SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Pato O’Ward had the fastest in the last practice drivers would have before the Indianapolis 500 on Carb Day.
“I think today was a good step forward,” O’Ward said. “We’re just going to have to go with our gut and hope this works like it did today on a hotter race day on Sunday.”
The conditions were cool on Carb Day, much cooler than what is expected on race day. Final Practice started at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, but on Sunday the race will be starting at 2:30. The forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies and a high of 87. There is a small chance for some rain later in the afternoon.
Josef Newgarden, who rolls off 13th in his Team Penske Chevy, is confident in his game plan for Sunday.
“You can’t go in with too much confidence,” Newgarden said. “We have a good gameplan. We’re making sure to look at the small things that could catch us out. But I feel like our car is good. Team Chevy has done an amazing job.”
There was some question as to how the Chevy-powered cars would respond in race trim after having been dominated in qualifying by the Honda-powered cars.
Things appeared to even out some with three Chevy’s among the top ten fastest cars on Carb Day.
Pole sitter Marco Andretti was 28th fastest.
Newgarden and O’Ward both anticipate the race to be similar to last year in terms of the ability to pass.
The green flag will wave at 2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday. You can listen to the race live on 93 WIBC as well as 93.5 and 107.5 The Fan.
