Indianapolis ? The fastest field in the history of the Indianapolis 500 is also one of the deepest in talent.

When the 33-car lineup was finalized Sunday, Bruno Junqueira was at the front with a four-lap average of 231.342 mph, while Billy Boat was slowest at 226.589.

Boat’s speed was a half-mile an hour faster than Scott Sharp’s pole speed last May and the best by the slowest starter ever.

More significant, the time difference between the fastest and slowest 10-mile qualifying runs this month was just 2.8117 seconds.

“This field is probably the most competitive ever,” said two-time race winner Arie Luyendyk, whose 228.848 mph led Sunday’s final round of qualifying, but was just 14th fastest in the field and gave him the 24th starting position.

“One problem with that is with everybody going about the same speed, passing is going to be very, very tough,” Luyendyk said. “It’s always been hard to win if you don’t start in the first few rows, but this is going to be real hard.”

The speeds have risen thanks to a smoother 21*2-mile oval, ground down over the winter to take out some of the bumps; a bit more horsepower in the non-turbocharged engines; and one of the most talented fields in the 86 runnings of the Indy race.

The lineup includes six former champions two-time winners Luyendyk and Al Unser Jr., Eddie Cheever, Buddy Lazier, Kenny Brack and 2002 winner Helio Castroneves.

Twenty-two drivers in the field have accounted for a total of 177 major American open-wheel race victories coming in either the Indy Racing League or rival CART.

One of those is Dario Franchitti, who is leading the CART series and also is one of nine rookies in the Indy field.

“I’ve been told by the guys that have raced here before that it’s a heck of an experience to walk out here race morning,” Franchitti said. “I’m totally focused on getting ready for the race.”

Most of the physical work, though, already should be done.

With the unique Indianapolis schedule, after two weeks of practice and qualifying the only time the drivers will be allowed on the track before the start of the race next Sunday is the traditional two-hour “Carburetion Day” shakedown on Thursday.

“That’s why we spent so much time during the week working on our race setup,” said Lazier, one of the 24 drivers who qualified on May 11, the first day of time trials. “If your work isn’t done now, you’re probably going to have to be doing a lot of guessing, and that’s not good.”

While some drivers were desperately trying to make it into the field on Sunday, Jimmy Vasser, another CART star who will be racing in his seventh Indy 500 and has finished seventh and fourth the past two years, spent the day working on his race setup.

Vasser, who is driving for Team Rahal at Indy for the first time since 1995, said, “It was another productive day. We scrubbed in several sets of tires in our backup (car) and even ran our race car for an engine check.

“That backup car was good on full tanks, even with the stiff wind. I put in over 70 laps in race trim and I think everyone on our team is pleased with the progress we’ve made this week.”

Asked if he feels ready for the race, Vasser smiled, shrugged and said, “We’d better be. It’s going to be intense when the green flag waves, and it’s going to stay that way for 500 miles.”