Welcome back Mike Conway.

After Ana Beatriz drove the 18 car in last weekend’s Indianapolis 500, Conway strapped into the car this week in Detroit with one goal in mind: putting Dale Coyne back in victory lane. Mission accomplished on Saturday, in dominating fashion.

Mike has a chance to do it again tomorrow in dual race number 2, where he will start on pole. This was only Conway’s second IndyCar race of the year. His other start was at Long Beach, driving a Rahal Letterman Lanigan car. Ryan Hunter-Reay finished in second place, and Justin Wilson joined them on the podium, finishing third. Dale Coyne Racing owned two spots on the podium for race number 1.

It was a great day for Dale Coyne Racing, and a tough one for everyone else. AJ Allmendinger, Sebastien Bourdais, Sebastian Saavedra, and Alex Tagliani all saw their day end early. AJ got airborne on the opening lap when he made contact with Scott Dixon’s rear tire. Roger Penske said the team will have the car fixed in time for tomorrow’s race. Dixon rebounded nicely, finishing 4th on Saturday after a collection of issues on the track.

It was a big day in the points standings, as Marco Andretti had problems all day long, and finished 21st. He entered the day as the championship leader, which now belongs to Helio Castroneves, who finished 5th today. Helio leads the standings, despite not having won a race this season.  We’ve now run seven races in 2013, and we have yet to see a Penske or Ganassi car win a race. Andretti Autosport, AJ Foyt Racing, KV Technology, and Dale Coyne Racing have all been to victory lane.

Conway will pick up where he left off today, starting Sunday’s race (dual 2) on pole, with James Jakes joining him on the front row. Will Power and Hunter-Reay will be in row 2. It is the first career pole for both Conway and Dale Coyne Racing. The 70 lap race at Belle Isle will once again air at 3:30 PM on ABC.