Nine days of practice intermixed with qualifications for the 96th Running of the Indianapolis 500 and Ryan Briscoe says the one-hour session on Miller Lite Carb Day proved to be the most informative.

The pole sitter in the No. 2 IZOD Team Penske car was fifth quick in the final practice on the 2.5-mile oval with a lap of 221.025 mph (40.7194 seconds). All cars received a fresh Chevrolet, Honda or Lotus engines for the practice and 200-lap race.

"We actually had to adjust the car a lot during that session," said Briscoe, whose four-lap aggregate time of 2 minutes, 38.9514 seconds (226.48 mph average speed) May 19 earned his first Indy 500 pole. "We needed the full hour of running, and we made a lot of changes. 

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"In one hour of final practice, we just kept tuning so it was good. Everyone was finding the traffic and big speeds. It was warm and humid, very much like race day will be."

The weather forecast is for a high of 92 degrees, which corresponds to a track temperature of 140 degrees.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Dario Franchitti (222.360 mph) and Scott Dixon (222.274) topped the session. Dixon will be on Row 5 and Franchitti on Row 6 for the 500 Mile Race.

"There’s still a lot of unknowns," Dixon said after the session. "Previously, we knew what to expect because we knew everybody had the same stuff. I think we are expecting a lot of unknowns. I think our car seems good. I think we can expect to see a very tight race with a lot of passing."

Marco Andretti, driving the No. 26 Team RC Cola car for Andretti Autosport, was third (221.702) and Takuma Sato in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car was fourth (221.078). Four Honda-powered cars and six from Chevrolet were in the top 10.

The 33 drivers totaled 1,230 laps without incident. Helio Castroneves, who will start sixth in the race, had the quickest lap of the month (227.744 mph).