Chevy teams sandbagging to save tires in Alabama

Are the Chevy teams sandbagging?

In the interest of saving money, IndyCar and F1 have imposed strict limits on the number of sets of tires each car gets for a race weekend. That restriction has basically turned Friday practice into a 'stroker ace' exercise as teams run easy and limit their laps to save tires for qualifying and the race.

On Friday Hondas dominated the top-10 on the time sheets.A.J. Foyt Racing teammates Takuma Sato and Jack Hawksworth were 1-2 in both the second practice session and the overall time sheet, with James Hinchcliffe third. The fastest Chevrolet, driven by Sebastien Bourdais, was fourth with fellow Chevrolet driver Will Power fifth.

"It might be better than last year," Rahal said of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's pace with the No. 15 car. "But look, I fully expect the Penske (cars) to be up there; I'm surprised (Scott) Dixon is not higher up (he's 10th). I expect him to be in the top six in Saturday's qualifying and be in the hunt Sunday.

Hinchcliffe reminded anyone who'd listen that the Penske foursome — Power, Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya and Simon Pagenaud — didn't practice well last weekend in Long Beach, Calif., before sweeping the top qualifying positions. Pagenaud won the race with Castroneves third and Montoya fourth.

The rumor is the Chevy teams are sandbagging to save tires before they put the hammer down Saturday afternoon and in the race on Sunday