Rice, Cheever top the speed charts at Chicago.

Red Bull's Buddy Rice and Eddie Cheever Jr. were in top form on Friday, setting the two fastest speeds of the day in practice at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

Rice captured the top spot, and a new track record for the fastest lap, with a 223.732 mph lap in the No. 52 Red Bull Cheever Racing Infiniti. In the No. 51 car, Cheever was second fastest at 223.630 mph.

Both times were set in the morning practice session when the team concentrated on qualifying setups. In the afternoon session, during full-tank race simulations, Cheever drove a 223.235 mph lap, while Rice went 222.815 mph.

"We've had a busy season, to say the least," said Cheever. "I think the heroes of our team have been the mechanics repairing all of the cars we've broken, but we seem to have levelled off a little bit. We're a little more tranquil right now, so we'd be very happy with a win.

"It's a beautiful facility, state of the art. I am looking forward to seeing full grandstands this year, as we did last year. It's a fun place to drive. A lot of the speeds you see are definitely towed. You get a car in front of you, and all of a sudden you're picking up 40 horsepower more. You've got to take advantage of it and not put any extra steering in.

"I got a tow from Buddy (Rice), but it wasn't quite enough, was it? He's at the top of the charts today. I have believed all year long that we've had cars that should have been up front. I believe that the results will show that we're more harmonious now as a team."

Rice will be starting his fourth race for the Red Bull team in Sunday's Delphi Indy 300 and will be looking for a team-record fourth straight finish in succession. "For this weekend the car has been good," he said. "We're pretty happy with everything. The first session, obviously, we were setup for qualifying trim.

"This morning was just strictly qualifying. This afternoon was all full-tank runs, and we were running everything out just for the race trim. We're real happy right now with the way the cars are working. Hopefully, we'll have a strong weekend here and a solid Sunday."