Rain shortens opening Indy 500 practice with Scott Dixon fastest
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — The Month of May on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval received a rainy welcome as just opening practice was just 23 minutes long Tuesday.
The track was open until around 9:26 p.m. ET when the rain came. It persisted then intensified in the afternoon, curtailing any more on-track action.
Scott Dixon clocked in a lap averaging 229.107 MPH in his No. 9 PNC Bank Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Marco Andretti was second, averaging 228.399 MPH in his No. 98 MAPEI/Curb Honda for Andretti Herta w/Marco & Curb-Agajanian.
Dixon and Andretti each clocked in their hot lap while getting a draft off of another car.
Takuma Sato, an Indy 500 winner in 2017 and 2020, had a hot lap averaging 225.551 MPH in his No. 75 AMADA Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Pato O’Ward had the fastest Chevrolet in fourth, averaging 224.993 MPH on his fast lap in his No. 5 Arrow McLaren car.
Christian Lundgaard was fifth, completing the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing sandwich with a fast lap averaging 223.844 MPH.
With such limited time, 29 of 34 entries turned a lap. No driver turned more than 13 laps.
Kyle Larson turned two laps in his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren.
“It’s good to finally have the Indy 500 here,” Larson said. “I’ve known about this [double attempt] for a couple of years now, so it’s been a lot of waiting. Just happy to get this experience underway. The weather is getting in the middle of things today, but once we get through today, it should be good.”
Larson is looking to become the fifth driver to run “The Double” of running the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. Kurt Busch was the last driver to do it (2014). John Andretti (1994), Robby Gordon (1997, 2000, 2002-04) and Tony Stewart (1999, 2001) also did it.
Stewart has amassed the best results in The Double. In 2001, he finished sixth in Indy and third in the 600, finishing on the lead lap in each race.
While Larson’s quest to best Stewart is off to a rainy start, on-track activities got off to a better start than last year. Last year’s opening day didn’t feature any on-track laps due to rain.
Practice will resume Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET. Weather permitting of course.
Click here for the full practice results from Tuesday.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com