Indy 500: Chilton leads Day 8, Harvey tops no-tow speeds

Chilton clocked a 228.592mph to go some 0.4mph clear of the second fastest car, that of Ed Jones of Dale Coyne Racing-Honda.

Polesitter Scott Dixon, who will start the 101^st race from pole position, was third fastest on a 227.165 followed by the fastest Chevrolet driver, reigning IndyCar Series champion Simon Pagenaud on 226.998.

Takuma Sato (Andretti Autosport-Honda), Helio Castroneves (Penske), Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti) completed the top seven.

Fastest “one-off” driver was Sage Karam in the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing-Chevy who was eighth, while defending Indy 500 champion Alexander Rossi was ninth.

Marco Andretti and Penske’s Will Power made late improvements to narrowly edge ahead of superstar rookie Fernando Alonso in the McLaren Honda Andretti entry.

Six drivers completed over 100 laps – Chilton, Castroneves, Power, Alonso, Charlie Kimball (Ganassi) and Jack Harvey (Andretti Autosport). The latter’s #50 car, run by Michael Shank Racing, not only completed the most laps (124) it also topped the speeds recorded without the aid of a tow – a 224.036mph lap.

The next fastest no-tow speeds came from Rossi, Jones, Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan (Ganassi), Mikhail Aleshin (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda).

James Davison was 28^th fastest in the hastily prepared backup #18 car from Dale Coyne Racing, as he replaces the injured Sebastien Bourdais.

Meanwhile, Oriol Servia's Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing #16 blew its Honda engine.

That was the final lapping the cars will be allowed to do before the hour-long session on Friday (Carb Day). After that, the next times the car hit the Speedway will be for the Indianapolis 500.