Newgarden Fastest in Indy 500 Test Hampered by Crashes

The two-day Indianapolis 500 Open Test at IMS had a little bit of everything.

The first day began later than scheduled due to rain in the Speedway area. Things got going after a 90-minute delay and after most drivers did their install laps, Alexander Rossi lost control of his No. 27 Andretti Autosport machine exiting pit lane. The 2016 Indy 500 winner was able to laugh it off, but it was just a glimpse of what was to come.

There were two more incidents towards the end of the day that were much more dangerous. The first was a crash by four-time and reigning Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves. The Meyer Shank Racing driver spun on the warmup lane between Turn 1 and Turn 2, sliding into the outside SAFER barrier. The car, which was the same car that won the race last year, suffered significant damage.

“Coming out of the pits in the warmup lane, I didn’t feel anything strange anything bottoming or anything like that,” Castroneves said. “I wasn’t even pushing obviously and the car just spun. It was a very odd situation that unfortunately we couldn’t avoid. Very unusual.” The team opted not to run the second day of the test because they wanted to take their time to repair the car the right way.

Nearly 20 minutes later, another incident took place. This time it was 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power that spun inside of Turn 1, sliding up onto the track into the path of oncoming drivers. Colton Herta managed to dodge the Team Penske car, but lost control of his machine in the process. Herta tapped the outside wall before spinning back towards the inside of the track, and narrowly collected the speeding Marcus Ericsson.

"Scared the absolute daylights out of me," Power said. "You know the situation, when you come up on the track and there’s a whole pack coming at those speeds. I feel terrible for Colton that he crashed because I spun. But I had zero warning. It’s just a bad situation. As soon as I finished spinning, I thought, ‘Man, there must be water there because I’ve been out of that pitlane hundreds of times."

"It just surprised me," Power continued. "It’s like my worst nightmare. It’s something you always think about as a driver because you’ve seen it. You saw what happened to (Alex) Zanardi and it’s just something you’re aware of, and you’re cautious of during practice, and I just couldn’t believe it caught me out."

With the three incidents all taking place in the same general area on the warmup lane, the series wanted to investigate further. While there was still 40 minutes of time remaining, officials decided to end the test day prematurely. Scott Dixon recorded the fastest overall lap on Wednesday at 227.187 mph in his No. 9 Chip Ganassi Honda.

One of the drivers that agreed with the decision was 2013 winner Tony Kanaan. “When we started today, I thought it was slippery just because the track was green and you go out, it’s really cold, but as the day progressed actually, it didn’t get any better. I know they sealed the track and the apron. The track has no issue but the apron seems that something is wrong with it. I think it was the right call. You don’t want a car shooting up the track. It’s obviously a little bit concerning.”

The IMS staff facility workers worked through the night to address the issue, and there were no issues with it at all on Thursday.

All of the rookies passed the Rookie Orientation Program and the veterans that needed to complete the refresher test were able to do so. One of those drivers is Jimmie Johnson, who is set to make his debut in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing next month. The Ganassi driver turned 138 laps on Thursday and finished with the 8th fastest lap on the 2.5-mile oval.

"I'm still flinching in Turn 1 and Turn 3," Johnson admitted. "It's just a long-ass straightaway to talk to yourself and convince yourself to hold it wide open. I feel like flat out sixth gear on the rev limiter turning into one or three was really what I needed to do, get a good sense of that type of speed, that type of G force, trust the car. No driver lifts, really flat in those really fast situations."

A total of 3,267 laps were completed by the 31 drivers on Thursday, with Josef Newgarden laying down the fastest lap of the two-day session at 229.519 mph. Newgarden is carrying a ton of momentum his way right now, having won the last two races entering the month of May. The two-time series champion just became a father for the first time last week.

"We’ve been on a good trajectory at the moment," said the Penske driver. "I don’t want to see it flatten too much. I want to see it go the other way. I feel confident with what we’ve got, feel good at showing up anywhere. Being at Team Penske makes that easier. I always feel confident in our group. I can’t deny things feel really good on the No. 2 car."

While both days of testing were delayed by Mother Nature, it was a good barometer for teams to gauge their cars on two very different types of weather conditions. Wednesday was chilly, with cloud cover and a strong breeze. By the time cars hit the track on Thursday afternoon, temperatures were closer to typical days in May, with warm temperatures and plenty of sunshine.

Rossi tried to make sense of it all. "The day got off to a damp start, but we did 138 laps in about three hours," he said. "This test is a little strange. You’re trying to run through your Speedway car for the first time in the year, but also get through some test items. Ultimately, the track and the conditions will be different when we come back here next month. It was a good exercise for everyone to get in the rhythm around here again. We’ll see what learned, but when we come back in May, it’s going to basically be starting from scratch."

Opening Day of practice for the 106th Indianapolis 500 begins on May 17.