Indy 500: McLaughlin tops second day of practice at 229.493mph before deluge

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin led the second day of practice for the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 following persistent rain showers that limited on-track activity.

Although the session was altered to start earlier at 10am ET (originally 12pm), the weather that also impacted Tuesday’s opening day hung around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway overnight and delayed any running until 3:05pm ET.

It was a frantic bout of action among the 34 cars once the session finally went green. Roughly 40 minutes into the running, McLaughlin’s No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet caught a good tow and went up to the top of the leaderboard with a quick lap of 229.493mph.

Moments later, 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power make a surge with a 228.767mph flyer to end up second and just 0.1246s behind his team-mate.

Andretti Global’s Colton Herta’s run of 227.858mph was good enough to take third, with reigning Indy 500 champion Josef Newgarden in fourth (227.675mph) to establish all three Team Penske machines in the top four.

Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi nailed a 227.484mph run to take fifth.

Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Global), Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren), Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing), Ryan Hunter-Reay (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing) and Helio Castroneves (Meyer Shank Racing) rounded out the rest of the top 10.

Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, finally received a proper amount of on-track running to begin his maiden Indy 500 attempt. He pounded the pavement for 54 laps in the No. 17 Arrow McLaren-Rick Hendrick Chevrolet, ending up 15th overall with a best of 39.9565mph (0.7397s behind McLaughlin’s time).

“It's just a little bit frustrating,” Larson said. “It is what it is. There's plenty of track time too, so trying to remember that.

“Overall, happy with the few hours that we got and go back and talk to the teammates now and get to listen in on what they were working through, what they felt and see if it matches up with what I'm feeling as well.”

Meyer Shank Racing rookie Tom Blomqvist completed the most laps at 105 – the only driver that broke the century mark – and concluded 28th overall.

The No. 75 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda of Takuma Sato was the fastest driver among the no-tow speeds, sporting a best of 221.219 mph.

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay was second on the no-tow list at 220.071 mph, followed by Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Agustin Canapino in third at 219.848 mph.

The rain returned at 6pm to ultimately put an end on the day despite the efforts to dry the track.


Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	78	39.2168		229.493
2	W. Power Team Penske	12	60	+0.1246 39.3414	0.1246	228.767
3	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26	71	+0.2814 39.4982	0.1568	227.858
4	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	72	+0.3133 39.5301	0.0319	227.675
5	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7	64	+0.3464 39.5632	0.0331	227.484
6	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	57	+0.4293 39.6461	0.0829	227.008
7	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	70	+0.4369 39.6537	0.0076	226.965
8	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	76	+0.4897 39.7065	0.0528	226.663
9	R. Hunter-Reay Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports	23	44	+0.5201 39.7369	0.0304	226.490
10	H. Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	06	54	+0.5687 39.7855	0.0486	226.213
11	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	71	+0.5809 39.7977	0.0122	226.144
12	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	62	+0.6228 39.8396	0.0419	225.906
13	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	65	+0.7253 39.9421	0.1025	225.326
14	R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21	74	+0.7388 39.9556	0.0135	225.250
15	K. Larson Arrow McLaren/Rick Hendrick	17	54	+0.7397 39.9565	0.0009	225.245
16	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	61	+0.7429 39.9597	0.0032	225.227
17	T. Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	75	31	+0.7487 39.9655	0.0058	225.194
18	R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	63	+0.8010 40.0178	0.0523	224.900
19	C. Daly Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports	24	40	+0.8169 40.0337	0.0159	224.811
20	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8	63	+0.8217 40.0385	0.0048	224.784
21	C. Ilott Arrow McLaren	6	66	+0.8335 40.0503	0.0118	224.717
22	M. Andretti Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco & Curb-Agajani	98	15	+0.8376 40.0544	0.0041	224.694
23	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11	56	+0.8381 40.0549	0.0005	224.692
24	P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	71	+0.8863 40.1031	0.0482	224.422
25	E. Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing	20	59	+0.8886 40.1054	0.0023	224.409
26	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	33	94	+0.9056 40.1224	0.0170	224.314
27	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	51	+0.9354 40.1522	0.0298	224.147
28	T. Blomqvist Meyer Shank Racing	66	105	+0.9708 40.1876	0.0354	223.950
29	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	4	71	+1.0459 40.2627	0.0751	223.532
30	R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises	41	64	+1.1030 40.3198	0.0571	223.215
31	K. Legge Dale Coyne Racing	51	42	+1.1280 40.3448	0.0250	223.077
32	N. Siegel Dale Coyne Racing	18	84	+1.1440 40.3608	0.0160	222.989
33	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	22	+1.3628 40.5796	0.2188	221.786
34	A. Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing	78	54	+1.3918 40.6086	0.0290	221.628
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