With “Fast Friday” now in the books, attention shifts exclusively to qualifying for the 102nd Running of the Indianapolis 500 Presented by PennGrade Motor Oil.
At 35 entries strong, the race will see two drivers fail to qualify. Lap times from this weekend were all over the board as drivers experimented running by themselves vs. running in a pack – and we all realized by very quickly how big of an influence a tow can have on a lap – but some clarity finally began to come into focus on “Fast Friday.”
While Marco Andretti had the fastest speed of the day, the quickest non-tow speeds came from Team Penske. Will Power led the way in that regard, followed by teammates Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud – and Power’s quick lap of 229.780 mph was nearly one mile per hour quicker than Newgarden’s.
Will Power had the fastest non-tow lap during “Fast Friday.” Photo: IndyCar
“I think the No. 12 Verizon Chevy is definitely in a good window,” Power said after Friday’s practice. “I think, obviously, we’re fast. I know there’s a lot of guys up there. I think it’s going to be very tight tomorrow, so we’ll know more when everyone goes. It’s always that you can feel fast on Friday, and suddenly go out, no traffic, or wind changes or anything, and the car’s not as good. But I felt I’ve been good all month, so we’ll see tomorrow.”
Ed Carpenter was fourth, putting four Chevrolets at the top of the non-tow board. Sebastien Bourdais was the best Honda, in fifth.
On the other end of the spectrum, some interesting names appeared at the bottom of the non-tow speed charts.
James Davison ranked 35th and last in that front on Friday, and he became the second driver to hit the wall this month – JR Hildebrand was the first on Thursday, though his contact with little more than a brush.
Davison’s, meanwhile, was much more severe, as his No. 33 Jonathan Byrd’s Chevrolet broke loose and backed into the Turn 2 wall in the afternoon, doing significant damage to the left side the car.
James Davison had the first major incident of Indy 500 practice, crashing on Friday. Photo: IndyCar
And given that they were trying a setup change as they searched for more speed, the wreck puts them behind the 8-ball even more heading into Saturday qualifying.
“Obviously, it’s not ideal, but we had to try some things (on setup),” Davison said following the incident and the setup changes they made beforehand. “We’re 32nd quickest, right on the bubble and we are not going to go faster just standing there and looking at it, so no regrets there. I have been having a fantastic time with this AJ Foyt/Byrd/Hollinger/Belardi team. We’ll regroup, see what we can pull out of the bag tomorrow and give it everything again.”
The driver directly ahead of him was somewhat more puzzling. Graham Rahal, who had the outright fastest lap on Thursday, was 34th on the non-tow chart on Friday. Until this point, the team seemed to be in no danger of being on the bubble. But, that may be in doubt heading into qualifying.
Graham Rahal had a puzzling lack of speed during “Fast Friday.” Photo: IndyCar
“It was a tough day for us,” Rahal lamented. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. We don’t seem to have the pace. We’re trying everything we can possibly but we’re just not quite there yet.”
Kyle Kaiser and Pippa Mann were 33rd and 32nd on the non-tow list on Friday, and while those numbers would barely put them in the field of 33, they will most certainly want to improve upon them to better their chances.
Jay Howard and Sage Karam were 31st and 30th, but their pace may be indicative of experimentation with setups rather than outright pace. Howard was solidly quick in previous days, and Karam has been one of the quickest all week – he was fifth quickest overall on Thursday – and could enter the weekend as something of a darkhorse.
One driver who made a leap forward was Conor Daly, who ranked 26th in non-tow speeds after spending the week below 30th. He and the Dale Coyne Racing with Thom Burns Racing team will want to find a little more speed out of the No. 17 United States Air Force Honda, but their prospects are looking better ahead of qualifying.
Conor Daly found some speed on “Fast Friday.” Photo: IndyCar
“We feel pretty good with how our practice went today,” Daly asserted. “The balance was good, right where we ended it yesterday, and today was just about trimming, and each step we trimmed, the car was comfortable. Do we have the overall speed of our teammate Sebastien (Bourdais)? Probably not, but we’re not too bad. We’re really happy with the car.”
In short, Saturday qualifying – “Bump Day” – remains something of a mystery. And the list of drivers potentially on the bubble includes a couple surprises.
The non-tow speeds are below. A final practice before qualifying will run from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, with qualifying beginning at 11:00 a.m.
INDIANAPOLIS – Few drivers in Indy 500 history have been as popular as Tony Kanaan.
Throughout his career at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that began with his first Indy 500 in 2002, the fans loved his aggressiveness on the track and his engaging personality with the fans.
The Brazilian always got the loudest cheers from the fans during driver introductions before the Indy 500.
Sunday’s 107th Indianapolis 500 would be his last time to walk up the steps for driver introductions. Kanaan announced earlier this year that it would be his final race of his IndyCar career, but not the final race as a race driver.
He will continue to compete in stock cars in Brazil and in Tony Stewart’s summer series known as the “Superstar Racing Experience” – an IROC-type series that competes at legendary short tracks around the country beginning in June.
Kanaan was the extra driver at Arrow McLaren for this year’s Indy 500 joining NTT IndyCar Series regulars Pato O’Ward of Mexico, Felix Rosenqvist of Sweden, and Alexander Rossi of northern California.
He had a sporty ride, the No. 66 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet that paid homage to McLaren’s first Indianapolis 500 victory by the late Mark Donohue for Team Penske in 1972.
Because Kanaan has meant so much to the Indianapolis 500 and the NTT IndyCar Series, the 2013 Indy 500 winner was honored before the start of the race with a special video.
It featured Kanaan sitting in the Grandstand A seats writing a love letter to the fans of this great event. Kanaan narrated the video, reciting the words in the letter and it finished with the driver putting it in an envelope and leaving it at the Yard of Bricks.
Lauren Kanaan with daughter Nina before the 107th Indy 500 (Bruce Martin Photo).
Many in the huge crowd of 330,000 fans watched the video on the large screens around the speedway. On the starting grid, Kanaan’s wife, Lauren, who bears a striking resemblance to actress Kate Beckinsale, watched with their four children.
Kanaan’s wife is an Indiana girl who was a high school basketball star in Cambridge City, Indiana.
Kanaan proposed to Lauren in 2010, and after a three-year engagement, they were married in 2013 – the year he won his only Indianapolis 500.
She has been Kanaan’s rock, and this was a moment for the family to share.
After receiving an ovation and the accolades from the crowd, Kanaan walked to his car on the starting grid and exchanged hugs with people who were important in his career.
One of those was Takuma Sato’s engineer at Chip Ganassi Racing, Eric Cowdin.
Tony Kanaan shares a moment with former engineer Eric Cowdin (Bruce Martin Photo).
Kanaan and Cowdin shared a longtime relationship dating all the way back to the Andretti Green Racing days when Kanaan was a series champion in 2004. This combination stayed together when Kanaan moved to KV Racing in 2011, then Chip Ganassi Racing from 2014-2018 followed by two years at AJ Foyt Racing.
Kanaan returned to run the four oval races for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021 in the No. 48 Honda that was shared with seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.
In 2022, Johnson ran the full IndyCar Series schedule, and Kanaan drove the No. 1 American Legion entry to a third-place finish in his only IndyCar race of the season.
Kanaan knew that 2023 would be his last Indy 500 and properly prepared himself mentally and emotionally for his long goodbye.
But one could sense the heartfelt love, gratitude, and most of all respect for this tenacious driver in the moments leading up to the start of the race.
Tony Kanaan gets emotional during an interview after the Indy 500 (Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar/ USA TODAY Sports Images Network).
“The emotions are just there,” Kanaan said. “I cried 400 times. This guy came to hug me, and I made Rocket (IndyCar Technical Director Kevin Blanch) cry. I mean, that is something.
“Yeah, it was emotional.”
Kanaan started ninth and finished 18th in a race that was very clean for the first two thirds of the race before ending in disjointed fashion with three red flags to stop the race over the final 15 laps.
“Yellows breed yellows and when you are talking about the Indianapolis 500 and a field that is so tough to pass, that happens,” Kanaan said. “It’s the Indy 500. Come on. We’ve got to leave it out there.
“Every red flag, everybody goes, I’m going to pass everybody. It’s tough to pass. It’s the toughest field, the tightest field we ever had here. It was going to happen. We knew it was going to happen.
“I wouldn’t want it any different. We left it all out there. Everybody that was out left it out.”
At one point in the second half of the race, Kanaan passed Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin by driving through the grass on the backstretch.
“That was OK, right?” Kanaan said. “That is one thing I have not done in 22 years here. Even (team owner) Sam Schmidt came to me and said, ‘That was a good one.’
On the final lap, it was Kanaan battling his boyhood friend from Brazil, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, for a mid-pack finish.
“Helio and I battling for 15th and 16th on the last lap like we’re going for the lead,” Kanaan said. “It was like, who’s playing pranks with us.
“We both went side by side on the backstretch after the checker and we saluted with each other, and I just told him actually I dropped a tear because of that, and he said, ‘I did, too.’
“We went side by side like twice. A lot of memories came to my mind, and I even said how ironic it is that we started it together and I get to battle him on the last lap of my last race.
Tony Kanaan is embraced by his wife, Lauren, after finishing 16th in the 107th Indianapolis 500 ((Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar/ USA TODAY Sports Images Network).
“It’s pretty neat. It’s a pretty cool story. He’s a great friend. My reference, a guy that I love and hate a lot throughout my career, and like he just told me — I was coming up here and he just said, who am I going to look on the time sheet when I come into the pits now, because we always said that it didn’t matter if I was — if I was 22nd and he was 23rd, my day was okay. And vice versa.
“It was a good day for me, man. What can I say? We cried on the grid.
“Not the result that we wanted. I went really aggressive on the downforce to start the race. It was wrong. Then I added downforce towards the end of the race, and it was wrong. It was just one of those days.”
After the race was over, Kanaan drove his No. 66 Honda back to the Arrow McLaren pit area and climbed out of the car to cheers of the fans that could see him. Others were focused on Josef Newgarden’s wild celebration after the Team Penske driver had won his first Indianapolis 500.
There were no tears, though, only smiles from Kanaan who closes an IndyCar career with 389 starts, 17 wins including the 2013 Indianapolis 500, 79 podiums, 13 poles, and 4,077 laps led in a 26-year career.
Kanaan came, he raced, and he raced hard.
“That’s what we did, we raced as hard as we could,” Kanaan told NBC Sports.com. “It wasn’t enough.
“The win was the only thing that mattered. If we were second or 16th, we were going to celebrate regardless.
“In a way, being 16th will stop people wondering if I’m going to come back.
“I’m ready to go. I’m ready to enjoy the time with my family, with my team and doing other things as well.”
Kanaan’s face will forever be part of the Borg-Warner Trophy as the winner of the Indianapolis 500.
“I won one and that is there, and it will always be there,” Kanaan said. “It was an awesome day.
“The way this crowd made me feel was unbelievable. I don’t regret a bit.”
Tony Kanaan hugs his son Max before the Indy 500 (Grace Hollars/IndyStar/USA TODAY Sports Images Network).
Kanaan actually announced the 2020 Indianapolis 500 would be TK’s last ride because he wanted to say goodbye to the fans.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 hit, the Indianapolis 500 was moved from Memorial Day Weekend to August 23 and because of COVID restrictions, fans were not allowed to attend the Indianapolis 500.
Three years later, Kanaan was finally able to say goodbye to this fans that were part of the largest crowd to see the Indianapolis 500 since the sold-out gathering for 350,000 that attended the 100th running in 2016.
“That’s it, that’s what I wanted, and I got what I wanted,” Kanaan said. “This moment was so special; I don’t want to ever spoil it again.
Tony Kanaan kisses his daughter Nina before the 107th Indy 500 (Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY Sports Images Network).
“We’ve been building and growing this series as much as we can. I’m really glad and proud that I was able to be part of building something big and this year’s race was one of the biggest ones.”
Kanaan walked off pit lane and rejoined his family. He will always be part of the glorious history of the Indianapolis 500 and fans will be talking about Tony Kanaan years from now, not by what he did, but the way he did it.
“This is what it is all about,” Kanaan said on pit lane. “Having kids, be a good person. Even if you don’t win, it’s fine if you don’t, as long as you make a difference.
“Hopefully, I made a difference in this sport.
“I will always be an IndyCar driver. I will always be an Indy 500 winner and I will always make people aware of IndyCar in the way it deserves.”
