By Kirby Arnold, Special Contributor
INDIANAPOLIS – Success at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway can change with the springtime weather in Indiana, and there have been two decidedly different days so far in practice for the Indy 500. Wednesday’s high temperature was in the low 60s, about 15 degrees cooler than opening day Tuesday, and crisp air meant more speed.
The constants near the top of the chart both days have been defending 500 champion Alex Palou with Chip Ganassi Racing and one-off specialist Conor Daly with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.
Daly’s best lap of 228.080 mph on the 2½-mile oval was the fastest Wednesday, backing up his performance Tuesday when he was third best. Palou was just behind Daly at 228.026 after leading Tuesday’s speed chart at 225.937. Both drivers used the advantage of an aerodynamic tow while running amid a pack of cars in race-day setups.
Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren, 12th fastest on opening day, finished 27th Wednesday with a best lap of 223.740. However, his speed of 221.409 was the best of the 33-car field on the no-tow list. Alexander Rossi of Ed Carpenter Racing was second without a tow at 221.392.
David Malukas of Team Penske jumped to third overall at 227.139 after running 11th Tuesday. Graham Rahal also continued his strong week, running fourth at 226.835 after being sixth on the list in the first practice.
The feel-good story so far is the performance of Dreyer & Reinbold, a team that enters only this race and seems to have mastered its once-a-year effort. Going back to the open test in April, Daly has been among the fastest in every practice.
And Wednesday, D&R teammate Jack Harvey ran third on the no-tow list at 220.853 while spending much of his time on qualifying setups. On the overall list, Harvey remained consistent with the 14th fastest speed at 225.100 after being 11th fastest Tuesday.
“I’m pretty satisfied on the whole,” Harvey said. “With everything we’re achieving in qualifying configuration, I figure we’re right on track.”
With Daly spending more time on a race setup while Harvey focused on qualifying, it allows the team to make the most of its two-car effort against other organizations with three and four cars.
“I was suffering some understeer out of (turns) 2 and 4, and that was affecting my runs into 1 and 3,” Harvey said. “I think we made a lot of headway in working on that issue. Conor is a little further along in his race stuff. So far, for a two-car team for a single event, this is working how we want it to.”
The 33 entries have run 4,538 incident-free laps in two days, with the only caution flags occurring because of track inspections for debris. Daly, Rossi and Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing each have logged 175 laps in the two days.
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