Josef Newgarden sends Indy 500 warning by topping final practice

Josef Newgarden was fastest in final practice for the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500. 

The two-hour session on Carb Day saw the two-time Indy 500 winner pound the pavement for 55 laps, with a best of 228.342mph in the #2 Team Penske Chevrolet.

“It was OK,” Newgarden said. “It was all right. But today’s Friday, and we’ve got to be good on Sunday. I’m just ready to get to Sunday. Sunday is what’s going to matter with the Shell car. Team Chevy has done a great job for us this month. I’m excited to go racing.”

ECR’s Christian Rasmussen was second, trailing Newgarden by 0.1505s (227.474mph). He was in the middle of a Team Penske sandwich as David Malukas ended third (226.565mph) at 0.3092s off Newgarden’s mark.

Conor Daly, driving the #23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet, concluded fourth-fastest (226.341mph) in the session at 0.3485s behind. 

 Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato was the first Honda-powered driver in fifth (226.244mph), with his #75 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry 0.3656s behind. 

Reigning and four-time IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou, who also comes in as the defending Indy 500 winner and will start Sunday on the pole, was sixth. His session was disrupted slightly when, after initially logging 37 laps, the mechanics of his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda “saw something they didn’t like” and took his car back to the garage to look it over with roughly 1h20m left in the session. He returned later and logged additional laps before the session ended.

Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood was carving through traffic before concluding his session early and ended up seventh overall on the scoring pylon. Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was eighth. 

Marcus Armstrong put the #66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda in ninth, ahead of rookie Dennis Hauger's #19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda in 10th. 

After being cleared to race following his two medical procedures as a result of a practice crash on Monday, Alexander Rossi, who starts second in the Indy 500, jumped into his #20 ECR Chevrolet with a special brace on his right ankle. He logged 48 laps, with a best of 222.291mph that was 31st overall. 

Six-time IndyCar Series champion and 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon ran a session-high 96 laps, with the final run being a fuel-save effort. He was 14th quickest. Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist, 22nd quickest, logged the fewest laps on the day with 45.

FiP

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	55	39.4145		228.342
2	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	21	49	+0.1505 39.5650	0.1505	227.474
3	D. Malukas Team Penske	12	54	+0.3092 39.7237	0.1587	226.565
4	C. Daly Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	23	81	+0.3485 39.7630	0.0393	226.341
5	T. Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	75	93	+0.3656 39.7801	0.0171	226.244
6	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	69	+0.4110 39.8255	0.0454	225.986
7	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	49	+0.4231 39.8376	0.0121	225.917
8	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	53	+0.4717 39.8862	0.0486	225.642
9	M. Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	66	73	+0.5284 39.9429	0.0567	225.322
10	D. Hauger Dale Coyne Racing	19	64	+0.5523 39.9668	0.0239	225.187
11	R. Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing	18	91	+0.5586 39.9731	0.0063	225.151
12	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	88	+0.5752 39.9897	0.0166	225.058
13	J. Harvey Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	24	86	+0.5849 39.9994	0.0097	225.003
14	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	96	+0.6002 40.0147	0.0153	224.917
15	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	61	+0.6040 40.0185	0.0038	224.896
16	R. van Kalmthout Juncos Hollinger Racing	76	59	+0.6379 40.0524	0.0339	224.706
17	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	51	+0.6897 40.1042	0.0518	224.415
18	L. Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	73	+0.7042 40.1187	0.0145	224.334
19	H. Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	06	70	+0.7116 40.1261	0.0074	224.293
20	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	58	+0.7278 40.1423	0.0162	224.202
21	C. Collet A.J. Foyt Enterprises	4	56	+0.7415 40.1560	0.0137	224.126
22	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	60	45	+0.7839 40.1984	0.0424	223.890
23	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	8	89	+0.8401 40.2546	0.0562	223.577
24	E. Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing	33	63	+0.8411 40.2556	0.0010	223.571
25	R. Hunter-Reay Arrow McLaren	31	57	+0.9260 40.3405	0.0849	223.101
26	W. Power Andretti Global	26	89	+0.9540 40.3685	0.0280	222.946
27	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6	55	+0.9583 40.3728	0.0043	222.922
28	J. Abel Abel Motorsports	51	64	+0.9584 40.3729	0.0001	222.922
29	M. Schumacher Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	47	67	+0.9945 40.4090	0.0361	222.723
30	C. Lundgaard Arrow McLaren	7	57	+1.0431 40.4576	0.0486	222.455
31	A. Rossi Ed Carpenter Racing	20	48	+1.0729 40.4874	0.0298	222.291
32	R. Robb Sting Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	58	+1.1089 40.5234	0.0360	222.094
33	K. Legge HMD Motorsports with A.J. Foyt Racing	11	48	+1.1228 40.5373	0.0139	222.018
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