DEI debutant Andretti puts #81 Chevy on top.

Dale Earnhardt Incorporated celebrated their temporary expansion to a four-car team in style as John Andretti put the #81 Kraft Foods Chevrolet on top of the pile in opening practice for Sunday's Brickyard 400, putting the cat well and truly amongst the pigeons.

Eager to prove a point in competitive machinery, Andretti led 51 other teams in a two-hour session around Indianapolis' famed 2.5-mile quad oval. The former Petty Enterprises driver posted a best time of 49.259secs to edge out Hendrick Motorsports Jimmie Johnson.

Andretti and Johnson both had a measure over the rest of the field and were the only two drivers above the 182mph average speed mark. Third fastest, almost four tenths of a second slower than Johnson was his Hendrick teammate Joe Nemechek while the Jasper Engines & Transmissions Ford of Dave Blaney and the #15 NAPA DEI Chevrolet of Michael Waltrip rounded out the top five.

Defending Brickyard 400 Bud Pole winner Tony Stewart was ninth fastest, two places behind current points leader Matt Kenseth. Dale Earnhardt Jr was 15th fastest while defending Brickyard 400 winner Bill Elliott was 19th. However several other pre-race favourites struggled including Ryan Newman, who was only 30th fastest, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Burton and Mark Martin who occupied positions 33-36 respectively.

With a bumper entry list the battle for the 43 starting positions will be truly fierce on Saturday morning during qualifying as nine teams are set to miss the cut leaving a whole raft of teams nervously watching the competition as well as trying to get on top of their qualifying set-up.

In addition to Andretti's sensational performance, Mike Skinner's first run in the #01 U.S. Army Pontiac ended with 12th fastest time while Ted Musgrave's seasonal debut in the #07 Ultra Motorsports Dodge netted him 16th fastest time in practice. Casey Atwood was 22nd fastest in a third Ray Evernham Dodge while Winston Cup novice Billy Bigley Jr set tongues wagging furiously with 29th fastest time in the unfancied #79 Arnold Motorsports Dodge.

Of the three full-time teams without a provisional starting spot to fall back on, only Ken Schrader and the #49 BAM Racing team finished practice inside the top 36 leaving Robert Pressley in the #4 Kodak Pontiac (47th) and Christian Fittipaldi (50th) desperately scratching for more speed.

Of the other part-time teams tying to make the 10th anniversary Brickyard 400, Kevin Lepage (#57 CLR Ford), Jim Sauter (#71 Dave Marcis Chevrolet), Brett Bodine, David Reutimann (#04 Morgan McClure Pontiac), Derrike Cope and Hermie Sadler will all need to find more speed if they are to successfully qualify on Saturday.

If any of the above group does manage to scrape into the fastest 36 qualifiers, then Fittipaldi, series returnee Jason Leffler in the #0 NetZero Pontiac and Kyle Petty will all be given an extra headache after finishing practice at the very bottom of the practice charts.