Indy 500: Honda dominates first half of Fast Friday

Thirteen of the fastest 17 cars over a single flying lap are Hondas, while without the aid of a tow, only Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay and Ed Carpenter of the Chevrolet contingent have appeared in the top dozen on the no-tow speed charts.

For what it’s worth, Ed Jones of Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan has turned the fastest lap of the day so far, but had the assistance of a tow – 231.569mph.

Top of the no-tow single laps is defending and two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Racing on 231.379mph chased by two Chip Ganassi Racing-Hondas of Scott Dixon and Alex Palou, Alexander Rossi of Andretti Autosport and a second RLL car of Graham Rahal. Next up is a third Ganassi car of Tony Kanaan while Colton Herta sits seventh.

However, Indy 500 qualifying is unique in that qualifying is set by the best average over four laps, and by that parameter, Sato leads with 230.819 while VeeKay – who last year qualified fourth for Indy as a rookie – has excelled for Chevy with a 230.234mph.

There then follows seven Hondas – Dixon, Jones, Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank Racing, Herta, Kanaan, Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi) and Jack Harvey (MSR). Carpenter and his other teammate Conor Daly are 10^th and 11^th.

Currently, the fastest of the Team Penske-Chevys is 2019 winner Simon Pagenaud in 14^th, just ahead of rookie Scott McLaughlin and the Penske-prepared Paretta Autosport car of Simona de Silvestro, while Will Power and Josef Newgarden are outside the Top 20.

Teams are continuing to do their best to run without the aid of a tow despite the less than ideal conditions – 84degF ambient / 120degF track – in case they need to run in similar conditions come tomorrow in qualifying. The draw for the order in which the cars will set their first runs tomorrow – starting at 12 noon ET – will be held this evening.

Best 4-lap qualifying simulations after 3 hours