By David Morgan, Associate Editor
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The NTT IndyCar Series was back on track Saturday morning in preparation for this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg with practice to start the day ahead of qualifying later this afternoon.
Christian Lundgaard came out on top with the overall fastest speed in the session with a lap of 1 minute, 1.6157 seconds in his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, also topping the second of the two group sessions.
Rinis VeeKay and his No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet would lead the way in the first segment of practice featuring all cars before the field was split up into groups to finish things out.
Kyle Kirkwood in his No. 27 Andretti Global Honda was the fastest in Group 1.
Early in the session, with the track still not under ideal conditions after overnight rain, there weren’t many takers eager to hit the track. Will Power was one of the few who did and found himself running into trouble in pretty quick succession.
Locking up the front tires of his No. 26 Andretti Global Honda heading into Turn 10, Power’s car went wide on exit and plowed into the concrete barrier just past the tire packs in the left hander, ripping the front wing off his machine in the impact.
Power would be checked and released from the IndyCar Medical Unit a short time later, but his team will have work to do to get the car ready to go for qualifying this afternoon.
Here's what led to the damage for Will Power's No. 26 machine in Practice 2: https://t.co/XmGgTqSdDw pic.twitter.com/LyYUgFzzAJ
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) February 28, 2026
“Just locked the front,” Power said. “I mean, I wasn’t even braking late. We had a lot of locking issues yesterday, so we changed brakes and were hoping to fix the issue. I’d say that those tires were, like the front tires in particular with the amount of locking we had yesterday were probably prone to that, so maybe that was some of it.
“But yeah, not ideal. The last thing we needed with all the things we had going on yesterday to have to go straight into qualifying. Yeah. I’m wondering where we’re at.”
With the limited track time Power has had thus far with his new team at Andretti, he noted that he will be relying heavily on his teammates to get his machine dialed in properly before getting back on track for time trials.
“I have no option but to run what they’ve got, which we were doing today,” said Power. “Yeah, not ideal, man. Not ideal. I feel bad for the team to put us in this position. It is what it is and we’ll try to do our best and see if we can get halfway up there or something.”
Christian Rasmussen was the next to run afoul of the tricky St. Pete layout in his No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet when he lost control going through the opening set of corners and spun into the wall, likewise causing damage to the front end of his car.
A big hit for Christian Rasmussen in St. Pete practice. pic.twitter.com/rjay6Dk0mz
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) February 28, 2026
“Just lost the rear there. Unfortunate way to start our qualifying day today,” said Rasmussen. “Yeah, I just lost the rear through [Turn] 2 and went to the inside. Unfortunate, but that’s what happens. It’s a bit tricky out there with the wet this morning. I think we got lucky with the way we hit. It looks like it’s just the front wing.
“Fortunately, it seems we have pretty fast race cars. The 20 car [Rossi] is showing that and even us now, we’re still in the top-12 not even having run tires or anything. Unfortunate, but life goes on and we’ll just full focus on qualifying now.”
Drivers and teams will have a bit of a break before qualifying to end the day with the NASCAR Truck Series race taking place at noon, which then rolls into IndyCar qualifying at 4:30 pm ET on FOX Sports 2.
Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is scheduled for Noon ET Sunday on FOX with a morning warmup at 9:00 am ET on FOX Sports 1.
twycn1