Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway offers the final opportunity to make certain each of the 33 cars that will race on Sunday can work in traffic, can get into and out of the pits using the proper speed limit successfully and that each car is buttoned-up and ready for the 108th Indianapolis 500, comprised of 200 laps, 500 miles on the historic 2.5-mile oval.
Two hours of practice on Friday was filled with action as every driver looked to see how they compare with others in terms of their settings. No longer trimmed out for speed but, rather, looking to find their race pace and ease of overtaking is the message of this meeting. Over 2,700 were in the books for all 33 drivers once the two hours were complete.
Many eyes during this two-hour practice, especially the television announcers, were on NASCAR star Kyle Larson, the fifth such driver attempting to win both the Indy 500 and the 600-mile Cup Series race on Charlotte Motor Speedway’s oval. Larson already has a victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. No, not in the NASCAR Cup Series where he was the 2021 champion; Larson won the Driven2ChSaveLives BC39 race on Indy’s 1/4-mile infield dirt track in the same year he took his Cup Series title.
Sure, it’s not the same thing, but it’s just another aspect of Larson’s capabilities – the guy can adapt to any type of race car and he can win. The big question concerning Larson, of course, is weather. An early rain delay could mean he doesn’t run at Indy at all, as the driver’s primary job is winning a NASCAR Cup Series race and title for Hendrick Motorsports.
Larson completed 74 laps on Friday, had some pit issues in his first time working on pit in/pit out strictures, but felt comfortable in the car, he said. “I feel we’ve checked a lot of boxes before the race.” Larson has one “secret weapon” in his pit road arsenal and that’s Brian Campe, who is masterminding his Indy race this weekend; Campe worked with reigning Indy 500 champ Josef Newgarden when that driver earned his two titles at Team Penske. Newgarden’s 72 laps had the pole sitter in the way-back machine, practicing in 32nd spot.
Helio Castroneves, making his sole appearance in the INDYCAR series this year at Indy, is attempting to be the first driver to win five 500-mile races. Because he’s a “one-and-done” racer this year with Meyer Shank Racing’s Honda program, the Brazilian practiced for 103 laps during the two-hour Carb Day on-track activities. He was one of six drivers completing more than 100 laps during this session. The veteran was pleased to be second on the speed charts, “But at the end of the day, we just got to start it and middle it and, in the ed we’ve got to make sure that we read the race and go to that number five.”
Castroneves, of course is starting on the seventh row, together with six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing. Giving team owner Chip Ganassi a nice birthday gift of winning Carb Day practice is nice, but Dixon is out to earn his second Indy 500 race. Dixon felt he went through his necessary sequences during the two-hour practice, turning 90 laps. “The conditions,” he said, “changed a lot from start to finish,” and felt his car “pulls up well.” Starting 21st, “You have to take the race as it is. We’ve got some positions to make up. Hopefully can pass all 20 on the first lap,” Dixon joked, “but that’s not gonna happen.”
So the big question remained: do teams set up their cars for the conditions on Carb Day or do they plan for very different weather terms for Sunday’s race. Getting balance correct for each driver to work in traffic and to be solo on the race track is always a difficult thing to do, and with warm track conditions on Carb Day – similar to how teams practiced on Monday when it was even warmer – when Sunday might be a lot different. At this time, Indianapolis weather is its usual and customary volatile self.
As of Friday afternoon, scattered showers are predicted for Friday night and scattered thunderstorms for much of Saturday morning, which could cause issues with the public driver’s meeting on pit road. Sunday’s prediction includes showers before 11 and the possibility of showers or thunderstorms between 11 and 2PM, with thunderstorms forecast after 2PM and temps in the low 80s. The Monday forecast is similar with showers/thunderstorms, albeit partly sunny in the afternoon with a high near 75, several degrees cooler than the temps for this final practice.
The two-hour practice, followed by the pit stop competition won by Josef Newgarden over Pato O’Ward in an all-Chevrolet contest, might not be indicative of which driver will be caressing the BorgWarner trophy once the race is complete, but it does give an idea of which cars are good in race trim.
While Chevrolet ruled the roost in qualifying, Honda had seven of the top 10 cars for this practice, one of which was Meyer Shank Racing’s rookie Tom Blomqvist in fifth place. The tenth-placed car in practice on Friday was 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner, Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2012 INDYCAR champion racing a Chevrolet-powered Dallara with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports.
Anyone can win the Indy 500 from anywhere in this field. With seven former winners in the field, that means nearly a quarter of this grouping knows how to find Victory Lane. There are 33 hungry – and thirsty, in the case of pole man Scott McLaughlin’s “thirsty 3’s” – drivers and teams wanting to win the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
At the very last minute, INDYCAR announced procedural changes for Sunday’s race: the series intends to officiate the dotted line from the exit of turn 4 to pit entry, to ensure drivers don’t dip their left-size tires below that dotted line. Exceptions would be for actual pit entry, incident avoidance on the track or when a driver is obviously trying to avoid a closed pit lane and return to the track. Failure to stick to these strictures could mean a penalty of pit drive-through, a time penalty if the incident occurs at the close of the race or, if during a caution, the driver may be moved to the rear of the pack.
Rank Car Driver Name C/E/T Time Speed Diff Gap Best Lap Total Laps
1 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 00:39.6117 227.206 –.—- –.—- 11 90
2 06 Castroneves, Helio D/H/F 00:39.6583 226.939 0.0466 0.0466 5 103
3 5 O’Ward, Pato D/C/F 00:39.7060 226.666 0.0943 0.0477 10 78
4 26 Herta, Colton D/H/F 00:39.7842 226.220 0.1725 0.0782 4 79
5 66 Blomqvist, Tom (R) D/H/F 00:39.9201 225.450 0.3084 0.1359 11 62
6 28 Ericsson, Marcus D/H/F 00:3. 9.9259 225.418 0.3142 0.0058 7 64
7 78 Canapino, Agustin D/C/F 00:39.9432 225.320 0.3315 0.0173 4 105
8 60 Rosenqvist, Felix D/H/F 00:39.9450 225.310 0.3333 0.0018 5 89
9 10 Palou, Alex D/H/F 00:39.9463 225.302 0.3346 0.0013 86 91
10 23 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/C/F 00:39.9780 225.124 0.3663 0.0317 3 63
11 6 Ilott, Callum D/C/F 00:39.9866 225.075 0.3749 0.0086 39 103
12 4 Simpson, Kyffin (R) D/H/F 00:40.0313 224.824 0.4196 0.0447 15 104
13 17 Larson, Kyle (R) D/C/F 00:40.0426 224.761 0.4309 0.0113 24 74
14 75 Sato, Takuma D/H/F 00:40.0659 224.630 0.4542 0.0233 91 96
15 30 Fittipaldi, Pietro D/H/F 00:40.0769 224.568 0.4652 0.0110 12 97
16 11 Armstrong, Marcus (R) D/H/F 00:40.1058 224.406 0.4941 0.0289 8 100
17 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/F 00:40.1154 224.353 0.5037 0.0096 11 106
18 98 Andretti, Marco D/H/F 00:40.1209 224.322 0.5092 0.0055 12 72
19 45 Lundgaard, Christian D/H/F 00:40.1272 224.287 0.5155 0.0063 37 74
20 3 McLaughlin, Scott D/C/F 00:40.1312 224.264 0.5195 0.0040 18 93
21 12 Power, Will D/C/F 00:40.1332 224.253 0.5215 0.0020 6 69
22 24 Daly, Conor D/C/F 00:40.1333 224.253 0.5216 0.0001 9 74
23 27 Kirkwood, Kyle D/H/F 00:40.1511 224.153 0.5394 0.0178 10 65
24 14 Ferrucci, Santino D/C/F 00:40.1852 223.963 0.5735 0.0341 44 49
25 77 Grosjean, Romain D/C/F 00:40.1878 223.949 0.5761 0.0026 4 82
26 7 Rossi, Alexander D/C/F 00:40.2025 223.867 0.5908 0.0147 68 92
27 33 Rasmussen, Christian (R) D/C/F 00:40.2105 223.822 0.5988 0.0080 61 88
28 41 Robb, Sting Ray D/C/F 00:40.2614 223.539 0.6497 0.0509 78 95
29 20 Carpenter, Ed D/C/F 00:40.2958 223.348 0.6841 0.0344 4 67
30 21 VeeKay, Rinus D/C/F 00:40.3541 223.026 0.7424 0.0583 15 90
31 51 Legge, Katherine D/H/F 00:40.3719 222.927 0.7602 0.0178 74 86
32 2 Newgarden, Josef D/C/F 00:40.3864 222.847 0.7747 0.0145 12 72
33 8 Lundqvist, Linus (R) D/H/F 00:40.3878 222.840 0.7761 0.0014 6 49
(R) Rookie Total Laps: 2721
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