Newgarden, the defending Indy 500 champion, latched on to a tow and seized the fastest lap of 234.052mph and a four-lap average of 233.708mph. His No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet only received the aided tow on his second lap of the simulated qualifying run.
“It was a good run,” Newgarden said. “It’s different today with the heat, the track temps up, but I would say you saw a lot of people running in heat at the end of yesterday.
“The track temp was pretty similar to this at 4 or 5:00pm yesterday. I think people are capable of it. We just got to try and solve the run together. But this team has done a tremendous job all month. Shell car is fast and we’re gonna try and do two more runs and hopefully be in for the fight.”
Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist logged the second-best four-lap run of 232.851mph.
Scott McLaughlin made it two Team Penske machines in the top three with a four-lap average pace at 232.655mph.
The Arrow McLaren duo of Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi ended up fourth and fifth, respectively, with a 232.637mph and 232.495mph four-lap outings.
Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Global) was sixth, ahead of Kyle Larson (Arrow McLaren) in seventh.
After six plenum events hit numerous teams carrying Chevrolet engines yesterday, a suspected seventh took place during this session to the No. 12 Team Penske entry of Will Power. While out on a second run, a hiccup happened on his opening lap – which he finished to run 227.276mph – and called “plenum” over the radio.
Power did manage to log a four-lap run previously, with his mark of 231.688mph putting him eighth.
“Yeah, the engine stops,” Power said, of the feeling in the cockpit when the issue happens. “It just dies for however long. you know.
“It kills your speed massively. I don’t know where the speed is right now. Sort of feeling a weird vibration as well down the straight. We’ll look into it. Be tough to make top six as we sit.”
Two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato put his No. 75 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda in ninth. Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2014 Indy 500 winner, put the No. 23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet in 10th.
Santino Ferrucci’s No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet aborted multiple attempts on a four-lap run.
Meanwhile, Rinus VeeKay, who rebounded from an early qualifying crash to make the Top 12 in the final seconds of Saturday’s qualifying, opted to stay in the garage with his No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet.
Practice for the Last Row Shootout
The four drivers battling for the final three spots to make the field of 33 were led by Katherine Legge in their respective one hour of practice following the top 12. Piloting the No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, Legge showed progressive pace from Saturday’s qualifying and hit a best lap of 231.304mph and a four-lap average of 231.011mph.
Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 Indy 500 winner, was second among the four-lap average runs at 230.531mph. The Swede managed to hit a 230.877mph best lap in the No. 28 Andretti Global Honda, which is the team’s backup car following his crash in Thursday’s practice.
The struggles continued for Graham Rahal, who did manage to have the third-best pace of the group at 229.410mph in single-lap speed and four-lap average at 229.073. However, Rahal was hit with an issue during a run with roughly 20 minutes to go, which he aborted and called over the radio with a suspected right-rear issue, following with a call that “something’s broken”.
Upon getting out of the car, he tugged the tire in question on his No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. “I’m not gonna throw anybody under the bus,” Rahal said. “We just made a mistake. We made a mistake and we were very lucky that I caught it because if I continued to push we probably would not have a race car.”
Rookie Nolan Siegel was fourth but found improvements with consistent pace on his No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda. He hit a best single lap of 229.337mph, with a four-lap average of 228.955mph. In addition to having Charlie Kimball on the timing stand, Siegel has also received last-minute coaching by Arrow McLaren Sporting Director Tony Kanaan. The opportunity came about as Siegel drivers for United Autosports, the sports car team owned by McLaren CEO Zak Brown.