Oilpressure

We finally ended up with a day where everyone’s full attention was on the track, instead of the weather apps. For the first time all week, we finally had a day not interrupted by weather. If there was a day for that to happen, this was it.

Fast Friday produced a few surprises, as it always does. Josef Newgarden was the first car out, as the green flag flew at Noon. He wasted no time in getting up to speed with the added boost for the next three days.

One thing became obvious very quickly – the Chevys seemed to have more speed with the added boost, than the Hondas. At one time, Marco Andretti was the only Honda in the Top-Ten, and he was only fifth quick.

As the day wore on, Honda showed more life. Around the 4:00-hour, Colton Herta turned the quickest lap of the month in his Honda-powered car that flirted with the 235 mph mark. His lap of 234.974 mph still stood when the checkered flag flew at 6:00 pm. So on a day when Honda seemed to be behind the 8-ball, they can claim bragging rights that comes with owning the fastest lap of the month.

While Honda was at the top of the pylon, they only had two other cars in the Top-Ten, and they were eighth and ninth quick. Second-quick on the day was rookie Kyle Larson, with a speed of 234.271 mph. For a while, Larson was sitting at the top of the pylon until he was bested by Herta.

Larson was in the media center after the checkered flag. While I grow tired of all the focus the media gives Larson, he is a very likeable driver. He is humble and he seems to know that he needs to show this place the respect it deserves.

I’ve heard a lot of fans comparing the attention Larson is getting to Danica-mania twenty years ago. There’s a difference – Larson has proven himself as a championship winning driver. I would compare this media frenzy more to when Fernando Alonso first appeared here in 2017.

Josef Newgarden was third quick with a speed of 234.260 mph. His teammate, Scott McLaughlin was just a tick behind him for fourth-quick with a lap at 234.102 mph. Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi was fifth-quick at 234.006. That put two Penskes, two McLarens and one Andretti car in the Top-Five.

The rest of the Top-Ten consisted of Will Power, Pato O’Ward, Kyle Kirkwood, Takuma Sato and Santino Ferrucci.

Curiously absent from the Top-Ten were the three cars of Meyer Shank Racing. Felix Rosenqvist has been a fixture near the top in practically every practice session this season. He has been relatively quiet this month and was twelfth-quick today. His MSR teammate, Helio Castroneves, was only twentieth-quick, while Tom Blomqvist was twenty-third on the scoring pylon.

There was one incident today, and it was frightening looking. Rookie Nolan Siegel lost the back end of his Dale Coyne Honda-powered machine in Turn Two. he hit the wall and the car got air under it and flipped. It was scary looking, but Siegel walked away.

You have to wonder how a ride like that affects a 19 year-old. It may not mess with him at all, or he may be completely spooked. He has to go to a backup car for qualifying. I guess we’ll find out quickly.

As usual, I will close with photos that Susan took today. I’m glad to not have to worry about that job anymore this week.

I could go on, but my friend Paul Dalbey keeps texting me to hurry up to go to dinner – so I guess that’s my cue to wrap-up. Practice begins tomorrow at 8:30 am and qualifying begins at 11:00 am. All day tomorrow will be shown live on Peacock. I will have a post here, shortly after we arrive in the morning. Please follow us along throughout the weekend. The weather looks like it will cooperate all weekend. It should be fun.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on May 17, 2024 at 6:07 pm and is filed under Indianapolis 500. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.