Fast Friday, frustrated drivers: Scott Dixon fast again in a ‘pretty hairy’ Indy 500 practice

By May 21, 2021, 7:00 PM EDT
Indy 500 Fast Friday
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar/USA TODAY Sports Images
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INDIANAPOLIS — Close calls and tight speeds were the story of “Fast Friday” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Scott Dixon posted the fastest lap of Indy 500 practice for the second time in three days.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver got more good news after the session when his team drew the No. 1 spot in qualifying for the 105th Indianapolis 500. That means he will put the first speed on the board at noon ET Saturday for everybody to chase in the battle to make the Fast Nine that will battle for the pole position.

That might brighten the six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion’s mood.

Dixon was one of many drivers frustrated by slower traffic while trying to find a clear track to simulate a four-lap qualifying run around the 2.5-mile oval in a highly competitive field of 35 cars. Drivers also were adapting to an extra 90 horsepower in a turbo boost provided for “Fast Friday” and the qualifying sessions Saturday and Sunday.

HOW TO WATCH QUALIFYING ON NBC: All the details for Saturday and Sunday

FRIDAY SPEED CHART: Click here to view who was fastest on Day 4

COMBINED PRACTICE RESULTS: Top speeds through the first four days

“Obviously, it was really tough out there today; just really tough to get a clear track,” said Dixon, whose 19th of 29 laps led the session at 233.032 mph in his No. 9 Dallara-Honda. “You had some guys doing some pretty silly stuff out there. Teams should have been held responsible for some of those runs as well.

“I know it’s difficult. I know everybody wants to try to get a run. Some of those closing speeds when you have people doing cooldown laps at 150 mph, you’re coming in at 240, gets pretty hairy.”

After one narrow miss, Graham Rahal apologized to Ed Carpenter after lingering in the bottom lane instead of moving his No. 15 onto the apron (Rahal blamed miscommunication with his team) as the No. 21 Chevrolet whizzed by at speed.

QUALIFYING ORDER: How the cars will go to begin setting the Indy 500 starting grid

Alexander Rossi, whose No. 27 Dallara-Honda posted the fastest no-tow speed (231.598 mph) voiced his displeasure with Josef Newgarden midway through the session.

“Yeah, it was kind of annoying,” Rossi said. “People aren’t doing any favors either, so it was a lot of … whatever, it’s fine. Yeah, it was a good day.”

Dixon blamed one unnamed driver for putting him in a bad spot by declining to pull off track into the cooldown lane.

“When you’re coming in at 240 mph, you had a car in the short chute at 150 mph, that’s a pretty big problem,” he said. “Some of it you’ve got to rely on the spotters. We found ourselves in some positions today. It’s not easy. It’s hard to talk about.”

Dixon said the solution might not be as simple as IndyCar monitoring how cars are released.

“I think it’s part of the process now,” he said. “Once you do a run, everybody is trying to cool the cars off. Some people used to not care about that, but now everybody is doing it. It becomes a lot of cars on track at different speeds. I feel like if you’re off the pace, you just got to use the bottom lanes. How they address it, I don’t know, man.

“I think it was just more difficult this year because I think you’ve got a very full field that are very close. You have a couple people that are going to be hanging on pretty tough. Everybody’s trying to get a run.”

While there were many real estate disputes, there was no debate about which engine manufactcurer had the field covered Friday.

“Honda with a capital ‘H,’ ” Rossi joked.

Honda drivers posted the top five speeds (with Dixon, Colton Herta, Tony Kanaan, Marcus Ericsson and Alex Palou) and 12 of the top 15. Team Penske’s fastest driver was Newgarden (22nd), followed by Scott McLaughlin (24th), Will Power (29th) and Simon Pagenaud (30th).

Hondas also had seven of the top 10 four-lap average speeds. The best Chevy was the No. 5 of Pato O’Ward, who posted the sixth-fastest speed and was third on four-lap average.

It portends another tough Indy 500 qualifying session for Chevy, which had only one car in the Fast Nine last year and three cars in the top 15 starting spots of the 2020 Indy 500.

“I think we can all look at the chart and see who is more dominant,” O’Ward said. “My Chevy has been good to me so far. I think we’ve been doing a good job with what we have. Tomorrow obviously the goal is going to be getting to the Fast Nine.”

Friday’s session was the third this week to run incident free. The only crash in four days of Indy 500 practice was Santino Ferrucci, who was transported to IU Health Methodist Hospital for precautionary examinations of his left foot Thursday after backing his No. 25 Dallara-Honda into the Turn 2 wall in a hard collision.

INDY 500 INFO: Start times, schedules, TV, stats, historical details about the race

MONTH OF MAY SCHEDULE: When cars are on track with TV times, schedules

After being cleared to drive Friday morning, Ferrucci posted the 14th-fastest lap and the eighth-best four-lap average in a car that his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team worked overnight to repair.

“I’m so proud of these guys and so thankful the cars are as safe as they are,” he told NBC Sports reporter Marty Snider. “Our Hy-Vee Honda is cooking, man. I just had to forget about (the crash). It’s like that golf mentality. You hit a bad shot and just forget and move onto the next one.

“We had our setback yesterday. I slept it off, took some Tylenol when I woke up this morning and said we’re going to go fast.”

Here’s the rest of the top 10 in qualifying draw (going early usually is an advantage because the track tends to lose grip as the temperature rises): Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves, Ed Jones, James Hinchliffe, Stefan Wilson, Tony Kanaan, Newgarden, Rinus VeeKay.

In addition to determining the Fast Nine that will compete for the pole position, Saturday’s qualifying session also will leave five cars in jeopardy of missing the field. Two will be eliminated Sunday in the Last Row Shootout.

The cars that seemed to be in the danger zone as the five slowest Friday: Rookie RC Enerson (226.055), Charlie Kimball (228.520), Sebastien Bourdais (229.426), Simona de Silvestro (229.477) and Sage Karam (229.536).

After 19th Indianapolis 500 win, Roger Penske never stops; focusing on Detroit, Le Mans

By Jun 2, 2023, 3:00 PM EDT
Roger Penske stops
Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
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DETROIT – Roger Penske never stops.

Just consider what the 86-year-old billionaire has accomplished last Sunday.

At 12:40 p.m. last Sunday, Penske greeted the massive crowd of 330,000 spectators at the 107th Indianapolis 500 and gave the command, “Drivers, Start Your Engines” to begin the big race. Since 2019, Penske has been the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar.

Over three hours later, Penske was standing on top of the Pagoda, the massive suite and command post of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, watching the dramatic conclusion of the Indy 500 with his wife, Kathy, son Greg, Penske Corp. marketing director Jonathan Gibson, and Penske Corp. president Bud Denker.

When Penske saw his driver, Josef Newgarden, cross the start/finish line as the winner, he thrust his left fist in the air in an enthusiastic fashion and celebrated with his closest associates.

“I’m up on the very top of the Pagoda and I have a screen up there with all the times of every (Team Penske) car, each lap and I have a TV and a radio that I can’t talk (to the teams) on,” Penske said. “I can go from the channels of 2 (Newgaren), 3 (Scott McLaughlin) or 12 (Will Power) just listening to where we are.

“I have my own idea to what I might have done, but when I heard (Team Penske president) Tim Cindric say we had to take our time, when he said we were on plan at 100 laps, we were actually ahead of where we wanted to be. They were saving fuel, to be in the right window, which was right on.

“It was amazing when you think about all of the things that happened. If we didn’t have that wreck on the front straightaway, it would have been different.

“It’s a crazy place. It’s rewarding. That’s why we are here to race.”

In addition to owning the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Penske is also the winningest car owner in Indy 500 history and Sunday’s win was a record-extending 19th win in the 500-Mile Race.

It was the first time Penske, the car owner, won the Indy 500 since Penske, the track owner, officially took over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Jan. 6, 2020.

Roger Penske (Bruce Martin Photo)

With the purchase, he also put some professional distance between himself and Team Penske after calling strategy in the race for many years.

“After you have been on your face for three of four years qualifying here, it’s nice to be up again,” Penske said. “We won nine races last year, won the championship and qualified in the back half of the field. Then we came back here this year, and we worked so hard.

“Guys have better ideas than we do. You have to hand it to them. The cars are legal, I’m sure. Rocket (IndyCar technical director Kevin Blanch) and those guys aren’t going to let that happen and we don’t want it to happen.

“We have to figure out what the magic is so we can be up front at the beginning (of the Indy 500).

“You have to take the good with the bad. You have to eat crow when you have to eat crow. I’ve had good days and bad days, but the good news is we are the same team whether we win or whether we lose and that is the most important thing.

“We are committed.”

Penske was still celebrating in Victory Lane when the placard that designates his parking spot (between the Pagoda and IMS media center) was changed from “18” to “19” to signify the number of times he has won the Indianapolis 500.

“He was hoping to get to 19, and it happened,” Penske’s son, Greg, who is the Vice Chairman of the Penske Corporation told NBC Sports. “It was special for our whole team, our family, and our 70,000-plus team members around the world. And our partners. Shell, in its first race to win with renewable fuel and it happened to be their car. They have been such a great partner over the years.

“That was so exciting to see that all come together as one team.

“It’s always a great feeling to wake up and say, ‘Man, we did this as a team, and we did this together.’

“Now, we move on to Detroit and move forward. Bud Denker and the team, it will be exciting over there, too.”

On Monday night, Penske attended the Indianapolis 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis. About 565 miles away, Penske’s NASCAR Cup Series team was competing in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“I watched it until I had to go to the banquet,” Penske said Thursday morning in Detroit. “Then I had my iPhone sitting on the table there.

“With 50 laps to go, I didn’t know who to watch or what to watch while I was at the (Indianapolis 500) banquet.”

One of Penske’s NASCAR drivers, Ryan Blaney, went on to win the Coca-Cola 600.

It was yet another first for Penske – the first time he won the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in the same year. The only reason it wasn’t in the same day is because the NASCAR race had been rained out and rescheduled for the following day.

The accomplishment, however, remains impressive.

“That’s what we are here for, to set goals for other people to try to achieve,” Penske said. “The 19th win at Indianapolis was long overdue when you think about the past. It was a great race. It could have been anybody’s race.

“We were able to execute at the right time.”

Penske enjoyed more success in 24 hours than most team owners or businessmen would experience in a season, or even in a career.

But Penske immediately switched his focus to this weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The NTT IndyCar Series race is the first time this event has been contested on the streets of downtown Detroit since 1991 and is a massive undertaking.

There isn’t anything too big that Roger Penske and his team can’t accomplish, however.

“The good news is we have great weather, and we will be able to showcase the people in the city that don’t normally get a chance to go to the race at Belle Isle in the past can get a chance to come here and see what is going on,” Penske said Thursday. “The economic benefit for the city is going to be terrific.

“Mike Montri, Bud Denker and Chevrolet and the whole team, what they have put together here is an amazing job. Knowing what it takes to start fresh in a city on the city streets is amazing.”

Moving the race from Belle Isle, its home since 1992, back to the streets of Detroit is a massive undertaking, but Penske said it was time to leave the Island.

“We had a lot of noise from people because we were taking Belle Isle, a place where a lot of constituents in Detroit have weddings and things like that,” Penske said. “We cleaned up the island.

“We are going to make this a big event by coming to downtown Detroit. With the support of GM and ourselves, it was a home run.

“Last week, when the mayor of Detroit and the city council took down the 25 mph street signs and put up 200 mph, that was the day when I knew that we had made it.”

Win the Indianapolis 500 win on Sunday, the Coca-Cola 600 victory on Monday and then turning downtown Detroit into a street course and stage the race this weekend, it would be easy to expect Penske to take a break afterward.

Not so.

He will be off to Le Mans for the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans Sports Car race June 10-11 with Porsche Penske Motorsport aiming for an overall victory with its 963 hybrid prototype.

“We want to win Le Mans, that is what we would like to do,” Penske said. “We have three good cars. It’s going to be competitive. The Balance of Performance, we’ll see how that works. They made some changes, but right now, I’m sure the Toyotas have the edge.

“Just to go there and compete this first year with Porsche is something we have wanted to do for a long time. It’s a quality brand, a long-term contract so we can build on it this year.”

Penske and his son Greg are constantly looking forward, instead of taking too much time to celebrate their successes.

Greg Penske with Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden (Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment)

But both men realize what a huge success last week’s Indianapolis 500 was from both a competitive and business standpoint.

“After being stewards of the place here and all the hard work that everyone has put in and the team, what they have done to get back to winning, it was exciting,” Greg Penske told NBC Sports. “We had a lot of competition. Probably the best competition we’ve ever had to race against.

“It was exciting. To be up there and see the move Josef made and how they raced. It was quite a finish for the fans and for everybody.

“Great news. No one left. It was nice to see everyone staying and they wanted to see a great finish. That was exciting.

“It was exciting for everybody.”

The massive crowd of 330,000 fans was the largest to watch the Indianapolis 500 since 350,000 fans attended the sold-out 100th running in 2016.

It serves as proof of what can be done when people such as Penske and his staff get out and promote the event.

“The Indy 500 has always been a spectacular event,” Greg Penske said. “People want to come. It’s Americana. It’s amazing when you take a look at it. The people that came here from 50 different countries and all around the world.

“There is nothing like it. To get this many people to come in, but it’s still one guest at a time. That is something that is really important to us. Every experience is a good one. We have to keep working on that. I’m sure there will be opportunities for us to execute and get even better.”

The day after the Indianapolis 500, Roger Penske spoke to a small group of reporters during the annual Indianapolis 500 victory photo shoot at the Yard of Bricks.

He emphasized it wasn’t just the size of the crowd, it was also the changing face of those in attendance.

“That was some crowd,” he said. “And it was real.

“Owning the track is something we have done over the years. When (former IMS owner) Tony George came, I didn’t realize when I said yes, what I was really signing up for.

“What we signed up for was to make it better and make it a place where everybody wants to come and have fun. The demographics, so many kids coming out here with their families.

“I stood out at Turn 3 here earlier in the week and watched those cars go into Turn 3 at 240 miles an hour and to think you can go out there for $45 with your kids and watch it. It costs me more than that to go to a movie in Detroit than to sit out there.

“This is what we have to do. It’s generational. People come here. They want to keep their tickets. If we can make it fun and exciting as it was yesterday at the end, not many people left. It was amazing that not many people left.”

Roger Penske with his wife, Kathy, at the Indy 500 awards ceremony (Bruce Martin Photo)

Penske is involved in all aspects of his business. He revealed that he used helicopters to take overhead shots of the crowd before and after the race to help improve crowd control in future Indianapolis 500s.

“We had a helicopter every half hour from 7:30 a.m. on taking pictures so we could sit down as a team and look exactly how the place filled up and how it was at closing,” Penske explained. “We can look at where we had pinch points. That’s the most important thing, to make it easier to get in and easier to get out.

“Over in the Snake Pit, there are some things we can do where people can sit on the mounds.

“We had two screens on the back straightaway that were temporary. I want to put a big screen on the back of the grandstands coming off Turn 4 – a big one – so that when you are on the viewing mounds, you can see. Those are the things we have to do and that will only make it a better experience and to grow it.

“I don’t want to take any credit for filling it up. What we are doing is trying to take a product that took 106 years to build into what it is. All we are trying to do is sustain it and bring it up to the current standards from the standpoint of expectations. Whether it’s you as a family or kid, it’s whatever you have.

“That’s how we run our business.

“No risk, no reward. It was great.”

Penske has taken plenty of risks during his career, but he is calculated with every move that he takes when guiding his race team, or his business empire.

That is why he is able to enjoy the tremendous rewards that come with his success.

“Every victory for us and for the team and for my father, what he has been able to build over the years, it is exciting for all of us,” Greg Penske admitted. “He feels the same way.

“Being on top of the podium, as we all know, never gets old. But it takes execution, and it takes hard work.

“The teams here and how they commit to be here and make sure we are successful; I’ve never seen it so competition. Think about qualifying being 14 inches over 10 miles. That’s a pretty close margin.

“It’s always exciting. For him to continue to drive and to work the way he does is pretty amazing.

“I’ve had a front row seat for that and I’m very excited to be a part of it.”

Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500