Newgarden tops Day 2 of IndyCar testing at IMS

Penske Chevy #2 driver Josef Newgarden (shown above) showed that Team Penske will be the team to beat in this year’s Indy 500. In the heat of the day Newgarden turned a lap of 226.819mph to beat the 2020 Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato who put up his fast lap in Happy Hour at 226.396mph in his #30 Rahal Honda.

Juan Montoya was third in the #86 Arrow McLaren Chevy at 226.123mph and the only other driver over 226mph but all three speeds were set with a tow.

Graham Rahal ended up the fastest driver of the day without a tow at 221.949mph. If that is any indication, the Rahal team might in for their 2nd straight Indy 500 win – having finished 1st and 3rd in the 500 last August.

Struggling, or sandbagging, we don’t know which, appears to be the Andretti Autosport Honda Team, which could only manage a 12th best with their 5 cars – that being by Ryan Hunter-Reay in the #28 DHL Andretti Honda at 224.949mph.

NASCAR driver, rookie Cody Ware, was slowest in the #52 Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing Honda, 1.5s per lap off the pace. It was only his 4th day in an IndyCar and it’s clear he is being careful as Indy can be a daunting place.

Newgarden has won the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship twice in the last four years, so he freely admits winning the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is the biggest box left to check in his racing career.

If the speed chart from the second day of the Indy 500 Open Test on Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is any indication, that dream could become reality this May.

Newgarden, from Nashville, Tennessee, was the fastest driver today and overall from two days of testing, turning a top lap of 226.819 mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet under mostly sunny skies on the 2.5-mile oval. That easily eclipsed the top speed from the rain-hampered first day Thursday, 224.427 by Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet.

“It was a pretty good day,” Newgarden said. “I was happy enough with the car. I think we still need some work, for sure, but to just get an initial read on where we’re at is good. Obviously, there are a lot of new parts and differences to the last couple of years, so we’re just trying to assess what we need to really work on these last couple of weeks before we get back here in May. But I’m pretty happy.”

Indy 500 winners and INDYCAR SERIES champions dominated the top of the speed chart. Two-time and reigning Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato was second at 226.369 in the No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, with two-time Indy winner and 1999 CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya third at 226.123 in the No. 86 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.

Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon was fourth at 225.906, while Graham Rahal rounded out the top five at 225.644 in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

RLL was the only team to power two drivers into the top five today, and Rahal was the fastest driver without the benefit of an aerodynamic tow in traffic, at 221.949. Sato won the 104th Indianapolis 500 last Aug. 23, with teammate Rahal third.

The speed limit increased today in more favorable conditions and larger, more aerodynamic packs. The top 12 drivers laid down laps faster than Bourdais’ chart-topper Thursday.

Passing raindrops and track inspections only briefly interrupted the nine-hour session. Rookie Scott McLaughlin turned 195 laps in his No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet, more than any driver and just five laps shy of the full 500-mile race distance.

Up next for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the 2021 season opener, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst on Sunday, April 18 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. NBC and the INDYCAR Radio Network will provide live coverage starting at 3 p.m. (ET).

Select Quotes

JOSEF NEWGARDEN . NO.2 SHELL FUEL REWARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET — POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “It’s just nice to be back…its nice to have a couple of days to work even though the first day was as completed as we would have liked. It’s just  nice to be back here with four cars and having Scott join the program, we are going to be able to make a lot of headway quick with the amount of resources we have. I think the Shell Fuel Rwards Chevy is beautiful and I’m loving driving it so far. We need to learn as much as we can and then carry that momentum into May when the real work begins.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 SHELL PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Once we get laps, I think we…when you  roll up to the gate for the first time it’s amazing.  But not now because of the rain. Rolled out for the first time we had a good lap but massive help with the tow. Then we focused on doing some stuff with what I learned from that tow. We’ve been good, the tires have been really strong and we’ve been consistent. Rick Mears has been great. Just been there for me to lean on. He simplifies the  more technical stuff for me Tells me great stories on preparing for it. Yeah, its been great so far.”

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO.22 MENARDS TEM PENSKE CHEVROLET – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Yeah great great to studious day for us. We  just went through different aero configuration on the racecar but overall it’s always such a it’s good to be back could be back in the Speedway. Obviously it is  place a phenomenal place for racing and for our team. It is our number one priority to win here so Chevy power seem strong and I was very very excited you to finish the day in the Menards No; 22 today so we could shape. So far program is a is on time for what we wanted to do.”

MAX CHILTON, NO.59 CARLIN CHEVROLET – POST TW0-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: “A really positive day at IMS. The Carlin team has worked harder than ever this past winter. I can definitely see the change in the car, especially if you look at the no-tows, so that’s a really good sign of speed. I could sense we’d be quick right away. We still have to work on running in traffic, but we’ve got plenty of time in May to work on that. My new engineer Luke [Mason] and I are working together really well, and I think the whole Carlin team is coming together. So overall, a positive day at the Speedway.”

 JUAN PABLO MONTOYA – NO. 86 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET –  – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: : “Today was a good day and we learned a lot. It was great to be back in the car with Arrow McLaren SP and very useful for me to start getting back into traffic before the actual Month of May. I still have a lot to do personally to get better, but the test was a great opportunity to bond with the engineers and team. We have good speed in the car but still a lot to learn.”

PATO O’WARD – NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET –  – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: : “I think we had a solid test. We tested a lot of different things that should help us when we come back for the 105th Running of the Indianapolis 500. The No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet feels good and I think we’ve made improvements over where we were last year in the race. It was good to get :500 weekend is normally like. I think we should have a good starting point to be competitive this May.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST – NO. 7 VUSE ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET –  – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: : “I thought today was good, we got a lot of laps done and had a pretty good car for most of the day. We fell off a little bit at the end, running in traffic with a little too much understeer, but we got to try a lot of good things with the team. These test days really let the team get into gear a little bit better. We are going to be back here pretty soon and it was nice to get on track in Indianapolis again.”

Day 2 Test Speeds