By Tony DiZinno and Steve Wittich Fast Friday began under overcast skies with an air temperature of 66F and track temperature of 76F. Terrific weather for making speed. The wind-sock on the top of the pylon was being pushed almost directly west perpendicular to the two ¼ mile short chutes. The first car on track...
READ MOREChip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing has streamlined its lineup from four cars to two. Its group present at today’s usual Fast Friday press conference was also streamlined from four people down to three, although not by design. Team newcomer Ed Jones was the only one present alongside Ganassi and team managing director Mike Hull....
READ MOREBy Tony DiZinno and Steve Wittich Fast Friday is traditionally a busy day for media availability, and today is no different. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Team Penske, and Chip Ganassi Racing are all be visiting the media center before practice begins. ABC / ESPN pit reporter Dr. Jerry Punch, who will be working his 27th...
READ MOREBy Tony DiZinno and Steve Wittich Good morning from Fast Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 35 entries for the 102nd Indianapolis 500 Presented by PennGrade Motor Oil are scheduled to be on track for seven hours beginning at 7 AM. Turbo boost and speeds are scheduled to be cranked up today in preparation...
READ MOREBy Tony DiZinno Just as a quick update to the end-of-day times, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing passed on this quote from JR Hildebrand after his incident today in Turn 3. Hildebrand was checked, cleared and released after contacting the wall exiting Turn 3 and Turn 4. Hildebrand had examined the left rear suspension of the...
READ MOREBy Tony DiZinno It’s a pair of veterans who topped Thursday’s seven-hour practice, with 29-year-old Graham Rahal going into his 11th Indianapolis 500 and 43-year-old Tony Kanaan going into his 17th ‘500 atop the timesheets. — Rahal, 34th on Wednesday, felt it important to “put down a lap” early and eliminate any chatter that he...
READ MOREBy Tony DiZinno and Steve Wittich A couple car name notes that are updated: Oriol Servia’s No. 64 Honda is now the Scuderia Corsa/Manitowoc car, and Zach Veach’s unmistakable bright yellow and orange No. 26 Honda is the Relay Group One Thousand One car for Andretti Autosport. Shortly after Steve sent the last update, we...
READ MOREBy Steve Wittich The third day of practice for the 102nd Indianapolis 500 Presented by PennGrade Motor Oil began under sunny skies with an ambient temperature of 74F and a track temperature of 91F. A trio of Andretti Autosport cars, Marco Andretti, Zach Veach, and Alexander Rossi were the first cars on the track, and...
READ MOREBy Tony DiZinno, Patrick Stephan, and Steve Wittich Good morning from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where Tony DiZinno will be joining me (Steve) for the remainder of practice and qualifying. According to our friend @Indycar_Wxman, today would be a fantastic day to play hooky from work. [tweet https://twitter.com/Indycar_Wxman/status/997067102287777792 ] We expect the iconic 2.5-mile to...
READ MOREBy Steve Wittich “Yeah, just still early days,” said Marco Andretti after getting out of the car after setting the quickest lap of practice. “But checking off the boxes right now. A lot of test items. We got through a ton of stuff today. It was a pretty productive day. We got the car to...
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