Two veterans set the pace at the final practice ahead of the 108th Running of the Indy 500. 2008 winner Scott Dixon led Carb Day with a speed of 227.026 mph. Four-time champion Helio Castroneves was second fastest with a speed of 226.939 mph.
With the weather a big question mark on race day, there was a sense of urgency among the teams to get the cars dialed in early in the session. A total of 2,721 laps were turned with only one caution.
With 15 minutes remaining in the two-hour session, NASCAR champion Kyle Larson’s #17 Chevrolet ran out of fuel. Practice resumed with ten minutes on the clock.
Dixon, who qualified a surprising 21st, completed 90 laps and was pleased with his performance today.
“Conditions were definitely tricky. It changed a lot throughout. As we were just chatting, I think early on was quite comfortable. We went through some changes. Some were good, some were bad. But definitely a lot of competitive cars out there, so it’s going to be one tough race. As the track got a little bit warmer out there with track temp especially, it got pretty greasy and pretty slippery,” said the six-time champion.
“But yeah, I think the 9 car has been fairly strong in race running, but unfortunately, I think there’s about 20 others that are really strong, as well.”
Pole sitter Scott McLaughlin finished in the 20th position after putting in 93 laps.
“Very similar to what we started with this week,” said the Kiwi. “We haven’t really played around too much mechanically with the car. It felt good out of the box, and just sort of building my confidence with it. We tried a few different downforce levels there just to get an idea.
McLaughlin continued, “Looks like cooler temps for Sunday as well as Monday if that gets pushed back. Hopefully not. But ultimately, you’re just sort of going through the motions, attacking the pit speed line. I actually sped, which was a good thing to get that out of the way now. A few other things like just pit stop practice and whatnot. I was just ticking things off the list.”
“Yeah, felt really good, but didn’t put a big number up, but I think we’re okay.
McLaughlin had previously credited an unknown person for his performance all month. Earlier in the day, Simon Pagenaud revealed that it was him. Although McLaughlin has performed well at the Brickyard in the past, he credits the former 500 champion for taking his mental game to the next level.
“The line I think came a little naturally to me, but yeah, he’s a very keen observer of many things, a note taker, and we’ve been exchanging notes all week. I asked him to do this like February, January or February, and we’ve been analyzing a lot of things since,” McLaughlin said.
“But at the same time, he’s always been a Team Penske member. He’s won the 500 for us, and at the end of the day, we all just want him to be okay. So this is for me an opportunity for me to work with him but also an opportunity for me to help maybe bring him back to the race and get his name back involved. Whether that’s not driving a race car, at least he’s involved, and he gets that feeling of being at the 500 again.”
McLaughlin continued, “I’m sure it’s so hard for him right now. It’s his first 500 he’s missed in a long time. He’s a 500 winner, and he’s at a point in his career where he could easily keep going for many, many years.
“He’s just a nice guy. I’ve always got along with him from Penske, and he’s been a lot of help. Yeah, there’s definitely a lot of things I’ve used this week that have helped, but at the same time, we’ve had great car speed, which has made it a lot easier. But just leaning on him has been nice.”
McLaughlin’s Penske teammates and fellow front-row starters, Will Power and Josef Newgarden, were 21st and 32nd fastest, respectively.
The fastest non-Penske qualifier, Alexander Rossi, was 26th quickest. Larson was the 13th fastest after his 74 laps.
A total of 10,849 laps were turned at the Speedway ahead of Sunday’s race.
