High winds and unusually warm temperatures at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway characterized Fast Friday practice for the upcoming Indianapolis 500 qualifying weekend with NASCAR champion Kyle Larson suffering a setback on track in preparation for his second Indy 500 start — part of the Memorial Day Weekend Double when he will compete in both the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Cup Series’ Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
In the final 90 minutes of practice Friday in Indianapolis, Larson crashed his No. 17 Arrow McLaren Racing Chevrolet into the Turn 3 and Turn 4 SAFER barriers at the historic 2.5-mile speedway — his car hitting the walls twice before coming to rest. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion climbed out of his damaged car on his own and remained in good spirits afterward — still very optimistic about his chances for qualifying this weekend and ultimately the May 25 Indy 500 race.
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“I’m okay,” the 32-year-old Californian Larson said. “Just a lot of front grip there in [Turn] 3, so just felt it coming around and it comes around quick once it does that. Bummer, but it is what it is.
“At least we’ve found both ends of the spectrum,” he added with a slight smile. “The open test I hit [the wall] with the right front and today I backed it in.
“I’m not too worried about it. I think we’ll be fine. We’ll adjust on it a little bit and track conditions will be better tomorrow. We’ll still be fast.”
Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the Cup Series only managed to complete three full laps Friday at speed, his Arrow McLaren Racing team waiting toward the end of the six-hour practice to put him on track. With all the cars running extra horsepower Friday, Larson did top the 230-mph mark and remained confident in both his team’s response to the setback and his own ability to rebound Saturday.
The team quickly repaired the car with a new front wing and rear wing assembly and he went out in the closing minutes of practice just to shake it down in preparation for the weekend.
“Just wanted to come out here and just get up to somewhat of a speed and make sure all was good and thankfully it was,” the NASCAR Cup Series points leader Larson said afterward. “So, reset for tomorrow and just have a better day.”
Fast Friday is traditionally the day teams focus most on qualifying but all the drivers conceded the weather conditions are likely to look and feel much different for Saturday qualifying. They do not expect the same heat (temperatures close to 90 degrees) and wind (gusting to nearly 40 mph at times) experienced on track Friday afternoon with thunderstorms expected to roll in Friday night.
“Obviously, it’s tricky, I spun,” Larson said of the conditions. “I don’t know, I was kind of caught off guard a little bit there, but like I said I think we’ll be fine. I tend to get over things pretty quickly. I know I spun but my [car’s] balance felt pretty close to being good. Just work on it a little bit. We’ll be good tomorrow. The track will be cooler. We’ll be fine.”
Qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 has evolved throughout the race’s 109-year history. The current format is two days. On Saturday, cars will turn in a four-lap average speed with the fastest 12 cars and the slowest four cars running again on Sunday. Positions 13-30 will be set on Saturday with coverage of the day’s on-track activity beginning at 8 a.m. ET on FS2 then moving to FS1 at 11 a.m.
On Sunday at 4:05 p.m. ET, the top 12 cars from Saturday will post laps and the fastest six of them will advance to the Firestone Fast Six to decide the Indianapolis 500 pole position. The slowest four cars from Saturday will vie for the final three starting spots in the field in Last Chance Qualifying (5:15 p.m. ET). One car and one driver will be eliminated.
Last year’s Indianapolis 500 polesitter, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was fastest on Fast Friday in single lap speed with a lap of 233.854 mph in the No. 3 Penske Chevrolet — up significantly from the previous fast lap of 227.546 mph set by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou on Wednesday.
Ganassi veteran driver and six-time series champion Scott Dixon was second fastest in single lap speed with a lap of 232.561 mph in the No. 9 Honda but most tellingly and most importantly, the 2008 Indy 500 champion was quickest in four-lap averages (232.386 mph).
His teammate Palou was third quickest in single lap speed Friday (232.528 mph) with Andretti Global teammates Kyle Kirkwood (232.107 mph) and Colton Herta (232.066 mph) rounding out the top-five in their Hondas.
Palou (232.307) and McLaughlin (232.212 mph) were second and third fastest in four-lap averages.
Larson expected to put some track time in early Saturday to help prepare for qualifying.
“I’m sure at this point we’ll probably want to get out there and shake it down I imagine,” Larson said. “That would be good, but if not, you still get time to make a few runs tomorrow. Like I said, the track conditions will be better and I’m sure we’ll pack a little extra downforce that first run and get a run in. I’m not too worried about it.”
“Just a little bump but nothing too bad in the forecast of things,” he added.
