Josef Newgarden is aiming to write two chapters of history Sunday in the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, and if his performance in Miller Lite Carb Day final practice is any indication, he just may have the car to do it.
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 Indianapolis 500s, and he’ll need to do it from the deepest starting spot in the field of any “500” winner ever.
SEE: Practice Results
Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Newgarden is starting the race in the 32nd position in the 33-car field after he and Team Penske teammate Will Power were moved to the rear of the field Monday due to an 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.
“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.”
Two-time “500” winner Takuma Sato was second at 225.415 in the No. 75 AMADA Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, but that speed perhaps came at a cost. 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 in that area.
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 a session that featured thick packs of traffic but also mechanical problems for a handful of drivers.
Sato wasn’t the only RLL driver to face mechanical trouble, as Graham Rahal’s trying month continued when his No. 15 United Rentals Honda was returned to Gasoline Alley after just 45 minutes. 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 DRR CUSICK WEDBUSH SECURITIES 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.
