Hot Carb Day Temperatures give Indy 500 drivers preview of race day

Tony Kanaan – fast man on Carb Day

The temperatures on the final practice session on Carb Day for the Indy 500 were hotter than all month and the drivers struggled to find a good balance on their cars for the race.

AJ Foyt Chevy driver Tony Kanaan turned the fastest lap with a tow a 225.517 mph but four other Chevys topped the no-tow times led by Josef Newgarden (Penske) at 221.918 mph, Helio Castroneves (Penske) at 220.796 mph, Spencer Pigot (ECR) at 220.314 mph and Simon Pagenaud (Penske) 220.177 mph.

Based on today's results, Chevys are going to be hard to beat on race day.

"A good day for us," Kanaan said. "Obviously, conditions look like pretty similar to what we're going to see on Sunday, hopefully. It was a pretty easy day for us.

"I wasn't really happy with my car on Monday and I was extremely vocal about it, and I think my engineers heard me, so we made it better today."

Kanaan will make his 18th Indy 500 start on Sunday, this time from the inside of Row 6. He focused on tweaking his car to run strong in traffic on Friday since he knows he'll be in the thick of it during the race.

"I was really working on my car, the level of downforce and grip that I wanted to have starting 16th," Kanaan explained. "So, really, we worked in traffic a lot and trying to find the grip and scan to some of the items that we had on the list to be able to – once we put ourselves in the front during the race – to know what to do."

Rookie Santino Ferrucci was second fastest in the practice, turning a lap of 225.486 mph in the No. 19 Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda for Dale Coyne Racing. Takuma Sato, the 2017 Indy 500 champion, was third in the No. 30 Mi-Jack/Panasonic Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

"We were having fun," Ferrucci said. "The No. 19 Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda is in really good shape. We could pass about everybody and we're quick, so there isn't much else to say really. We're looking forward to the race."

Pole sitter Simon Pagenaud ranked 22nd on the speed chart Friday at 222.856 mph in the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet. Teammate Will Power, the reigning race winner, was 10th at 224.240 mph in the No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet.

Points leader Josef Newgarden was 13th fastest in the No. 2 Shell V-Power Nitro Plus Team Penske Chevrolet. He holds a six-point lead heading into the race over reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, who wasn't pleased with how his No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda handled on Friday.

"I don't know what happened there with the PNC Bank car, honestly," said Dixon, who was 19th on the speed chart and starts the race 18th. "I hope we find something wrong with the car because it wasn't great. It's really bizarre, and nothing like we had all month, so we are unsure.

"There is a fundamental issue on the car and we'll work to find out what happened there."

A total of 1,755 laps were completed on the 2.5-mile oval in the practice scheduled for 90 minutes shortened 18 minutes to allow the track to dry following morning rain.

Carb Day Practice