Power, Newgarden fast in Indy 500
practice, hours after IndyCar hits teams with stiff penalties
[May 20, 2025]
By DAVE SKRETTA
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Will Power and Josef Newgarden were among the
fastest cars in Indianapolis 500 practice Monday, just hours after
their teams were penalized for illegal modifications in qualifying,
while Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin was searching for speed
in a car built up following his practice crash.
IndyCar champion Alex Palou paced the two-hour session — the last
before Carb Day on Friday, when drivers get on the track one last
time before Sunday's race — with a lap of 226.765 mph. Palou was
followed by Helio Castroneves and Takuma Sato, and Jack Harvey, Ryan
Hunter-Reay and Nolan Siegel were next, raising some eyebrows
throughout the paddock.
Power was seventh on the speed chart. Newgarden was eighth.
Power, the 2018 winner, and Newgarden, the two-time defending
champion, will start side-by-side in the final row for the 109th
running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing." That was among
penalties levied by IndyCar on Monday for unapproved changes to the
attenuator, a safety device on the rear of the car designed to
absorb and reduce the force of impacts.
They also will be without their race strategist, lose their
qualifying points and their teams were issued $100,000 fines.
“Did you guys see Josef out there today? He’ll be just fine,”
quipped Kyle Larson, who returned to Indianapolis Motor Speedway
early Monday from the NASCAR All-Star Race the previous night in
North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
Larson will make a second attempt at running all 1,100 laps of the
Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte next Sunday.
“It's kind of a weird situation, I would say. You don't see this
every year,” Rinus Veekay, who had qualified last but will now start
31st, said of the Penske penalties. "If you told me a week ago that
I would be starting on the same row as two Penskes, I would be very
happy. Unfortunately, we're at the tail end of the field.”
McLaughlin had a car capable of winning the pole until his crash in
an hour-long practice Sunday, which left the No. 3 team just over 24
hours to put together the backup for him. IndyCar said the
unapproved alteration on the cars of his teammates was not found on
McLaughlin's wrecked ride, so he will maintain his 10th starting
position.
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Will Power, of Australia, sitsin his car as he waits for the start
of practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP
Photo/Michael Conroy)
McLaughlin's best lap in practice Monday was
221.561 mph, better only than Kyffin Simpson and Christian Lundgaard.
Other favorites struggled, too.
Robert Shwartzman, the first rookie to win the pole in 42 years, was
26th among the 33 cars with a best lap of 222.561 mph. And while
2008 winner Scott Dixon showed plenty of speed, he only managed six
laps before warning lights went off to signal an overheating issue,
and he spent the last 90 minutes of the practice session in the
garage.
The only incident in practice involved Christian Rasmussen, who
touched the wall for the second time in five days. The impact sent
him across the track and bumping into the inner wall, though his car
appeared to escape significant damage.
Rasmussen had just run a lap of 225.247 mph, which wound up being
the ninth-quickest on the day.
“I'm just bummed for the guys. We're into race week and it's just
not where we want to be,” Rasmussen said. “There's always things you
can do differently, but were preparing to race — we're trying to
race as close to the front as we can. You've got to try to do
something but we have to look at what we have an reevaluate.”
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