Opening practice for the eighth round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, saw Scott McLaughlin finish on top for Team Penske, with Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay looking strong until engine trouble, and …
Opening practice for the eighth round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, saw Scott McLaughlin finish on top for Team Penske, with Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay looking strong until engine trouble, and Arrow McLaren’s newest recruit Nolan Siegel turning his first laps for the team.
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Scott McLaughlin led opening practice for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, the eighth round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season, at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Linus Lundqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s rookie who took his first …
Scott McLaughlin led opening practice for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, the eighth round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season, at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Linus Lundqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s rookie who took his first IndyCar pole position at Road America, was the early session pacesetter, turning a 1m09.2218s lap of the 2.238-mile course. Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda ran wide into the Corkscrew, while Agustin Canapino – back in the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevrolet after a one-race layoff – had a bizarre spin through Turn 7.
Finally, Graham Rahal, sporting a smart gold-’n’-black Mobil 1 livery, displaced Lundqvist and put RLL on top with a 1m09.0374s.
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There was a red flag as David Malukas spun the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing-Honda at Turn 2 – the Andretti hairpin – on his eighth lap. Malukas will be making his first start of the season, after breaking his wrist in a training accident pre-season and subsequently being released by Arrow McLaren-Chevy before he had even driven for the squad.
The big guns came out past the 20-minute mark, and Ganassi’s two-time champion Alex Palou delivered a 1m08.5664s, just 0.0393s ahead of Kyle Kirkwood’s Andretti Autosport-Honda. Behind this pair was the impressive Juncos Hollinger car of Romain Grosjean, but even more impressive was McLaren’s newest recruit Nolan Siegel saving a huge smoky moment exiting the Corkscrew.
Santino Ferrucci didn’t save a moment, but he maybe prevented a crash, after spinning through the Corkscrew just beyond the blind crest. The AJ Foyt Racing-Chevy driver dipped the clutch to roll backward out of harm’s way as rapidly as possible before spinning the car back around the right way and proceeding to pitlane.
Canapino had a second venture into the dust, this time at the Corkscrew while McLaughlin ran his Team Penske-Chevy through the dust on the exit of Turn 10. Rinus VeeKay held fourth for Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy.
Pato O’Ward spun off at Turn 5 and caused the second red flag of the session, and that enforced break with 20 minutess left to run prompted some drivers to switch to their alternate Firestones. One such was Marcus Ericsson (Andretti) who jumped to seventh, then hit the top on his second lap – a 1m08.2347s – with Kirkwood, also using the softer tire, displacing Palou to take second. Ericsson then trimmed a further tenth off his time, 1m08.1763 on his third lap before pitting.
Ericsson’s position of prominence lasted only until Josef Newgarden’s first flyer, which trimmed a couple of hundredths off the Swede’s best. He then ripped a 1m07.8805s, but that wasn’t enough to prevent two-time Laguna Seca winner Colton Herta eclipsing him by around 0.15s, an average of 118.952mph.
While Rahal and Christian Lundgaard were struggling with their RLL cars, their teammate Pietro Fittipaldi went third, 0.2709s off Newgarden. McLaren, too, found some pace to go fourth and fifth with O’Ward and Alexander Rossi, until split by McLaughlin.
Once Palou had a set of reds on, he got into the 1m07s, leaping into third, but then McLaughlin went fastest – 1m07.6325s, the first 119mph lap of the weekend – ahead of Herta, Palou, Newgarden and the excellent Fittipaldi.
Malukas finished his first session for Meyer Shank down in 25th but only a tenth slower than team leader Felix Rosenqvist, who survived a huge late spin out of Turn 3 without touching the wall. Siegel, meanwhile, played himself in gently with his new team, finishing the session about two seconds off teammate O’Ward.
Second practice begins on Saturday at 10am local (Pacific) time.
Everything was looking rosy for Scott McLaughlin as he led the field into Turn 1 from pole position at the Indianapolis 500. The New Zealander flew high in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevy as he led a race-topping 64 laps, but McLaughlin’s day was a bit …
Everything was looking rosy for Scott McLaughlin as he led the field into Turn 1 from pole position at the Indianapolis 500. The New Zealander flew high in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevy as he led a race-topping 64 laps, but McLaughlin’s day was a bit like a balloon with a slow leak.
The longer the race went, the lower McLaughlin went as the Indy 500’s most rewarding – or problematic – dynamic played out with the timing of cautions and how they affected pit strategies, and the Kiwi found himself on the wrong end of the equation.
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All of those 64 laps spent at the front of the field were produced in the first 125 laps; he’d fall as far back as 11th before recovering to take a rather unrewarding sixth as teammate Josef Newgarden went on to win a thriller in the No. 2 Chevy.
“I just gave it my all, all month,” McLaughlin said. “It’s just emotionally draining. Unfortunately, that’s my best run and I’m upset about it obviously. You’re a competitor. But Team Penske won and that’s the main thing.
“Congrats to Josef. This place just kicks your butt and you’ve got to come back stronger next year.”
Looking at the odds for Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, with expert picks and predictions.
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The IndyCar Series moves to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday for the 2024 Indianapolis 500. Green flag for the 108th running of the Indy 500 is scheduled to drop shortly after 12:30 p.m. ET (NBC). Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s lines around the 2024 Indianapolis 500 odds, and make our expert picks and predictions.
2024 Indianapolis 500: What you need to know
Weather is an issue for Sunday’s race as scattered thunderstorms, including some potentially severe with hail, are in the forecast from 11 a.m. through 3 a.m. Monday. The chance of precipitation is 50 percent or greater for a better part of Sunday
Arrow McLaren driver Kyle Larson is attempting to become the 5th driver to start the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. The weather might negate those plans, however
Larson was impressive in qualifying, challenging for the pole in the Fast Six, before securing the 5th starting spot after he posted a speed of 232.846 mph
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin is on the pole, starting from the inside of Row 1. His teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden, the 2023 Indy 500 winner, are alongside him on the front row
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, who sits atop the IndyCar Series standings with 152 points and 4 top-5 finishes, will go off from the middle of Row 5
2022 Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson is in the middle of Row 11, the final row, in between Katherine Legge and Graham Rahal
2-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato (2017, 2020) goes off from the inside of Row 4
WILL POWER (+725) goes off from the middle of Row 1. The Team Penske driver sits 2nd in the IndyCar Series standings, and the Indianapolis 500 would be the perfect place for Power to get his 1st victory of the 2024 schedule.
While Power has been unable to secure checkers, he has 3 top-5 finishes, and 4 finishes inside the top-10. He has been very consistent, and he understands how to get to the milk on the bricks at this track. Power won the 2018 Indianapolis 500 in his Dallara DW12-Chevrolet.
2024 Indianapolis 500 Long shots
ALEX PALOU (+1300) has some rather long odds given the fact he sits on the perch of the IndyCar Series standings. Palou leads all drivers with 4 top-5 finishes, and he is 12 points clear of Power.
Palou will have to work his way up the grid as he starts in the middle of Row 5 between COLTON HERTA (+950), another long-shot bet worth a look, and Callum Ilott.
Herta is tied for 3rd in the series standings with Scott Dixon (127 points), and Herta has managed a pair of top-5 finishes and 4 runs inside the top-10.
It’s a good idea to back HERTA TOP-5 FINISH (+130) and PALOU TOP-5 FINISH (+170), too.
2024 Indianapolis 500 Prop picks
WILL POWER (-145) BEST FINISHING POSITION over Kyle Larson (+110)
There is a chance this bet turns into “no action” if Larson elects to leave Indy for Charlotte early Sunday because of weather and the start of the 500 is delayed. If Sunday’s race is a complete washout and postponed to Monday, Larson will very well likely return to Indy.
If Larson races Indy, backing a former Indianapolis 500 winner in Power over a 1st-time starter in Larson, albeit a talented one not entirely new to open-wheel racing, is the move.
Sunday 3-race parlay
MAX VERSTAPPEN to win Monaco GP (+800), POWER to win Indy 500 (+725), and TYLER REDDICK to win Coca-Cola 600 (+1000) pays 815.75 to 1 at BetMGM Sportsbook. It’s a long-shot, sure, but that’s what makes it fun. A simple $2 bet would profit $1,623.50. That’s worth a roll of the dice.
Check out Motorsports Wire: For the auto racing fan, USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s website covers NASCAR, F1, IndyCar and more.
Check out the starting lineup for the 2024 Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 26, including Kyle Larson!
The starting lineup for the 2024 Indianapolis 500 has been officially set. After two grueling and gut-wrenching days of qualifying, [autotag]Scott McLaughlin[/autotag] and Team Penske will lead the field to the green flag in a front-row lockout. Meanwhile, NASCAR superstar [autotag]Kyle Larson[/autotag] qualified in fifth place for his first Indianapolis 500 on May 26, where he will execute “The Double.”
On the other side of the spectrum, Marcus Ericsson and Graham Rahal barely squeaked their way into the Indianapolis 500 after rookie driver Nolan Siegel wrecked on his final qualifying run. Ericsson had to perfect his final run to be one of the 33 drivers in the show. Now, the NTT IndyCar Series will focus on the practices this week before the big event.
We haven’t seen Simon Pagenaud on track for almost a year, but that doesn’t mean we’ve missed his influence being applied to NTT IndyCar Series. As the Frenchman continues to recover from the frightening crash last year at Mid-Ohio, the 2016 IndyCar …
We haven’t seen Simon Pagenaud on track for almost a year, but that doesn’t mean we’ve missed his influence being applied to NTT IndyCar Series.
As the Frenchman continues to recover from the frightening crash last year at Mid-Ohio, the 2016 IndyCar Series champion and 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner has found a second calling as a performance advisor and mentor to Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin.
It’s a homecoming for Pagenaud, who earned his greatest achievements in the sport with Penske and race engineer Ben Bretzman. With his departure from Team Penske at the end of 2021 – after spending the season with McLaughlin during his rookie campaign – Pagenaud has come back at the request of the New Zealander, who has Bretzman on his side with No. 3 Chevy which they fired into pole position for Sunday’s great race.
“It’s been a lot of fun; obviously my activity on track has been a lot less and my love for the Speedway and being a student of it is the same,” Pagenaud told RACER. “What I love the most about the Speedway is the details of it all, and I think Ben and Scott really knew that.
“Scott contacted me at the end of January and said he was wanting to improve his craft. I thought, ‘You know, the guy’s a champion, and a multiple champion with Penske in V8 Supercars, and it is very unusual for a guy of his achievements to want to get some advice at this level.’
“I was baffled by it. That’s so rare. He basically came up and said, ‘Listen, I need to improve my craft. I want to win Indy so bad. I’ll do anything. Can you help me?’”
The late Gil de Ferran mentored Simon Pagenaud. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images
Known for his highly analytical ways, and a complementary Zen-like approach to the sport, Pagenaud is a mirror image of his late friend and mentor Gil de Ferran, who won two CART IndyCar Series championships and the 2003 Indy 500 while driving for Penske. Given his first chance to share his unique views and methods to navigating the month of May at Indy with McLaughlin, Pagenaud had strong feelings on how such a relationship might work with the Kiwi.
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“When he asked if it’s possible, I said ‘I don’t know,’” Pagenaud added. “I’m not gonna be a driver coach and I don’t want to be a coach. That’s not my thing. But I said, working with the elites like you, that’s a much different story that I would enjoy.
“But I said, ‘I’m not gonna be out there on the turns with a camera and tell you to do this and do that. I’m going to guide you and give you the tools for you to use because you don’t need me to tell you what to do. You just need to learn the manual.’
“We raced the 500 together as teammates one year, we got to see each other’s work, and I always really liked him. I love the way that he is as a person as a driver. So I said to him, ‘Unfortunately, nobody gave you the manual. So I will do that. So we started working together.”
The Indy 500 will see the culmination of their work in recent months as Pagenaud’s model for how to execute the event – which he crafted with Bretzman for so many years – has been further applied to McLaughlin.
“Obviously, the [Indy] Open Test (which was hit with rain) was a bit short in April but we already had started with the approach of it,” Pagenaud continued. “And a lot of it has been to help him manage his very large intensity…he’s very intense about winning. And help him with that understanding of when it’s time to do what and when it’s time to focus on these different things.
“One day, you focus on downforce. One day, you focus on pit lane work. One day, you focus on what tools you can use in the race and how to interact all these tools together with the downforce and your mechanical setup.
“And with him, it’s about understanding exactly the criss-cross between all those tiny little details and how those details make a better driver. So the funny thing with him is he’s infusing himself in the manual and it’s really working for him.
“It’s really not me. I’d hate for people to think that it is. It’s just the work that he’s putting in that’s making him better.”
McLaughlin has benefitted from Pagenaud’s winning experience. Photo by Geoffrey Miller/Motorsport Images
McLaughlin is an unabashed Pagenaud fan.
“He’s a very keen observer of many things, a note taker, and we’ve been exchanging notes all week,” he said. “I asked him to do this [in] like January or February, and we’ve been analyzing a lot of things since. But at the same time, he’s always been a Team Penske member. He’s won the 500 for us, and at the end of the day, we all just want him to be okay. So this is for me an opportunity for me to work with him but also an opportunity for me to help maybe bring him back to the race and get his name back involved.
“Whether that’s not driving a race car, at least he’s involved, and he gets that feeling of being at the 500 again. I’m sure it’s so hard for him right now. It’s his first 500 he’s missed in a long time. He’s a 500 winner, and he’s at a point in his career where he could easily keep going for many, many years.
“He’s just a nice guy. I’ve always got along with him from Penske, and he’s been a lot of help. Yeah, there’s definitely a lot of things I’ve used this week that have helped, but at the same time, we’ve had great car speed, which has made it a lot easier. But just leaning on him has been nice.”
Pagenaud will take part in pre-race meetings on Sunday morning with Chevrolet and Team Penske as part of the effort to help McLaughlin try and win his first 500.
There’s no timeline for the married father of two to make his own attempts to return and try to win again at the Speedway, but being here and being involved as a performance advisor has been helpful for Pagenaud, who likes the idea of continuing in the role after he’s retired from driving at some point in the future.
Working with McLaughlin has given Pagenaud a glimpse of what a post-driving career could look like. Simon Pagenaud
“It is something that has an interest for me to do while I’m getting better now, and more later in my life,” he said. “It’s providing guidance more so than anything and just giving the tools to a driver like Scott. That’s what Gil de Ferran did with me. All these hours of talking about everything, how to do things the best way, and I’m trying to transfer the knowledge to a guy that’s willing to learn, a guy that respects this place, and a guy that respects the game.
“And to me, the game is sacred. And there is a real game to play by here. The Speedway is very, very, very special, and it is very specific game you have to play and understand and to quest to perfecting that game. It is fascinating to me and I have the chance to live through Scott as well this year.
“I am glad I can help him. I’m very honored, actually, that he asked me. As drivers, we can have huge egos and never want to ask anybody for help, but Scott is not this way. That’s part of what makes him an amazing driver, and why it’s such an honor to be asked. And it’s also great to be able to help Team Penske, who’s done so much for me.”
Scott McLaughlin discusses winning the pole for the 2024 Indianapolis 500. Check out what McLaughlin had to say about this achievement!
After the first day of qualifying for the 2024 Indianapolis 500, it became clear that Team Penske would likely win the pole position. However, no one could have expected a new qualifying record. [autotag]Scott McLaughlin[/autotag] won the pole for the 2024 Indianapolis 500, setting a new record average with a 234.220 miles per hour run on Sunday evening.
It was a shocking run by McLaughlin, who drove the yellow No. 3 car into the pole position by a landslide. Following his final qualifying attempt, McLaughlin talked about winning the pole for the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500.
“The car has been good,” McLaughlin said. “I thought the potential was there, even yesterday. It was just about getting the right balance. I knew my engineer would nail it, and they did, and when first number came up, I just had to hold on. Got a little bit loose at the end but the Pennzoil Chevy held on.”
“Super proud to put the Yellow Submarine back on the pole and sweep for Team Penske. What a great spot for the 108th Running [of the Indianapolis 500]. I’m really proud. I think it’s the first Team Penske clean sweep of the front row since ’88. In this day and age, that’s a proud moment.”
Team Penske has been blazing fast since unloading at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and nothing suggests it will go away anytime soon. McLaughlin, Will Power, and Josef Newgarden have locked out the front row, and it could be their race to lose next Sunday. However, McLaughlin sits at the top of the trio, with his first Indianapolis 500 pole position.
“To have them as close as we have them, that’s impressive,” Josef Newgarden said after Team Penske blitzed the field on Pole Day at the Indianapolis 500 where the three-car operation went 1-2-3 to lock out the front row. After posting the fastest …
“To have them as close as we have them, that’s impressive,” Josef Newgarden said after Team Penske blitzed the field on Pole Day at the Indianapolis 500 where the three-car operation went 1-2-3 to lock out the front row.
After posting the fastest run in the Fast 12 earlier in the day, New Zealand’s Scott McLaughlin led the group to earn his first Indy 500 pole with the No. 3 Chevy at a remarkable 234.220mph average in the Fast Six ahead of Will Power in the No. 12 Chevy (233.917mph) and Newgarden in the No. 2 Chevy (233.808mph).
“I felt like there’s two runs today were some of the best runs of my career,” McLaughlin said. “I thought the potential was there, even yesterday. It was just about getting the right balance. I knew my engineer would nail it, and they did, and when the first number came up, I just had to hold on. Got a little bit loose at the end but the Pennzoil Chevy held on. Super proud to put the Yellow Submarine back on the pole and sweep for Team Penske. What a great spot for the 108th Running [of the Indianapolis 500]. I’m really proud. I think it’s the first Team Penske clean sweep of the front row since ’88. In this day and age, that’s a proud moment.”
It was yet another statement for Kiwis after countryman Scott Dixon earned Indy 500 poles in 2021 and 2022, giving Antipodeans three of the last four top starting spots at the Speedway.
Teammate Power was rather dejected to lose out on earning his first Indy 500 pole, but went into the Fast Six with full knowledge that he was capable of going P1.
“I was going to be shocked if we weren’t on pole or fighting for it,” he said.
The story wasn’t over for Team Chevy as it captured the second row and two of the next three spots on the third row to give the oddsmakers a clear understanding of which engine supplier has the most horsepower.
Elsewhere in the top 12, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay put in a stellar performance to lay claim to seventh after crashing on Saturday.
“Seventh for the Indianapolis 500 after yesterday’s morning… sick!” said the Dutchman. “We were so close and were able to beat some fast cars today.”
The other big star of qualifying was found with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Ryan Hunter-Reay who played the role of giant killer with the No. 23 Chevy to earn 12th ahead of much bigger and wealthier teams.
At the unfortunate end of Pole Day, there was also one driver who was sent home as Bump Day carved Dale Coyne Racing’s No. 18 Honda driven by rookie Nolan Siegel from the starting field. A crash on his final run in the Last Chance Qualifying session sealed his fate and saved Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal, who was on the bubble from being knocked out of consecutive Indy 500s in P33.
Siegel was unharmed in the crash and was frank in his assessment after falling short in the final minute of the session.
“I’m OK,” he said over the radio. “It was [way loose]. We tried.”
Katherine Legge (P31), Marcus Ericsson (P32), and Rahal weathered the gut-wrenching LCQ and will get to take part in the race.
Once the fast 12 activities commenced as the heat migrated over 80 degrees F, Hunter-Reay went first and recorded a 230.567mph average. VeeKay was next and shot to first with 232.620mph. Pato O’Ward was next and delivered a 232.584mph to go P2.
Takuma Sato motored to a 232.171mph to claim P3, and Santino Ferrucci was up next, but lost the cloud cover that cooled the track for O’Ward and Sato. It didn’t matter, though, as Ferrucci shot to P1 with an average of 232.723mph.
Rosenqvist was up sixth and had great cloud cover to use over his four laps to produce a 232.305mph run which moved him into P4. Kyle Larson also had good cloud cover for his blast and put up a 232.788 average to take P1 to the applause and delight of the fans.
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Kyle Kirkwood followed with the sun beating down on the track and delivered a 230.993 to go P7. Alexander Rossi had the same absence of cooler conditions for his run and, like Ferrucci, it made no difference as he registered the fastest run with a 233.071mph to take P1 from his teammate Larson.
Newgarden liberated P1 from Rossi with a stellar run of 233.286mph, and it was his teammate McLaughlin’s turn to make the penultimate attempt to transfer into the Fast Six and go for pole.
McLaughlin knocked Newgarden off P1 with a 233.492mph and then it was time for teammate Power to make the last run. Cloud cover emerged for Power’s last lap and held for his entire outing to miss P1 by a tiny margin at 233.483mph to take P2.
With McLaughlin, Power, Newgarden, Rossi, Larson and Ferrucci primed to go for pole, it was time for the LCQ group to run, led off by Nolan Siegel, who posted a 229.568mph.
Ericsson had a 230.653mph average through three laps but appeared to lift at start/finish at the start of the fourth lap —did he think the run was over?—to close the run with a 195.411mph lap that dropped his average to 220.702mph.
Legge dealt with more oversteer but held onto it to take P31 and lead the LCQ with a 230.092mph run. Rahal was the last to run before second attempts could be made and went 229.974mph to take P32 in front of Siegel in P33 and Ericsson in P34.
The Andretti team sat and waited to let Ericsson’s engine cool before sending him to try and bump Siegel out. With approximately 32 minutes left in the 60-minute LCQ session, Ericsson headed out and ran four slow laps averaging 168.986mph before pulling into the pits, putting on four new tires, and getting prepared to make a proper attempt to get into the show.
Ericsson rolled out with about eight minutes to go and went 230.027mph to grab P32, bumping Siegel out. Ericsson and Legge were in, Rahal was on the bubble, and Siegel’s car was pushed to the line and sent with two minutes left on the clock.
He wound the car up to 229.288mph on the first lap, nudged the wall on the exit of Turn 1, spun, and crashed. He was unhurt and, sadly, not going to participate in his first Indy 500.
The Fast Six started with Ferrucci up first and he held onto a sliding car to go 232.692mph before Larson registered a 232.846mph to move into P1. Rossi went third and dropped the fastest lap so far with a 234.062mph which generated cheers as he held onto a wiggling machine. His average of 233.090mph was enough to take P1 before the three Penske drivers went out to settle the pole.
Newgarden made a statement with his first lap—a 234.188mph—which led to more cheers. His second lap was almost as good—a 234.004mph—and his third was also good at 233.640mph and he closed it with a 233.400mph to shoot to P1 with a 233.808mph average.
Power was the penultimate pole runner and crossed the line with a 234.128mph and fell to a 233.955mph which looked like he’d stay behind Newgarden. The next lap was a 233.767mph, and on his final, a 233.819mph was enough to go P1 with an average of 233.917mph. It was up to McLaughlin to try and spoil Power’s party.
Lap one was the best of the day — a 234.526mph — and the battle was on. Lap two was another monster at 234.371mph and it was the Kiwi’s to take. Two more strong laps did the job; pole for McLaughlin and an explosion of cheers from fans on the front straight.
IndyCar has completed the second practice for the 2024 Indianapolis 500. Check out the full results, including lap times and difference!
The second practice of the 2024 Indianapolis 500 took a while to get underway due to the weather in the forecast. The green flag for practice was delayed and forced drivers to sit around all day. However, the skies finally cleared up enough to let the track dry before rain paused practice on and off throughout the rest of the day.
NTT IndyCar Series drivers got several laps under their belts on Wednesday, including Tom Blomqvist, who led the way with 105 laps. [autotag]Scott McLaughlin[/autotag] led the field with a hot lap of 229.492 miles per hour, and a total of 78 laps. Kyle Larson, who is attempting “The Double,” placed 15th at 225.245 miles per hour on Wednesday.
Below, you can look at the results of the third 2024 Indianapolis 500 practice on May 15.
2024 Indianapolis 500 Practice 3 results:
No. 2 Scott McLaughlin, Time: 39.2168 seconds, Diff: —–
No. 12 Will Power, Time: 39.3414 seconds, Diff: 0.1246 seconds
Will Power found satisfaction, a second place and a climb to within a single point of the NTT IndyCar Series championship lead at Barber Motorsports Park – just not the win that he’s been coveting, which went instead to Penske teammate Scott …
Will Power found satisfaction, a second place and a climb to within a single point of the NTT IndyCar Series championship lead at Barber Motorsports Park — just not the win that he’s been coveting, which went instead to Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin, who he tailed most of the way, on the same three-stopping strategy, after they had qualified 1-2.
“Yeah, very pleased with the podium. Actually made a little mistake there in the race, went off. It’s very rare for me. I was very disappointed in myself,” said Power. “We had such a gap that [when] I came back on — I couldn’t believe it — I only lost one [place].”
Multiple cautions in the rough-and-tumble race softened that blow, though, and Power actually briefly managed to get ahead of McLaughlin on a restart when they were both were forced back into the pack on strategy, only for the No. 3 to quickly return the favor on the No. 12.
“I think we raced each other as hard as we normally do,” McLaughlin said. “We were smart about it. I think we had big picture [in mind].
“I knew the pass with Will, that battle with Will when we were 20th or something, that was important for being positioned right if it all came our way — like it did in the end. It was effectively for the race win, you could say.”
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“It was aggressive. It was combative, actually,” Power said of the mid-pack tussle. “The thing is, when you’ve been running at the front in very clean air and hard, you get back there with all that dirty air, how much the car moves around, yeah, you kind of are not ready for it when it first restarts. You got to get used to the car being very much on top of the road again.
“You’re also thinking in your head, like, Scott and I kind of racing potentially for the win, but we’re in the pack. The risk versus reward, you’re kind of trying to decide.”
“We always race fairly. It’s hard,” McLaughlin mused. “He probably cut me a little bit of slack. He still tried pretty hard. Yeah, I always enjoy racing Will. A lot of transparency there between the two of us — even the start of the race, for us to get through [Turns 1-2]. Ultimately, him being in second was great for me. It’s just working together, which is really nice.”
Power acknowledged the circumstances of racing a teammate, especially in the aftermath of the push-to-pass controversy that had engulfed Team Penske last week, weighed on him.
“I think I wasn’t aggressive enough,” he admitted. “I should have worked harder to keep Scott behind. I didn’t block him. With everything that’s happened this week, I just didn’t want to bloody have two Penske cars off in Turn 1. I just kind of let it go.
“Yeah, I was happy for the team to get that [win], though. I’ve been around long enough where you actually are happy for the team. You’re not so selfish. When you’re young like him, you just got to go.”
