Joey Logano hits 204.5 mph to lead first Sprint Cup practice at Michigan - MotorSportsTalk

Team Penske’s Joey Logano rang up a lap of 204.545 miles per hour in the final minutes to take top honors in first Sprint Cup practice at Michigan International Speedway.

With qualifying coming up later this afternoon, speed was the emphasis in this session as 26 drivers broke the 200 mph mark. Leading the way were Ford drivers Logano and Carl Edwards, whose lap of 204.111 mph was good enough for second.

Overall, Ford drivers had five of the Top 10 fastest speeds in first practice. In addition to Logano and Edwards, the Blue Oval was represented in that bracket by Edwards’ teammates at Roush Fenway Racing, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (fifth, 203.229) and Greg Biffle (eighth, 202.817), as well as Logano’s Penske teammate, Brad Keselowski (10th, 202.617).

Brian Vickers was able to get his Toyota to third on the speed charts with a lap of 203.920 mph. Following him was top Chevrolet pilot Kurt Busch in fourth (203.897). Three more Chevy drivers also made the Top 10: Dale Earnhardt Jr. in sixth, Paul Menard in seventh, and Jeff Gordon in ninth.

The pace from the Roush camp has to be a promising sign for them after their dismal performance at Michigan in June. But late last month, Edwards, Biffle and Stenhouse all tested at the two-mile oval and if these initial speeds are any indication, it would appear that they found some things in that test.

In his first session with the beleaguered No. 14 Stewart Haas Racing team, Jeff Burton was 25th-fastest (200.339). He had to spend some time in the garage due to an early parts failure on the rear end gear of the car.

Jimmie Johnson, who won at MIS in June, also had to spend time in the garage thanks to a severe vibration on his car. He only turned seven laps in the session and was 39th on the charts.

Other notables include Ryan Blaney, who was 27th in first practice as he begins his Friday subbing for Trevor Bayne in the No. 21 Wood Brothers car; and Camping World Truck Series champ Matt Crafton, who was 37th in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing car of Martin Truex Jr.

Truex is currently with girlfriend Sherry Pollex as she undergoes surgery for ovarian cancer.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES AT MICHIGAN – First Practice Times

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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33. Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports