INDIANAPOLIS – Carb Day final practice for Sunday’s 110th Indianapolis 500 saw a familiar name return to the top of the charts as Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was the fastest of the 33 drivers who hit the track Friday.
It also saw a return to action for Alexander Rossi of ECR, who crashed in Monday’s practice session and injured his right ankle and middle finger on his left hand.
Rossi crashed the No. 20 Chevrolet in Turn 2 on Monday. Also involved in that crash on Monday was Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren in the No. 5 Chevrolet and Romain Grosjean’s No. 19 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing.
Rossi completed 48 laps and his fastest speed was 222.291 mph in the No. 20 Java House Chevrolet. That was the 31st fastest on Carb Day.
“I feel amazing,” Rossi said. “I just want to talk about the IndyCar doctors and everyone at IU Health and what they’ve accomplished in order to get us back to this process of getting in the car today, it’s pretty exceptional. It took a huge amount of things to go correctly and a great group of people that I’m incredibly thankful for.
“The 20 car crew for what they did to bring a car back to the Speedway that feels just as good as the car we qualified. We had a very specific plan today to get through, just to make sure that everything we thought would happen, would happen, and it all did.
“We’re in a really good spot for Sunday. All three ECR Chevys seem incredibly strong. It’s a testament to the organization and the resolve that everyone has.”
Another driver who returned to duty was Andretti Global driver Will Power. The 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner with Team Penske is dealing with a family emergency involving his father and did not participate in Thursday’s Indy 500 Media Day.
As for the action on the race track, Newgarden ran 55 laps in the two-hour session with a best speed of 228.342 mph in the No. 2 Chell Chevrolet.
“It was OK. It was all right,” Newgarden said afterwards. “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.”
Newgarden starts 24th on Sunday. The last time a driver won the Indy 500 from a starting position of 23rd or lower was in 1974, when Johnny Rutherford started 25th and earned the first of his three 500 victories.
Christian Rasmussen was second today with his best lap of 227.474 in the No. 21 Splenda Chevrolet of Ed Carpenter Racing. David Malukas matched his starting position by ending up third at 226.565 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
Conor Daly of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing was fourth at 226.341 mph in the No. 23 Chevrolet at 226.341 mph. Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing rounded out the top five.
Katherine Legge of HMD Motorsports with AJ Foyt Racing was the 33rd fastest out of 33 cars on the track. She is attempting to become the first woman to attempt the double by also racing in the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday night.
“I just keep telling myself, don’t be grumpy, don’t get grumpy,” Legge said. “Everybody’s working incredibly hard, and I have to remember how lucky I am and how grateful I am to be here, because I am.
“So, when all of these things keep coming in, you have to remember the positives, which is like I’m here. Like OK, we were stuck on the runway for 2 1/2 hours and we had a sinkhole, and we had all these things, but hey, I’m still going back to Indy to drive the Indy 500, right?
“So, you have to keep everything in, I guess, perspective. It’s weird, though, because when you’re trying to be numb to that, you’re also numb to kind of the positives in what you let in. So, you try not to be on the roller coaster of, yeah, it’s awesome, and then, oh, no, the clutch isn’t working or whatever it may be. Try to be kind of level-headed about it all and let it run off you like water off a duck’s back.
“It’s not easy. It’s come with years of practice.”
All 33 drivers combined to turn 2,169 laps in the two-hour final session, which featured just one caution period for a loose right-rear wheel that forced 2022 “500” winner Marcus Ericsson to slow on course in the No. 28 Phoenix Investors Honda of Andretti Global. Six-time series champion and 2008 “500” winner Scott Dixon was the busiest driver, turning 96 laps in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
After the Carb Day Practice, it was the Oscar Mayer Wienie 500 as six Wienermobiles participated in a “Bun to Bun” battle over two laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. New York Dog won the Wienie 500 despite a last lap charge from Chili Dog.
The Oscar Mayer $150,000 Pit Stop Challenge made it through five runs before it began to rain. Pato O’Ward and Will Power were the last two to face off in the first round.
There were three duels left in the first round including rookies Dennis Hauger vs. Max Schumacher, Graham Rahal vs. Louie Foster and Christian Rasmussen vs. Christian Lundgaard that had yet to run before IndyCar canceled the rest of the event because of rain.
