Power leads Penske 1-2-3 on Indy 500 opening day of practice - MotorSportsTalk

Team Penske topped Sunday’s opening practice for the 98th Indianapolis 500 with a 1-2-3 sweep of the top three positions, led by Will Power at a tow-assisted 223.057 mph lap in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet. Power clocked in 82 laps, second most on the day.

“Apart from the speed it was great,” Power said, since he focused on race setups. “I did quite a few laps. We anticipated it might be wet. It’s only practice the first day, but it’s always handy to be on top.”

He added, of the shift to practice today after racing Saturday, “It’s weird having to wake up and get back straight in the car on a different style of track. As soon as I got into it, it felt normal.”

Power’s two teammates, who also had help on their fliers, were next up. Juan Pablo Montoya was second in the No. 2 Verizon Chevrolet with Helio Castroneves third in the No. 3 Pennzoil Ultra Premium “Yellow Submarine” Chevrolet. They were both over 222 mph; Castroneves had the most with 83.

Best of the rest was JR Hildebrand in the No. 21 Preferred Freezer Services Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter, as the 2011 ‘500 Rookie-of-the-Year turned his first laps of the month and posted a late flier of 222.200 in a tow to end P4. Fellow American Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport rounded out the top five.

EJ Viso filled in for James Hinchcliffe, with the Canadian not yet cleared to drive the No. 27 United Fiber & Data Honda for Andretti Autosport, with a late best speed of 222.105 run in a three-car team draft.

That netted him P6 on the day, and Viso said the car felt stable, planted and with a solid baseline on his first day back in an IndyCar since the round at Houston last October. Viso withdrew ahead of the season finale at Fontana.

Twenty-four drivers took times. Of note, Kurt Busch made it to the Speedway after the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Kansas last night and ended 12th with 31 laps completed and a best speed of 220.352 mph, and rookie Sage Karam completed the third and final phase of his Rookie Orientation Program in the morning in the No. 22 DRR Kingdom Racing Chevrolet.

IT WAS SUNDAY? OR IT WAS JUST A RACE-DAY HANGOVER?

Overall, the day had a bit of a weird vibe to it as it felt like not just the day changed from Saturday to Sunday, but the month changed from really “any other month” to “the Month of May.”

Crews, staff and media alike were all drained from full on “race day mode” on Saturday to then changing engines, pit positions, and doing rebuilds on cars ahead of the first day of practice on Sunday.

And with the Grand Prix of Indianapolis a Thursday-Friday-Saturday affair, if anything, today felt like a Monday at the track, rather than a Sunday. At least the vibe was one of a “Case of the Mondays.”

ADDITIONAL NEWS AND NOTES

Ryan Briscoe, of NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing, said his sixth place Saturday could have been better had it not been for a penalty for a pit safety infraction, hitting an air hose. He said the CGR team is improving, but still has a bit to do to catch the leaders.
Oriol Servia turned laps for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing today, but his time didn’t register on timing & scoring.
Kyle O’Gara, who was set to run the Indy Lights Freedom 100 in a second Fan Force United entry, has withdrawn from the race. O’Gara tested at the series’ open test at IMS, but despite a trimmed out setup and max throttle, was more than one second off the pace.

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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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