Indy 500 practice: Where did Jimmie Johnson end up?

Jimmie Johnson’s first official practice session for the Indy 500 is in the books, and he found himself toward the top of the speed chart.

Jimmie Johnson Mania at the Indy 500 has officially begun.

The first official practice session for the 106th running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” took place this afternoon, and Johnson, an Indy 500 rookie, posted the third fastest lap time of the 33 drivers set to compete in the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana.

His top lap speed was 227.722 miles per hour, trailing only that of Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing’s Takuma Sato (228.939 miles per hour) and teammate Scott Dixon (227.768 miles per hour), both former Indy 500 winners.

The 2022 season is not Johnson’s first season in IndyCar, but it is his first as a full-time driver. After retiring from NASCAR Cup Series competition following the 2020 season, the seven-time champion joined Chip Ganassi Racing’s IndyCar team as the driver of the #48 Honda for the road and street course races in 2021.

But he expanded his schedule to include all the oval tracks in 2022 as well.

Johnson finished in sixth place in his IndyCar oval debut at Texas Motor Speedway back in March, despite having not finished higher than 17th in a road or street course race.

The impressive run led many to believe that he could be a legitimate threat to win this year’s Indy 500. His odds to win are currently listed at +2250 at WynnBET, good for a 12th place tie.

While he is an Indy 500 rookie, we can’t neglect to mention the fact that he did earn four Brickyard 400 wins in 18 starts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Cup Series.

Here are the full results of the first practice session for the 106th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Rank – Driver
1st – Takuma Sato
2nd – Scott Dixon
3rd – Jimmie Johnson
4th – Marcus Ericsson
5th – Rinus VeeKay
6th – Alex Palou
7th – David Malukas
8th – Josef Newgarden
9th – Tony Kanaan
10th – Marco Andretti
11th – Devlin DeFrancesco
12th – Simon Pagenaud
13th – Dalton Kellett
14th – J.R. Hildebrand
15th – Felix Rosenqvist
16th – Will Power
17th – Graham Rahal
18th – Helio Castroneves
19th – Callum Ilott
20th – Jack Harvey
21st – Kyle Kirkwood
22nd – Scott McLaughlin
23rd – Sage Karam
24th – Pato O’Ward
25th – Christian Lundgaard
26th – Colton Herta
27th – Alexander Rossi
28th – Conor Daly
29th – Ed Carpenter
30th – Juan Pablo Montoya
31st – Romain Grosjean
32nd – Stefan Wilson
33rd – Santino Ferrucci

Notably, Johnson also finished as the third fastest driver without a tow, and he was the fastest Honda driver in this category with a lap at 220.724 miles per hour. He trailed only Ed Carpenter Racing teammates Rinus VeeKay (221.551 miles per hour) and Ed Carpenter (220.869 miles per hour).

The second practice session for the race is scheduled to take place from 12:00 p.m. ET to 6:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday afternoon, weather permitting. Qualifying is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 21 and Sunday, May 22, and the race itself is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 29, with live coverage from NBC set to begin at 11:00 a.m. ET.