By Austin Lawton, Staff Writer
The final practice for the 109th Indianapolis 500 is complete, with Josef Newgarden fastest at 225.687 mph.
The driver of the No.2 Shell Chevrolet for Team Penske is the winner of the last two “500”’s and starts in 32nd on Sunday. Newgarden was sent to start at the rear of the field after the team, along with the No.12 crew of Will Power, were found to have illegally modified the rear attenuator. Newgarden certainly has the car to win, despite the deep starting position. He was confident during Indy 500 Media Day on Thursday about his chances to pass cars.
“I like the challenge coming from 32nd,” Newgarden said. “I don’t know what the day looks like, it’s so hard to predict. We do have a great car. It just seems to be getting better every year. I’m trying to protect that right now. It’s one of these things where every day changes a little bit at the Speedway. You have to stay on top of it. Sunday is really going to be the day that counts. We have to make sure we’re in the right place for that day. If we can do that, we should be in a good spot.”
Following Newgarden on the practice charts was Takuma Sato (225.415 mph) in the No.75 Amada Honda for Rahal Letterman-Lanigan Racing, Scott Dixon (225.200 mph) in third driving the No.9 PNC Bank Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing, Sato’s teammate, Devlin DeFrancesco (224.778) in the No.30 Dogecoin Honda in fourth and Newgarden’s teammate, Power (224.419 mph) in the top five.
The Carb Day practice session did not see any wrecks, after a weekend filled with heavy impacts. The only yellows on Friday were for mechanical reasons.
The No.15 United Rentals Honda for Graham Rahal experienced a big mechanical failure in the car, ending his day early.
“We had a mechanical failure unfortunately,” Rahal told FOX Sports. “ It seems like we’re always behind, little things keep happening and this is yet another one. The car wouldn’t stay in the pack and it kept getting slower and slower.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay experienced a fire underneath the No.23 Wedbush Chevrolet for Dreyer & Reinbold/Cusick Motorsports. The 2014 “500” winner starts 25th on Sunday.
“I felt a lot of liquid on my left side,” Hunter-Reay told FOX Sports. “After I felt the liquid, it just started smoking more and more. I tried to keep air speed up, get back to the side of the track where there is more help.”
Hunter-Reay was not injured in the incident, jumping out of the car quickly.
The field of 33 will sit in their respective garages until Sunday morning for the 109th Indianapolis 500.