Indy 500: Pato O'Ward leads Carb Day practice session

Pato O’Ward topped the speed chart on Carb Day in the final practice session leading up to the 104th running of the Indy 500.

In the final two-hour practice session prior to the 104th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Arrow McLaren SP rookie Pato O’Ward ended up on top of the speed chart ahead of three Honda drivers and one of his two teammates.

This marks the first time a Chevrolet driver has topped the speed chart in any session featuring the entire 33-driver field for this race.

O’Ward topped the speed chart in today’s Carb Day practice session by recording a top lap speed of 225.355 miles per hour (39.9370 seconds) around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Brickyard oval in Speedway, Indiana behind the wheel of his #5 Chevrolet. He was the only driver to top 225 miles per hour in this session.

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Honda drivers representing three different teams finished behind him in second, third and fourth place and were all in the 224 miles per hour range.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon led those three drivers behind the wheel of his #9 Honda in second place. Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi finished in third behind the wheel of his #27 Honda while Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato finished in fourth behind the wheel of his #30 Honda. The only other driver to top 224 miles per hour during this practice session was Arrow McLaren SP rookie Oliver Askew in fifth behind the wheel of his #7 Chevrolet.

Honda drivers took 11 of the top 12 positions in the starting lineup for the race last weekend during Crown Royal Armed Forces Qualifying. Race polesitter Marco Andretti of Andretti Herta Autosport ended this practice session with the 28th quickest speed at 221.314 miles per hour (40.6662 seconds) behind the wheel of his #98 Honda.

Ed Carpenter Racing rookie Rinus VeeKay, who led the Chevrolet drivers in qualifying by qualifying on the inside of the second row in fourth place, finished the practice session with the 16th quickest speed at 223.385 miles per hour (40.2892 seconds) behind the wheel of his #21 Chevrolet.

Here are the full results of the Carb Day practice session for the 104th running of the Indy 500.

Rank – Driver – Speed (miles per hour)
1st – Pato O’Ward – 225.355
2nd – Scott Dixon – 224.646
3rd – Alexander Rossi – 224.599
4th – Takuma Sato – 224.58
5th – Oliver Askew – 224.128
6th – Zach Veach – 223.957
7th – Josef Newgarden – 223.764
8th – Marcus Ericsson – 223.7
9th – Jack Harvey – 223.641
10th – Alex Palou – 223.57
11th – Charlie Kimball – 223.491
12th – James Hinchcliffe – 223.461
13th – Colton Herta – 223.433
14th – Simon Pagenaud – 223.419
15th – Ed Carpenter – 223.41
16th – Rinus VeeKay – 223.385
17th – Helio Castroneves – 223.093
18th – Conor Daly – 223.01
19th – Tony Kanaan – 222.999
20th – Dalton Kellett – 222.951
21st – Santino Ferrucci – 222.806
22nd – Ryan Hunter-Reay – 222.731
23rd – Fernando Alonso – 222.68
24th – Will Power – 222.578
25th – Graham Rahal – 222.158
26th – Spencer Pigot – 221.789
27th – Felix Rosenqvist – 221.675
28th – Marco Andretti – 221.314
29th – James Davison – 220.889
30th – Max Chilton – 220.666
31st – J.R. Hildebrand – 219.727
32nd – Sage Karam – 219.396
33rd – Ben Hanley – 217.984

Just 15 of these 33 drivers completed laps without a tow during this practice session, and VeeKay led the way with a lap at 220.189 miles per hour (40.8740 seconds) ahead of Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in second place behind the wheel of his #1 Chevrolet and Andretti in third.

Here are the full no-tow results of this practice session.

Rank – Driver – Speed (miles per hour)
1st – Rinus VeeKay – 220.189
2nd – Josef Newgarden – 220.002
3rd – Marco Andretti – 219.562
4th – Jack Harvey – 219.133
5th – Conor Daly – 218.854
6th – Pato O’Ward – 218.803
7th – Ed Carpenter – 218.77
8th – Colton Herta – 218.391
9th – Ryan Hunter-Reay – 218.231
10th – Alex Palou – 217.561
11th – James Hinchcliffe – 217.394
12th – Charlie Kimball – 216.819
13th – Max Chilton – 215.262
14th – Ben Hanley – 215.252
15th – Takuma Sato – 172.501

Next. Top 10 Indianapolis 500 drivers of all-time. dark

The next on-track action is slated to be the 104th running of the Indy 500 itself. Tune in to NBC at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 23 for the live broadcast of the race from Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The green flag is set to wave at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Indy 500: Pato O’Ward leads Carb Day practice session

By Asher Fair | Aug 21, 2020

Pato O’Ward topped the speed chart on Carb Day in the final practice session leading up to the 104th running of the Indy 500.