Josef Newgarden claimed the Carb Day honors in an eventful final two-hour practice session ahead of Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.
Newgarden’s best of 225.687mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet came early – he set it on his seventh lap – and was never beaten.
Fellow two-time winner Takuma Sato came closest with a 225.415mph run in the No. 75 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda, putting him just ahead of Scott Dixon’s 225.200mph best in Chip Ganassi Racing’s No.9 Honda. Devlin DeFrancesco (No. 30 RLL Honda) and Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet) rounded out the top five at 224.778mph and 224.419mph respectively.
For several teams though, the day was less about the times they put on the board than the work they have ahead. Sato’s day ended early when his car came to a stop with an unspecified mechanical problem at on the back straight with 15 minutes remaining in the clock, bringing out the yellows.
It was the second such issue for RLL during the day, following on from Graham Rahal bowing out of the session after completing just 21 laps when smoke began to pour from the left side of the No. 15 RLL Honda.
“We had a mechanical failure,” he said shortly after climbing from the car. “Just seems like we are always behind, and things keep happening. We’re done for the day, unfortunately. That was the first new set of new tires I’ve had, and I was just trying to get in the pack and we couldn’t get in the pack and then I felt it in Turn 1.
“It is what it is. At this stage you’ve just got to go and if it’s not ideal, it’s not ideal. We’ll just do what we can.”
The Chevy side of the paddock wasn’t spared either. Ryan Hunter-Reay made a quick exit from the cockpit of the DRR-Cusick Motorsports’ No. 23 Chevrolet when it began to fill with smoke, which quickly evolved into a large fire around the right rear of the car.
“I felt a lot of liquid at the left side,” said Hunter-Reay, who brought the car to the pit entry before pulling to the side and climbing out. “It just felt really cold, and the first thing (you think) is ‘fuel.’ I had a methanol fire in 2003 and I remembered what went on there, and it was the same feeling.
“As soon as I felt the cold it just started smoking. I tried to keep airspeed up to get back to this side of the track, and then I looked like Ace Ventura trying to get out of the rhino. Lost the ability to shift, lost the ability to turn the car off… It’s bummer. I hope it’s not a hybrid thing; I hope it’s not a big deal. But it got my attention. When it starts to fill with smoke when you’re in fourth gear, you know something’s wrong.”
Elsewhere, Alexander Rossi’s day ended even earlier than Rahal’s. The 2016 Indy 500 winner managed just five laps in the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet when he suffered a water pump failure. RACER understands that the team is working to complete the repair without requiring an engine change.
Even among those who didn’t have explicit problems, there were struggles. PREMA threw massive changes to polesitter Robert Shwartzman’s No. 83 Chevrolet to address serious handling problems, and Conor Daly’s No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Chevrolet took some time out in Gasoline Alley for the same reason. Daly ultimately ended up inside the top 10.
The string of interruptions meant that for most teams, the practice pit stops that traditionally close out Carb Day came much later in the session than usual as drivers tried to squeeze in as much time running in traffic as possible. Shwartzman closed out his session with three practice stops in a row – one of which gave his crew some practice at intercepting an escaping wheel nut – before shutting the car down. Next time it fires up, it will be to lead the field to the green for the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500.
