• Good Morning from Chicago, Illinois, for Round 12 of the FedEx Championship Series, the Target Grand Prix Presented by Energizer! The early arrivals to the track this morning have found spring-like conditions reign courtesy of a large dome of high pressure sitting over the Great Lakes. Temperatures are expected to climb to the mid-80s through the middle of the day with no rain in the forecast. More of the same is predicted for tomorrow. This weekend's Champ Car activities kick off with a one hour, 45 minute test session taking the Green Flag at 9:45 a.m. The afternoon test session goes out at 1:45 p.m. for a 90-minute test session. The Saturday schedule features the first official practice session of the weekend taking the Green at 9:30 a.m. and will be run in the split-group format with each group on track for 45 minutes. The Groups will be split according to Championship Points with the higher points positions making up Group Two. Saturday afternoon features Qualifying for Sunday's race with 90 minutes set aside to build the grid. The traditional Sunday morning warm-up takes the track for 30 minutes at 11 a.m., followed by the Green Flag for the 225-lap, 231.525-mile Target Grand Prix Presented by Energizer at 3 p.m. Present from CART are Ron Richards, Vice President of Corporate Communications; Mike Zizzo, Vice President of Competition Public Relations; Steve Shunck, Director of Public Relations; T.E. McHale, Senior Manager, Public Relations; Merrill Cain, Manager, Radio Broadcast; Nate Siebens, Manager, New Media Public Relations; Steve Secor, Manager, Broadcast Public Relations; and Mark Tate, Champ Car Pit Note Specialist. Feel free to seek out any of these individuals with any questions that you may have concerning this weekend's event.

• The Chicago Motor Speedway is a 1.029-mile oval featuring six-degree banked corners at the end of identical 1,784-foot straightaways, sloped at three degrees. The Champ Car drivers downshift for the corners here to help in braking with a 50-mph plus drop in speed before the foot goes back to the pedal. Trap speeds are measured at the Start/Finish line, coming off Turn 2 (Trap 1: the slowest portion of the track) and at the Turn 3 entrance (Trap 2: the fastest portion of the track). The track qualifying record is held by Juan Montoya with his 2000 effort of 167.567 mph (22.107 seconds) and the race record is held also held by Montoya from 1999 at 122.236 mph. With a different aero package mandated for the track in this year's Champ Car configuration, speeds should drop off about 10 miles per hour, but the same package will create a stronger draft (or tow).

• From the Andretti camp comes the news that Mario Andretti will be featured on "Nightline" tonight (Friday) on ABC. The show centers on American biking champion Lance Armstrong and the effort and concentration that mastering a sport takes. Highlights of Andretti's CART career will be shown and then Andretti will be asked questions about how one prepares for and undertakes the extreme effort that auto racing demands, making a comparison to the bike racing by Lance Armstrong.

• GREEN FLAG waves at 9:45 a.m. to start the first test session of the weekend. Firestone engineers report a track temperature of 103 degrees F. and an ambient temperature of 77 degrees F. at the start of the session.

• At 9:55 a.m., ten minutes into the session, the fastest driver is #8X BRACK with a lap of 154.254 mph (24.015 seconds; 11th lap), followed by #3 CASTRONEVES (152.463 mph; 24.297 seconds; sixth lap) and #51 FERNANDEZ (152.457 mph; 24.298 seconds; eighth lap).

• YELLOW FLAG waves at 9:56 a.m. after CART course observers report debris on course at Turn 1. CART safety workers quickly retrieve the debris and conduct a full track inspection.

• GREEN FLAG waves at 10 a.m. to resume the session.

• BLACK FLAG is shown at 10:01 a.m. to #39 ANDRETTI for a Pit Road speed violation. ANDRETTI subsequently pits his car to comply with the Black Flag drive-thru penalty.

• At 10:05 a.m., 20 minutes into the session , the fastest driver is still #8X BRACK with his earlier lap of 154.254 mph (24.015 seconds; 11th lap), now followed by #6 da MATTA (152.595 mph; 24.276 seconds; 16th lap) and #3 CASTRONEVES (152.463 mph; 24.297 seconds; sixth lap).

• At 10:15 a.m., 30 minutes into the session, the fastest driver is still #8X BRACK with his earlier lap of 154.254 mph (24.015 seconds; 11th lap), followed by BRACK's primary car (153.633 mph; 24.112 seconds; ninth lap) and #17 GUGELMIN (153.011 mph; 24.210 seconds; 26th lap).

• At 10:25 a.m., 40 minutes into the session, the fastest driver is now #3 CASTRONEVES with a lap of 154.743 mph (23.939 seconds; 14th lap), followed by #8X BRACK (154.254 mph; 24.015 seconds; 11th lap) and #8 BRACK in his primary car (154.189 mph; 24.025 seconds; 10th lap).

• YELLOW FLAG waves at 10:26 a.m. after several teams report cut tires on their cars after examination in the Pits.

• At 10:35 a.m., 50 minutes into the session and under the Yellow Flag, the fastest drivers and speeds are unchanged from the 10:25 a.m. report.

• At 10:45 a.m., one hour into the session, the fastest driver is still #3 CASTRONEVES with his earlier lap of 154.743 mph (23.939 seconds; 14th lap), followed by #8 BRACK in his primary car at 154.659 mph (23.952 seconds; 22nd lap) and #8X BRACK in his secondary car (154.254 mph; 24.015 seconds; 11th lap).

• At 10:55 a.m., 70 minutes into the session, the fastest drivers and speeds remain unchanged from the 10:45 a.m. report.

• YELLOW FLAG waves at 11:04 a.m. for a track inspection after several teams report cut tires on the their cars after inspection in the pits. CART safety workers quickly conduct a thorough search of the entire track.

• At 11:05 a.m., 80 minutes into the session, the fastest drivers and speeds are unchanged from the 10:55 a.m. report.

• GREEN FLAG waves at 11:13 a.m. to resume the session.

• At 11:15 a.m., 90 minutes into the session, the fastest drivers and speeds are unchanged from the 11:05 a.m. report.

• YELLOW FLAG waves at 11:17 a.m. after CART course observers report debris in Turn 4. CART safety workers quickly clean the corner and return to their stations.

• GREEN FLAG waves at 11:21 a.m. to resume the session.

• At 11:25 a.m., 100 minutes into the session, the fastest drivers and speeds are unchanged from the 11:15 a.m. report.

• CHECKERED FLAG waves at 11:30 a.m. with #3 CASTRONEVES the fastest driver with his earlier lap of 154.743 mph (23.939 seconds; 14th lap), followed by #8 BRACK (154.659 mph; 23.952 seconds; 22nd lap) and #8X BRACK in his secondary car (154.254 mph; 24.015 seconds). FedEx Championship Series drivers introduced 39 cars to the track in this morning's test session with secondary cars utilized by #8X BRACK, #6X da MATTA, #11X FITTIPALDI, #4X JUNQUEIRA, #40X VASSER, #22X SERVIA, #77X HERTA, #5X TAKAGI, #20X MORENO, #7X PAPIS, #55X KANAAN, and #33X TAGLIANI. The top 33 cars are separated by less than one second in lap times.

• Trap speeds show how close the Champ Cars are in overall speed as well as lap times. At the Start/Finish line, fifth-fastest #12 GIDLEY is tops at 179.757 mph, followed by seventh-fastest TAKAGI at 179.360 mph. The Turn 2, Trap 1 speed is led again by GIDLEY at 129.560 mph, followed by ninth-fastest #66 ZANARDI at 128.537 mph. But the Trap 2 speed tells the real story. A dead-tie exists for the top spot at 189.394 mph with session-fastest #3 CASTRONEVES, sixth-fastest #55 KANAAN, and 14th-fastest #32 CARPENTIER. The second-fastest drivers again show a tie, this time between fourth-fastest #17 GUGELMIN and TAKAGI. Trap speed ties are more probable than one would expect, giving the high rate of speed of the cars entering the trap and the short distance of the trap measurement, 120 feet.