500 Practice Wrap-Up Day One
Opening Day on the IMS oval did not disappoint. I arrived around 12:30, and it was sunny and just a little cool. As I went out to meet up with my friend Paul Dalbey and his son, Jack; I decided I would keep my jacket on. That was a big mistake. Although the thermometer was in the mid-70s, it seemed warmer than that.
Don’t get fooled, however. It is supposed to rain tonight, and there is a slight possibility the track may not be dry by the time practice starts at Noon. But after showers go through tonight, it will be sunny tomorrow but much cooler. Its’s good that the cars got some running in warm conditions today, because today’s conditions are probably going to come closest to what they will see this weekend for qualifying.
Speaking of qualifying, IndyCar officials tweaked the qualifying procedures for this weekend. You would have thought that Speedway officials had plowed up the Yard of Bricks the way people have been carrying on. It really doesn’t bother me. I see this as a way to bring a little more interest to Sunday’s Pole Day.
Now, they will fill positions 16-33 on Saturday. The way I understand it, the nine fastest times on Saturday will be guaranteed to start in the first three rows. Positions 10-15 will battle to get into the Firestone Fast Twelve on Sunday. This will be done during the time normally allotted to the Last Row Shootout. The three that do not make it will make up Row Five. Later Sunday afternoon, the remaining twelve cars will run for the Pole.
I have no problem with this tweak. A Last Row Shootout would have been pointless with no bumping this year. At least they are giving fans something more on Sunday than the usual run for the pole.
The news since Saturday doesn’t stop there. IndyCar has decided to abandon their policy of trying to judge when to throw a full-course yellow, based on where things were with the pit window. Now they will throw the yellow immediately, when warranted. This is, of course, in answer to pushback that IndyCar has gotten from fans for IndyCar choosing to initially go to a local yellow as Alexander Rossi was sitting in harm’s way in Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix.
While I have been chirping for this for a while, kudos to IndyCar for doing this now; and not waiting on something disastrous to happen before doing something. I have an idea that Doug Boles figured he had seen enough on Saturday. It’s amazing how quickly things can get done with a decisive person at the top. This goes into effect immediately.
As far as today’s opening day of practice went, there were no incidents. All thirty-three entries hit the track today, the last driver to do so was Dennis Hauger of Dale Coyne Racing, who waited until after 4:00 to finally get out.
For the first couple of hours, Conor Daly had set the fastest time, with a speed of 225.832 mph. Then Marcus Armstrong topped Daly with a speed of 225.895 mph. Just when it looked like Armstrong would finish with the top speed of the day, Alex Palou jumped to the top in the final fifteen minutes of the day. Palou’s speed was 225.937 mph. Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon rounded out the Top-Five.
There were a total of 1,996 laps turned by thirty-three drivers. Alexander Rossi led all drivers with 116 laps. Even though he led the day, Alex Palou turned only 28 laps on the day.
Katherine Legge was the slowest driver of the day. She did 55 laps, and her quickest speed was 218.304 mph.
The Andretti cars were curiously slow in April’s Open Test. Today, they were all over the place. Kyle Kirkwood had the seventh quickest speed of 224.769 mph, after running 47 laps. However Marcus Ericsson was twenty-eighth quick with a speed of 222.304 mph. Will Power was twenty-seventh quick with a speed of 221.455 mph. I know everyone is working on different checklists, but if the Andretti cars don’t pick up the pace by Thursday or Friday – it might be time for concern.
One driver who is not concerned about his own car is Graham Rahal. After several years of being at the bottom of the speed charts on the IMS oval, Rahal found himself sixth quick with a speed of 224.769 mph after turning 47 laps. His teammates still have work to do. Louis Foster is thirty-first at 220.819 mph, and Mick Schumacher was thirty-second with a speed of 220.280 mph.
That’s going to do it for me tonight. I still have recovered from the Grand Prix weekend, so I’m going to have an early night. Hopefully, I’ll be fully recovered by tomorrow. Old age is not for sissies.
Please check back tomorrow for a post of an historic nature tomorrow morning, and I will have a Wednesday wrap-up tomorrow afternoon.
George Phillips
Reminder: I’ve gotten a few entries for the Trivia Contest, but they are due at 6:00 pm EDT next Tuesday, a week from today. Get them in before you forget!
May 12, 2026 at 10:52 pm
I thought it was a good day all-in-all, but I would have really liked it if Katherine Legge had been a bit faster. But it’s still early. Her car looked much better on TV today, than it did during the open test. Was also very pleased that the DRR cars were both in the top 10 until Palou jumped to P1 at the end.