Fresh off a victory in the most recent race at Barber Motorsports Park, Ryan Hunter-Reay threw down the fastest lap in Friday's practice sessions for the Toyota Grand Prix at Long Beach (Sunday, 4 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network), a blitz of 1 minute, 9.4224 seconds around the 1.97-mile street circuit.

However, the top story from Friday was Mike Conway, who is racing this weekend on a one-off for Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Conway, the 2011 GPLB champion, was second-quickest in the No. 17 machine, posting a fast lap of 1 minute, 9.4603 seconds to serve notice that he may be a potential threat.

"We wanted to get through a few changes during that session," Conway said. "But the car feels good from the moment we stepped on the track. I'm just happy to be here. Trying to do a good job for these guys. [The car] feels good. Pretty happy with the balance. I think we have some areas to work on. But to still be running around the top two in the last two sessions is pretty encouraging."

Defending GPLB winner Will Power was third-fastest on Friday (1:09.5166), followed by rookie Tristan Vautier (1:09.5657) and current points leader Helio Castroneves (1:09.6608).

RHR comes up with perfect response

It's never good to start the season in a big hole, and that's what reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay was facing after being sidelined with mechanical issues in the season-opener at St. Petersburg. But the American racer delivered when he had to last weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, winning from pole and holding off a game Scott Dixon to do it. The title defense is back on track with the win in Alabama, and furthermore, it allowed RHR to erase what he felt was one of his team's bigger weak spots: Results on natural-terrain road courses.

"Several times in the offseason I said our biggest weaknesses were the permanent road courses like Barber and Sonoma, and the big superspeedways like Texas and Fontana," he told ESPN.com's John Oreovicz. "The guys gave me a great car today. The biggest pressure was bringing a car home that I knew was capable of winning."

Indeed, RHR's victory on Sunday was his first on a true road course since his win at Watkins Glen back in 2008. All of his wins from that point to this past weekend had been on either temporary street courses or shorter ovals.

Kimball continues his progression

Scott Dixon finished second and Helio Castroneves moved into the top spot in the standings with a third-place run in the race, but for my money, the best drive of the race outside of Hunter-Reay belonged to Charlie Kimball, who qualified fifth and stayed toward the front all race long en route to a  fourth-place result. We started to notice progress for him last season (particularly when he earned his first IndyCar podium at Toronto), and he made another step forward with a gutsy drive at Barber that was punctuated by his pass of Will Power for P4 in the track's high-speed sector.

Now comes the tough part: How does he continue that momentum on a week-to-week basis? That's the next priority for the third-year driver.

Penthouse to outhouse for Hinch

No doubt a lot of folks were disappointed about the first-lap contact that eventually forced James Hinchcliffe out of the hunt, especially after he delivered a breakthrough victory in St. Petersburg. The Canadian was forced to sit in his car for the bulk of the race, as he was towed off-track and couldn't get another lift to pit road since the rest of the race ran caution-free. The extended wait even briefly triggered a #PizzaForHinch hashtag amongst some IndyCar fans on Twitter.

When the race ended, Hinchcliffe handled the situation with his usual humor ("I wish I could have taken a nap, but these race cars are going around making all this noise -- It's really rude of them," he said) but he also called the whole weekend one to forget. Sometimes, racing deals you one of those and all you can do is shrug and prepare for the next one. Let's see how he responds at Long Beach.

Barber on through 2016

Kudos to the series for their new three-year pact with Barber, which has proven to be one of the best tracks attendance-wise in the series. This year's Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama attracted the biggest weekend crowd since the inaugural running in 2010, and that's a credit to both race promoter Zoom Motorsports and the knowledgeable race fans within the Heart of Dixie. We can't call it "NASCAR country" anymore. They love racing of all stripes, which is great to see. Now, let's hope that Birmingham city funding issue for the race can be settled eventually.

Ryan Hunter-Reay's first official race as reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion didn't end well, as mechanical problems sidelined him and his No. 1 DHL/Sun-Drop Chevrolet after 79 laps in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (March 24).

But the American has a golden opportunity to bounce back today at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. Yesterday in qualifying, Hunter-Reay bagged the pole position for the 90-lap race (3 pm ET, NBC Sports Network) with a time of 67.0871 seconds in the Firestone Fast Six -- enough to nip his 2012 title rival, Will Power, for the top spot.

"You know this team has done so well this weekend - we just kept progressing," said Hunter-Reay. "We knew where we needed to work on it, and I really went to work on my driving as well. We all did it together here. It's a great position to start from. Now we gotta make it work in [morning] warmup for the race - make these Firestones hang in there for the entire race; that will be the challenging part."

Power, also the defending Barber race champion, will start on the outside of Row 1 despite being accused by James Hinchcliffe of holding him up and causing him to fail to advance to the second round of qualifying. Row 2 will feature impressive rookie Tristan Vautier from Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon, while Charlie Kimball and Helio Castroneves qualified fifth and sixth respectively.

A.J. Allmendinger will make his first open-wheel run since 2006 this afternoon, and put himself in decent position yesterday on the grid. The former Champ Car star, who will now race at Long Beach as part of his preparation for the Indy 500, will go off 10th after breaking into the second round on Saturday. His progress today will be one of the key storylines; there's no doubt of his talent but how will he stack up in his first time out against an incredibly deep field?

We'll also have to keep tabs on several big names that will be forced to come from the rear of the field. Simon Pagenaud and Simona de Silvestro (qualified 13th and 14th respectively) are starting from mid-pack, but they're better off than the likes of Dario Franchitti (17th), Tony Kanaan (19th), Hinchcliffe (20th) and Sebastien Bourdais (23rd).

Finally, there's the matter of the drivers looking to get a grip -- and keep it! Barber's 2.3-mile road course underwent grinding over the offseason, and that has led to faster speeds and new track records. Maintaining tires will be massively critical over the course of today's event, so keep an eye on who can stretch 'em out a little bit farther.

American driver Conor Daly will attempt to qualify for his first Indianapolis 500 as a second driver for A.J. Foyt Racing in the month of May.

Daly, who has been racing primarily in Europe recently, will jump into the No. 41 ABC Supply Honda alongside Foyt regular Takuma Sato in the No. 14. The son of former F1 and IndyCar racer Derek Daly tested Sato's No. 14 over the winter at Sebring International Raceway in Florida.

“I almost can't describe what it means to have the opportunity to race in the Indianapolis 500,” Daly said in a team release. “I have been to the 500 every year of my existence except for last year when I raced in Monaco. It is truly my home race since I was born and raised in the Indianapolis area.

"I am so thankful that A.J. and Larry [Foyt] have given me my first shot at the greatest race in the world.  I know this will sound cheesy but I've never been happier in my life; this race means so much to me.”

Daly now becomes the fourth participant in this year's '500' Rookie Orientation Program on Apr. 11 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, joining A.J. Allmendinger of Team Penske, Tristan Vautier of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, and Carlos Munoz of Andretti Autosport.

A.J. Allmendinger, Tristan Vautier and Carlos Munoz are all testing today at Texas Motor Speedway in preparation for their Rookie Orientation Program on April 11 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

As all three are Indianapolis 500 rookies, they'll have to pass the three-phase ROP in order to practice with the veterans at the Brickyard in May. The phases consist of 10 laps at 200-205 mph, 10 laps at 205-209 mph, and 15 laps at 210+ mph. Rookies must complete two of the three phases on April 11, and the final one can be completed on any '500' practice day before Pole Day on May 18.

However, IndyCar race director Beaux Barfield said that for this test at Texas, speed phases won't be enforced by the series. Instead, he's looking to give 'Dinger, Vautier and Munoz a chance to acclimate themselves to higher speeds before going out to IMS.

"Texas Motor Speedway is a difficult place to race, but it's not as difficult to get up to speed for the first time as Indianapolis Motor Speedway, so it's a good opportunity for these guys to get comfortable with the speeds," Barfield told IndyCar.com.

A group of veteran drivers will also test later on today. That group includes Graham Rahal, James Jakes, Simon Pagenaud, Takuma Sato and Ed Carpenter.

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Marco Andretti was busy over the off-season reworking his driving style to be more competitive on road and street circuits. It appears the hard work is paying off, as he managed to come away with a podium last weekend in St. Petersburg.

"It's always been tough because even though we usually do well here, I have always been on the outside looking in," he said on Sunday after finishing third. "Not being in the [Firestone] Fast Six actually benefited me, because I had that fresh set of tires in the end.

"Finishing third is nice, but a couple places higher would have been better. You can't get greedy about days like this, because we do this week in and week out. It feels good to finally see the rewards for the amount of hard work you put in."

Andretti's podium was his first on a road/street course since 2011. He achieved it by getting by both Tony Kanaan and Simona de Silvestro in the final laps.

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No technical penalties were issued following Sunday's race...NBC Sports Network's coverage of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg netted a .26 household rating, up 53 percent over the network's first race of 2012 (.17). Altogether, the broadcast garnered 388,000 viewers...James Hinchcliffe's win gives him the chance to become the sixth driver to win both the season-opening race and the IZOD IndyCar Series title. The others: Buzz Calkins (1996), Sam Hornish Jr. (2001/2002), Scott Dixon (2003/2008), Dan Wheldon (2005) and Dario Franchitti (2011)...Jack Hawksworth's victory in the Firestone Indy Lights' St. Petersburg 100 last Saturday made him the eighth different driver to win their Lights debut...Dreamworks' upcoming movie "Turbo" -- which is about a snail that gains super speed and attempts to win the Indianapolis 500 -- has put out its second official trailer. The movie drops July 17.

Going into Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, a headline in the Toronto Sun tagged their hometown racing hero, James Hinchcliffe, as "the man who can save IndyCar."

If we've learned anything after 15 years of an open-wheel split -- and five years after IndyCar and Champ Car buried the hatchet -- it's that it'll take more than one soul to fully rehabilitate the series. But you can't blame the Sun for its enthusiasm.

The optimistic and humorous Hinchcliffe tends to have that effect on followers of the sport. He's already become the sport's most popular driver and has the chops to be a title threat for years to come.

And now that he has his first IndyCar victory in his pocket after holding off Helio Castroneves on the streets of St. Pete, the sky's the limit on what kind of impact he could have on IndyCar's fortunes.

"I think that fans certainly like a winner," Hinchcliffe said on Sunday. "Now we can call ourselves that. Hopefully, it's not the last one. But I've always tried to be myself at the racetrack. I think some people at some points in my career thought that maybe I wasn't taking my job seriously enough or something like that.

"But I think when you look at the last three laps of this race, the pressure we were under, I made a couple 'tiny little errors' sort of thing. But to bring it all back, keep our head down, hold off a guy like Helio, hopefully it proves that you can be a joker off the track but still get the job done on the track."

If there were indeed some that thought that Hinchcliffe was too fun-loving to be a serious racer, the joke's on them now.

But now comes the tough part: Sustaining the momentum he's created for himself and for defending series champion Andretti Autosport. Hinchcliffe had managed to put himself second in the points at the halfway point last year, but eventually faded back in the standings.

He knows consistency is everything -- he just needs to draw it out over the entirety of a season.

"You cannot make mistakes," he said. "It's so competitive, there's so many guys willing to pounce on anything you do wrong, whether it's in the pits, making a bad setup call or a driving error. People are going to take advantage of that."

But Hinchcliffe has the tools he needs to be a championship contender -- his own talent, a team full of resources and a strong engineer in Craig Hampson, who helped him bag Rookie of the Year honors in 2011 despite missing the opening round of that season.

If Hinchcliffe can put it all together, good things can happen: For himself, for Andretti Autosport, and for the series as a whole.

He may not be THE man that can save IndyCar, but he could definitely be ONE of them.

Following a compelling qualifying session that saw Will Power take the pole, Takuma Sato and Simona de Silvestro claim second and third on the grid, and rookie Tristan Vautier crack the Firestone Fast Six, we're set for racing today at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Noon ET, NBC Sports Network).

Power's fourth consecutive pole was no surprise whatsoever, but Sato, De Silvestro and Vautier went above and beyond expectations on Saturday. But qualifying is one thing and racing is another; we'll see if the latter three can capitalize and convert their strong starts to proper results.

De Silvestro will no doubt be the fans' choice this afternoon. The Swiss Missile went through a grueling 2012 thanks to the underpowered Lotus engine, but with a brand new team (KV Racing Technology) and a brand new Chevrolet engine, expect her to be much more competitive this season. If she could land a podium this afternoon, everyone involved would likely be over the moon.

Meanwhile, there are multiple big names in mid-pack and at the rear that will have to make their way up the grid. Among them: Dario Franchitti (10th), Justin Wilson (13th), Simon Pagenaud (19th), Scott Dixon (20th) and Sebastien Bourdais (21st).

Most of those I just listed are powered by Honda, which has been unable to completely match the pace of the Chevrolets up to this point; however, in this morning's warmup, the Honda camp landed eight of the top 10 positions (Ryan Hunter-Reay, a Chevy driver, led the way) so perhaps they'll have their act together for the main event. Still, the big boys will have to fight through the field and that should make for great action.

But no matter what engine you run, everything gets leveled if rain plays a role in today's race. Forecasts call for at least a 30% chance of rain in the Tampa/St. Pete region during race time, and that would change everything.

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IZOD IndyCar Series – Honda GP of St. Petersburg

Starting Lineup

Row 1

12-Will Power (Alternate)
14-Takuma Sato (Alternate)

Row 2

78-Simona de Silvestro (Alternate)
27-James Hinchcliffe (Alternate)

Row 3

3-Helio Castroneves (Alternate)
55-Tristan Vautier (Alternate)

Row 4

25-Marco Andretti (Primary)
1-Ryan Hunter-Reay (Primary)

Row 5

6-Sebastian Saavedra (Alternate)
10-Dario Franchitti (Alternate)

Row 6

11-Tony Kanaan (Alternate)
22-Oriol Servia (Primary)

Row 7

19-Justin Wilson (Alternate)
83-Charlie Kimball (Primary)

Row 8

15-Graham Rahal (Primary)
67-Josef Newgarden (Alternate)

Row 9

98-Alex Tagliani (Alternate)
16-James Jakes (Primary)

Row 10

77-Simon Pagenaud (Alternate)
9-Scott Dixon (Primary)

Row 11

7-Sebastien Bourdais (Primary)
5-EJ Viso (Primary)

Row 12

20-Ed Carpenter (Alternate)
4-JR Hildebrand (Alternate)

Row 13

18-Ana Beatriz (Alternate)

After Chevrolet-powered teams dominated yesterday's practice sessions for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Honda struck back this morning with Takuma Sato topping the final practice before this afternoon's qualifying session (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network).

Sato made his move to the top of the sheets late, posting a lap of 61.5293 seconds around the 1.8-mile street circuit. That was enough to best Will Power, who was the fastest driver on Friday and turned in a lap of 61.7386 seconds this morning. James Hinchcliffe was third-quickest with a time of 61.8971 seconds.

"It's only [practice], but [with the] black [primary] tire, we found a reasonable set up," Sato said to IndyCar Radio after the session. "It's definitely a big improvement from...the first practice."

Outside of Sato, Chevy locked up the next six positions in the session, with Tony Kanaan, Sebastian Saavedra, Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay in fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

E.J. Viso suffered damage in the session after making contact with the wall on the Bayshore Boulevard backstretch. Viso later revealed that the right front suspension failed on his machine, causing the incident and putting his Andretti Autosport team on the clock to repair his machine before qualifying.

One day before practice begins for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the city honored two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and St. Pete resident Dan Wheldon with a permanent monument at Turn 10 of the street circuit.

The monument features bricks from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, stones from his homeland of England, and hand prints of his wife, Susie, and their two sons, Sebastian and Oliver.

"Me and the boys were able to make our handprints in the concrete and I am so grateful to be able to make moments like that, just so they are able to know what a great driver and champion Dan was, but more importantly what he meant as a human being and father to us," Susie told the Associated Press.

Wheldon was killed in a crash in the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He won the 2005 edition of the St. Petersburg race.

A second monument was also unveiled to honor past winners throughout the race's history as an IZOD IndyCar Series event (the first open-wheel Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in 2003, won by Paul Tracy, was under Champ Car sanctioning). Wheldon's name is listed first, followed by the names of three-time St. Pete winner Helio Castroneves, Graham Rahal, Ryan Briscoe, Will Power and Dario Franchitti.

Turn 10 of the 1.8-mile St. Pete street circuit was renamed "Dan Wheldon Way" shortly before the series staged its 2012 season-opener last March -- the first race since Wheldon's death.

IndyCar.com is reporting that Ana Beatriz will race alongside Justin Wilson at Dale Coyne Racing for Sunday's IndyCar season opener at St. Petersburg, Florida (Noon ET, NBC Sports Network).

Beatriz, who competed last year at Sao Paulo and the Indianapolis 500 for Andretti Autosport, tested for DCR during last week's Spring Training sessions at Barber Motorsports Park. She has one St. Pete start to her credit dating back to her 2011 rookie season, when she finished 11th on the Florida street circuit for Dreyer and Reinbold Racing.