player ranked in the top 100 behind Tommy Haas, who will turn 36 in April. He didnt manage a point on his serve while trying to close out the match at 5-4. He then went up 6-4 in the tiebreaker but hit a forehand into the net on his first match point. Hewitt fought off a second match point with a brilliant forehand down the line to level the breaker at 6-all. But the Australian hit a forehand wide and then a return long to allow Russell to advance to just his third ATP Tour semifinal. "My rhythm on my serve wasnt there," Hewitt said. "I was feeling my shoulder a little bit and just couldnt hit my spots. So that was putting me under a lot of pressure then, and he makes a lot of balls and makes you play a lot." ' ' '