DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 50T Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): "We're just shaking the spare car down today. It feels OK. We haven't really done any work on it yet, just shaking it down. Tomorrow we'll do the same with the primary Target car and go from there."JAMES JAKES (No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda): "We haven't done a lot yet. I guess everyone is waiting around because nobody really wants to show their hand at the moment. We'll see how it goes. Today we were trying to work a little bit on the Race Day setup. I think we've got a pretty good car here. We weren't looking at qualifying stuff yet. We'll probably try to do that in the midpoint of next week. During the shakedown, we wanted to make sure everything was how we thought it would be, and it was. I'm pretty confident. I think we can get the car into the top 10. It's a quick car, and I think we can get up to the front. Hopefully, we can put together a good month."BRYAN CLAUSON (No. 39 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing/RW Honda): "I don't know that it could have gone much better. Those SFHR boys prepared a fast Honda race car for us for this month. We were really quick out of the gate. The fastest laps can be misleading because of the tow you catch, but even by ourselves, Josef and I were very quick all day. It will be interesting to see as the month goes on where guys end up. It's hard to tell whose flat-out at this point and who is not. But I felt really good about our car and the program we have in place for the rest of the month."SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda): "The guys at SSM did a great job understanding what I need to feel comfortable. We did one run, and then came back in and made a few changes. Then we went back out, and the car was just magic. So I'm very, very happy to be that comfortable that quickly. We ran in traffic, and it all felt good."MIKE CONWAY (No. 14 ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing Honda): "We're running a brand-new ABC Supply car, so we shook it down just to make sure there were no problems. Tried to get a good feel for what the car was doing, made some changes, and we found some things so it was good. Today wasn't about speed for us. We'd learned a few things between Rookie Orientation and today, which we needed to verify on track. As the week rolls on, then that's when the real work starts. Tomorrow we'll be out as soon as we can and learn as much as we can to try to find some speed."JUSTIN WILSON (No. 18 Sonny's BBQ Honda): "We did a couple of runs today; that was our plan. We made a few changes, and the car feels good. So we'll do a few more laps in the Sonny's BBQ car tomorrow and keep working on it. We'll keep chipping away these next seven days and try to get a little bit faster. We've got a good baseline setup, and I'm really enjoying my time in it. We came here to test and had a really good car, and from that test on we were much better. I think we're starting to understand it and work it out now."ALEX TAGLIANI (No. 98 Team Barracuda-BHA Honda): "I need to take my hat off to the Team Barracuda - BHA crew because the guys worked until 2 a.m. last night to get us ready to run today. Mission accomplished. The car feels good, and it's great to be back with the Honda family again. It's almost like we never left. It was a good first day. Basically, this was kind of like the first, real oval test that we've run, and I was quite surprised how quickly we got up to speed and how quick the car was right away. I'm very excited to see where we can stack up as we try to get a run for the pole. I have a great engineer and great group of guys behind me, so I'm definitely looking forward to the month of May here in Indy."SCOTT DIXON (No. 9T Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): "Basically, today we just ran the Target T car and give it a shakedown. So far, so good, and that's the way we wanted it on Opening Day."GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 38 Service Central Honda): "Overall, we had a good day today with the Service Central guys. It really was just kind of a brief day and just trying to get the car up to speed. It felt really good right away, and we'll just keep working the rest of the week. There's no panic at this point. I think everything feels solid, so we'll just focus on making sure we have a good race car here in the early parts and work on getting a fast qualifying car later in the week."CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83T NovoLog FlexPen Honda): "It was a good day at the Speedway. Opening Day, it's important to get the month off started off right. All credit to the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys. We came here with the new car and a good foundation. We made some good changes, and the No.83 NovoLog FlexPen car just got quicker throughout the day. The weather looks good for the rest of the week, so we'll have a lot more track time than we have tires or mileage. But we'll be focusing on race stuff until the middle of the week and then start turning it around and getting ready for qualifying. It was good to put miles on the backup car today, but it's great to be back at the Speedway."JR HILDEBRAND (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet): "It was a good tow lap. The guys have worked long and hard to figure out what our plan of attack was going to be, and I think that's what's going to be what it takes to be successful this year. There's a lot of new things for us with the chassis and the motors. I think having a methodical approach in how to make the car quicker and the sensitivity to adjustments this year is going to be more important than in years past." (Do you feel rushed with the amount of track time?): "I think it's hard not to feel kind of rushed. But I think one of the things we learned last year was taking your time and feeling out your troubles and let things come to you. I think that's what made our month easy. Easy in a relative sense. But we saw the advantage in taking things slowly and with the way the weather is going to look, we may be able to take advantage of that this week, as well."SIMONA DE SILVESTRO (No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy Lotus HVM Racing Lotus): "I think it was a good first day for the No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do that much running. The car was pretty good, but it will feel better when we have more speed."TONY KANAAN (No. 11T GEICO/Mouser Electronics KVRT Chevrolet): "It was a good day. We were just trying to get everybody into the Indy 500 mood. We ran the T-car (backup car) today to make sure everything was all right, and we have no concerns there. It was a smooth day."E.J. VISO (No. 5 CITGO/PDVSA KV Racing Technology Chevrolet): "The Indianapolis 500 Mile Race is the most famous and respected race in the world, so you always look forward to first day of practice and running laps on this track. We had a good, productive day, and I am very happy and excited that our first day went exactly as we planned. We achieved everything we needed to today. The setup on the car was pretty stable, so I am looking forward to trying some new things tomorrow."JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 Team GoDaddy.com Chevrolet): "It was definitely a bummer to not run the Go Daddy car on Opening Day, but it's all part of the bigger plan and the bigger picture. With the number of tires we have for the month, we decided to save them for when the track is a little more rubbered-in. One of the benefits of having a five-car team is that we had teammates on track today to get a little data for us. So we have some data from the cars and engines and have something to start getting to work on and can build on that right off the bat before we even turn a wheel. It will hopefully put us in a better position tomorrow, when we do finally get on track. I'm looking forward to getting out there and getting some laps in on this beautiful racetrack."MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team RC Cola Chevrolet, drove today in No. 17 Team AFS Chevrolet and No. 25 Team Ipiranga cars): "I'm anxious to get out there tomorrow in the 26 car (Team RC Cola Chevy). I thought the (No. 17 car) was pretty good and had good pace for what the wing settings were, so that's very encouraging to me. I think we're going to be fast, and I can't wait."RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet): "It's hard to stand by and watch. We're saving some tires by waiting until tomorrow, and I'm eager to see what kind of speed we'll have based on what we learn today with my teammates Marco (Andretti) and Seb (Sebastian Saavedra). It's great to be back here at Indy, and to just be here to see the crowds and feel the energy. It's pretty special."SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA (No. 17 Team AFS Chevrolet): "Today was a very good day on the track. It is so much easier when you have a good car right out of the box. I felt very confident when Marco (Andretti) went out to do a shakedown on the car. He basically went flat out on the first lap, so he was able to give me great feedback. That gave me a good starting position. From that point on, we just tried to make ourselves comfortable. I worked to understand the new car and also the new people that I'll be working with. Overall, I am very excited to be in an Indy car again."JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda): "The team has done it all year. People have seen before that they can produce a good road/street car, and there's no issues oval-wise. They've built really good, reliable, comfortable race cars for me, and they're doing the same for Bryan now. That's all it is, really. They make our job really easy, and I think that's what you guys are seeing. It bodes well, if anything, it's not really a big deal to be quick on this day, but it speaks well for the team. I think the team deserves that credit. I'm really happy for them that they get the credit because they do deserve it. They do a good job, and I'm proud to be with them."ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Fuzzy's Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): "We ran more than we planned today. We aren't where we want to be. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really disappointed about where we were today. We have been working really hard coming into this weekend. But I feel we weren't ready for today. I think it showed on the time charts and how the car felt. Our guys and myself are going to be working hard tonight to rebound strong for Sunday's runs. It is too important to us to have another day like today. We didn't get the time in here at the test that we wanted due to some issues that day. And it would have been a nice baseline from the test to start this weekend with your practice runs."RUBENS BARRICHELLO (No. 8 BMC/Embrase KV Racing Technology Chevrolet): "My day was very straightforward. We didn't' have the speed for some reason as I had the same setup as my teammates. However, it is very good we have had this at the beginning of the week, so we can analyze and see what's wrong. I felt comfortable in the car and improved my speed from ROP on Thursday, but it is not as fast as what we had expected. We have a lot of work to do for tomorrow and the rest of the week."ANA BEATRIZ (No. 25 Team Ipiranga Chevrolet): "We were looking forward to running today, but some fixes on the car took longer than expected and we ran out of time. At least Marco (Andretti) was able to do a shakedown, and it looks like everything will be good for tomorrow. I can't wait to run around IMS with my Ipiranga Andretti Autosport car."TAKUMA SATO (No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda): "It was a short day of work with a long amount of time waiting, which is natural. It was the very first day of practice, and we obviously rebuilt the car for the oval, and the boys did a fantastic job. I am so pleased to see all the functions working really well. Michel did a great job through his first day of practice, which produced the basic setup from April. And he developed it nicely. I only did three timed laps, but the car felt good, which is important for the first day. The conditions were definitely good because it was the end of the day, and more than 500 laps of rubber was on the track and the temperatures were cooler, so I expected to be quick. I look forward to beginning to work on the setup."MICHEL JOURDAIN JR. (No. 30 Office Depot/RLL Racing Honda): "We started off exactly where we finished Thursday. We just trimmed the car a couple of times to gradually get it to the setup we are going to run. We are doing it slowly to maintain our confidence. Unfortunately we had a cut in the left rear, so we had to use more tires than we wanted, but I am happy to get through the first official day. We are better than I thought we would be at this point, so I am happy about that."WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "This was a good start for Verizon Team Penske. We did what we normally do to start the month of May and will head in the right direction with the car set up. Just a good first day."HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Shell V-Power/Pennzoil Ultra Team Penske Chevrolet): "The Shell Pennzoil car was really good today; it was a great start. The three of us will continue to work together, so we can get the best result both in qualifying and the race."RYAN BRISCOE (No. 2 IZOD Team Penske Chevrolet): "Good first day in the IZOD car. It was the first time on the track in the new car and with the Chevy engine, and things felt good. We will start working through the changes, and hopefully the car will keep responding well."***Twenty-six drivers have been on the track to date and turned 693 laps today and 693 laps this month. Josef Newgarden turned 46 laps today, most of any driver. There were six cautions for a total of 32 minutes today.***SUNDAY'S SCHEDULE (all times local):

8 a.m.

Garages open

Noon-6 p.m.

Indianapolis 500 practice

***The next IZOD IndyCar Series race is the Indianapolis 500 Mile on May 27 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race will be televised by ABC at 11a.m. (ET) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network on SiriusXM (XM 94 and Sirius 212). The next Firestone Indy Lights race is the Firestone Freedom 100 on May 25 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race will be televised live by NBC Sports Network at Noon (ET) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network.