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“I think it’s very positive coming together,” said IRL team owner Roger Penske, a Bloomfield Hills businessman who has won 14 Indianapolis 500 titles. “A lot of people have been bruised because of the split and now I’m seeing some momentum.”

With the merger of the two series, one-third of the 33-car field will be making their first start in the Indianapolis 500. Eleven of the drivers are Indy 500 rookies.

Graham Rahal is one of those rookies. He is 19 and earlier this year became the youngest driver to win a major open-wheel race. His father, Bobby Rahal, is a former Indianapolis 500 winner and currently a team owner.

“Obviously, (the merger) is extremely important,” Bobby Rahal said. “I don’t think that there’s any mystery to that. I think it’s unfortunate that it ever got to the point that it did, but I think now it’s wonderful that it’s all together now. Now, frankly, there’s potential. There’s the ability for open-wheel racing (to) regain its rightful place. With all the drivers we have in this race, I certainly believe the ingredients are there to do that for sure.”

The open-wheel merger has been the biggest storyline in the sport and certainly the Indianapolis 500 this year, but heading into Sunday’s race, here are other storylines to watch:

Danica-mania

Danica Patrick burst onto the Indianapolis 500 scene four years ago and seized an important role. She was, in many ways, a breath of fresh air for a series trying to reestablish itself.

Fast-forward to the 2008 Indy 500, and Patrick enters Sunday’s race with what she believes is her best chance at winning. And why not? She already has experienced the top spot on the podium with a victory earlier this spring, becoming the first woman to win an IndyCar race.

She finished eighth last year in the Indianapolis 500, and eighth in 2006, but she started and finished fourth in her rookie start in 2005. Patrick led laps that race, also a first for a female driver, so she knows what it feels like to lead the Indy 500. She loves the Indianapolis Motor Speedway so much she has called it her “second home.”

Now, about that Sports Illustrated cover jinx.

Penske goes for No. 15

Team owner Roger Penske is going for the double this year. He already has won the Daytona 500, as Ryan Newman crossed the finish line first, with teammate Kurt Busch right behind, so why not add the Indianapolis 500 title?

After all, Penske has been to Victory Lane 14 times in the Indy 500. He has a proven driver in two-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, and team newcomer Ryan Briscoe will be starting third.

But even after all his success here, Penske still gets nervous at Indy.

“I think every morning that we’re here before the race, it’s the same,” Penske said. “You’re on pins and needles. You’re just trying to really anticipate what’s going to happen. In fact, the more times you’re here, it gets tougher because there’s so many things you try to be sure on your checklist that you’ve taken care of.”

Victory dance

Perhaps you know Helio Castroneves as the “Dancing with the Stars” champion. He would really like you to know him as the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner.

“Winning twice, it’s just an amazing situation,” Castroneves said. “Thinking about going for a third win is to put myself in a very exclusive spot.”

He can’t deny the notoriety he earned by being on the ABC show last fall, but he wants that to translate into more fans for IndyCar racing and the Indianapolis 500.

“Hopefully, those new fans we achieve (from the show), we can bring them now (to racing) and see it’s also fun,” he said.

Familiar names

For the first time since the 1992 Indianapolis 500, there will be an Andretti, a Rahal and a Foyt in the starting field.

Youth has been served for these Indy 500-winning families. Graham Rahal is the son of Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, Marco Andretti is the son of Michael Andretti and grandson of Indy 500 winner Mario Andretti, and A.J. Foyt IV is the grandson of four-time Indy 500 winner A.J. Foyt.

Rahal said he has offered his young son some advice about the 2.5-mile oval.

“Really, it’s similar with all the ovals — be patient,” Bobby Rahal said. “That’s maybe even more important here because of the length of time that you’re out here, how many laps your doing, the hiccups that can happen. So you just have to stay very patient and very disciplined.”

Don’t forget other women

Danica Patrick can’t be ignored, but there are two other women in the Indianapolis 500 field.

For the second year in a row, three women will start. Last year, that marked an Indy 500 first, as Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno competed. Patrick was eighth, Fisher 18th and Duno, a rookie in 2007, was 31st.

Duno still needs time to get acclimated to the sport, but Fisher has been around. She came to Indy with her own, family-run team and recently landed sponsorship for this race.

“This month, I have been wearing two hats, which is something that is new to me, but the challenge has been inspiring,” Fisher said. “The biggest part of that we’re most proud of is knowing we took the risk to start this team.”

Teammates ready to roll

Target Chip Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon, a former Indy 500 winner, will start 1-2. Both are proven winners and neither should be underestimated.

Wheldon said this is the best prepared the Ganassi team has been for the Indianapolis 500, and that was proven with Dixon’s pole victory and the team’s overall consistency this month.

“The team put a lot of effort into this particular race,” Wheldon said. “The preparation that they’ve done for this month is the best I’ve ever seen.”

Just four ex-champs

Several former Indianapolis 500 winners are actively racing, but only four of them will be in Sunday’s field: Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002), Dan Wheldon (2005), Buddy Rice (2004) and Buddy Lazier (1996).

The last two winners, Dario Franchitti (2007) and Sam Hornish Jr. (2006), are competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Juan Pablo Montoya, the 2000 winner, also is in the Sprint Cup series.

“I haven’t had time to play attention too much,” Hornish said of the Indy 500 preparations this month. “I watched parts of pole qualifying and watched bump day, but I’m focused on so much other stuff I don’t have time to think about it.”

Slow, but still racing

Marty Roth might be the slowest Indianapolis 500 qualifier — again — but who cares?

The Canadian driver, a former motorcycle racer who owns his own IndyCar team, is just happy to be in the 33-car field. For the second consecutive year, Roth was the slowest qualifier, and it’s the fourth time in four races he will start 29th or worse.

“If you don’t make the show, it’s huge,” said Roth, who did make the show.

Just how far off was Roth in qualifying? He will start from the last row with a qualifying speed of 218.965 mph. Scott Dixon won the pole with a speed of 226.366.

Family matters

Two Andrettis will try to break the “Andretti Curse” at Indianapolis on Sunday.

Of course, there’s IndyCar series regular Marco Andretti, grandson of Mario Andretti — the only Andretti to win the Indianapolis 500, way back in 1969. John Andretti, Mario’s nephew and also a NASCAR driver, will try to win the elusive title, as well.

John Andretti, an Indianapolis native, will make his eighth Indy 500 start and second straight.

“Coming through the tunnel, it raises the hair on my back every time I just come to the speedway,” he said.