Newgarden predicts Indy 500 will produce a great show

The three-and-a-half-hour practice session today saw instances of a dozen cars circulating the track in a constantly drafting pack in a changing order. Afterward, Newgarden commented that he expected that sort of action to be a feature of the 100^th Running of the Indianapolis 500.

“The race couldn’t have gotten much better over the last two or three years and people just expect that now,” he said, “spectacular racing where people can’t get away from each other and there’s passing, passing, passing. I think you will see that again.

Newgarden clocked the fastest lap of the day – a 227.414mph – on just the 20^th of his 111 laps, running in a tow and with relatively fresh tires.  However, he commented: “Maybe at the end of the stints it may trail off more. I think 20 laps into the tires, the cars are a little bit more susceptible to moving around in the heat. If it’s windy they will be more difficult too.

“But you’re going to have a great show, I have no doubt about that.”

Track conditions were representative

Newgarden missed out on pole yesterday by a scant 0.06sec, but said that today’s session, which is the last time the cars get to run on track aside from the traditional one-hour session on Carb Day [Friday], had produced the conditions most are expecting for Sunday’s race.

He said: “It was a hot day. It was hard. I think today is the most representative day that we’re going to get.

“Everyone was in a pack together, which was great, because that’s what we need to see. Everyone needed to see what’s going to happen in a pack.

“Some guys looked good at certain points, and then they looked really bad at other points. I think that’s how it’s going to be on race day. You’re going to be good at one point, bad at the other, so it’s about making your race more good than bad. You need to minimize the bad stints and maximize the good stints. I think that’s going to be the game.”