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Josef Newgarden led the final practice* for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” with a top lap of 225.687 mph in the No. 2 Shell V-Power NiTRO+ Team Penske Chevrolet. Newgarden is trying to become the first driver to win three consecutive Indy 500s. However, due to the Team Penske Cheating Scandal, he’ll need to do it from the 33rd starting spot. Newgarden and Team Penske teammate Will Power were moved to the rear of the field Monday due to a modified attenuator on their respective cars that violated IndyCar rules Sunday during PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying. The record for the deepest starting spot of a “500” winner is 28th, by Ray Harroun in the inaugural race in 1911 and Louis Meyer in 1936. (Read AutoInformed.com on: IndyCar Moves Team Penske Cars to Bottom of Grid! and IndyCar – Penske Fires Senior Leadership Team)
“Good final run here,” Newgarden said. “Excited to check the car off again and work with the team. I’m really excited for Sunday. The main show. Everything we work for.”
- Newgarden swept the day, as he and his Team Penske crew also won the Oscar Mayer $150,000 Pit Stop Challenge for the second consecutive year.
- Two-time “500” winner Takuma Sato was second at 225.415 in the No. 75 AMADA Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. However, his car slowed on the backstretch of the 2.5-mile oval late in the session with an apparent problem, triggering the last of two caution periods. Sato’s machine stopped on the deceleration lane between Turns 3 and 4 before it was placed inside the retaining wall there.
- Sato is starting second in the race (10 a.m. ET Sunday, FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). “I would say we weren’t entirely happy with (car setup) yet, but we were making good progress,” Sato said. “We were pointing in the right direction, so I want to check all the data. We had a mechanical failure on the last run and lost performance on one side of the car. It’s too early for me to say what that was until the team investigates it, but I almost lost control in Turn 1, and we are just fortunate I didn’t hit anything.”
- Six-time series champion Scott Dixon ended up third at 225.200 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Dixon, aiming for his second “500” win and first since 2008, is starting fourth.
- Devlin DeFrancesco, starting 16th, jumped to fourth in the two-hour final practice at 224.778 in the No. 30 Dogecoin Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Power, starting 33rd, rounded out the top five at 224.419 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
- Pole sitter Robert Shwartzman, the first “500” rookie to claim the top starting spot since 1983, was 29th at 220.987 in the No. 83 PREMA Racing Chevrolet.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Team Penske both put two cars in the top five in the practice session.
Sato wasn’t the only RLL driver to face mechanical trouble. Graham Rahal’s trying month continued when his No. 15 United Rentals Honda was returned to Gasoline Alley after just 45 minutes. The 2016 “500” winner Alexander Rossi lost time on track with a water leak in his No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet.
The first caution of the final practice was triggered just past the halfway point when flames erupted from the back of 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay’s No. 23 Chevrolet on the backstretch. Hunter-Reay guided the stricken car to the top of pit lane before he scurried from the car and surveyed the damage as the AMR IndyCar Safety Team extinguished the flames.
In the Oscar Mayer $150,000 Pit Stop Challenge, Newgarden beat Power in an all-Team Penske final that required all three rounds. Newgarden’s crew won the first round, Power’s the second. However, in the final round, the No. 2 crew changed four tires and completed a simulated fueling in 10.263 seconds, while Power and the No. 12 crew trailed at 10.503. The No. 2 crew earned a $50,000 prize, with the No. 12 crew collecting $25,000.
This was the record-extending 20th victory in the annual pit stop contest for Team Penske, and Newgarden became just the fifth driver to win three or more times. Newgarden last year became the first driver to sweep the pit stop contest and the “500” in the same year since Helio Castroneves in 2009, also for Team Penske.
*Practice Results click here
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
Newgarden Leads Final Indy 500 Practice
Click for more.
Josef Newgarden led the final practice* for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” with a top lap of 225.687 mph in the No. 2 Shell V-Power NiTRO+ Team Penske Chevrolet. Newgarden is trying to become the first driver to win three consecutive Indy 500s. However, due to the Team Penske Cheating Scandal, he’ll need to do it from the 33rd starting spot. Newgarden and Team Penske teammate Will Power were moved to the rear of the field Monday due to a modified attenuator on their respective cars that violated IndyCar rules Sunday during PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying. The record for the deepest starting spot of a “500” winner is 28th, by Ray Harroun in the inaugural race in 1911 and Louis Meyer in 1936. (Read AutoInformed.com on: IndyCar Moves Team Penske Cars to Bottom of Grid! and IndyCar – Penske Fires Senior Leadership Team)
“Good final run here,” Newgarden said. “Excited to check the car off again and work with the team. I’m really excited for Sunday. The main show. Everything we work for.”
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Team Penske both put two cars in the top five in the practice session.
Sato wasn’t the only RLL driver to face mechanical trouble. Graham Rahal’s trying month continued when his No. 15 United Rentals Honda was returned to Gasoline Alley after just 45 minutes. The 2016 “500” winner Alexander Rossi lost time on track with a water leak in his No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet.
The first caution of the final practice was triggered just past the halfway point when flames erupted from the back of 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay’s No. 23 Chevrolet on the backstretch. Hunter-Reay guided the stricken car to the top of pit lane before he scurried from the car and surveyed the damage as the AMR IndyCar Safety Team extinguished the flames.
In the Oscar Mayer $150,000 Pit Stop Challenge, Newgarden beat Power in an all-Team Penske final that required all three rounds. Newgarden’s crew won the first round, Power’s the second. However, in the final round, the No. 2 crew changed four tires and completed a simulated fueling in 10.263 seconds, while Power and the No. 12 crew trailed at 10.503. The No. 2 crew earned a $50,000 prize, with the No. 12 crew collecting $25,000.
This was the record-extending 20th victory in the annual pit stop contest for Team Penske, and Newgarden became just the fifth driver to win three or more times. Newgarden last year became the first driver to sweep the pit stop contest and the “500” in the same year since Helio Castroneves in 2009, also for Team Penske.
*Practice Results click here
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.