Indy 500 Day 2: Ganassi & Penske continue at top of speed charts

Dan Jones
12 hours ago
9 min read

Updated: 2 hours ago

Written by Dan Jones

A weather-affected day two of running in the build-up to the 109th Indianapolis 500 was completed with Álex Palou on top of proceedings, in the second of four test days in the build-up to qualifying. DIVEBOMB runs over the major stories from day two at Indianapolis.

Rain limits running again

For the second consecutive day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), inclement weather caused delays to the program.

Tony Kanaan's refresher program, which was scheduled for Tuesday morning, and later postponed to Wednesday morning was delayed once again due to the weather, and will now be held Thursday morning at 10:00 ET. 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner, Kanaan has to run a refresher, as he has not raced on an oval since last year's Indianapolis 500. The Brazilian will serve as a back-up to Kyle Larson if rain delays the action on race day, with the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Champion prioritising NASCAR's Charlotte 600.

The green flag finally waved at 13:05 ET before running was once again halted at 15:34. Lightning was then detected in the Indianapolis area, causing fans to lead the grandstands, before action got back underway at 16:45.

One final yellow flag for the conditions was waved at 17:16, which quickly went green again at 17:31. It meant that full-stint running was limited once again, and drivers won't have much of an opportunity to pick that back up with many set to start preparing for their qualifying programs tomorrow.

Penske and Ganassi set the standards once again

Team Penske's Will Power topped proceedings on Tuesday ahead of Josef Newgarden, Palou, Scott Dixon and Hélio Castroneves, all five cars belonging to Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing or Meyer Shank Racing (Ganassi's affiliated team).

And the second day of running would set a similar story. Palou would top the charts on this occasion with a 227.546 mph best lap time, up by 0.520 mph from the fastest speed ran on Tuesday, after the championship leader took advantage of an almighty tow late on in the day.

Power's strong pace would continue as he finished second in the charts, at 225.584 mph, with Newgarden just 0.039 mph off his teammate in third. Dixon ran well once again in fourth with a best lap time of 225.092 mph as Newgarden, Power, Dixon and Palou shared the top four spots between themselves for the second consecutive day.

Juncos Hollinger Racing's Conor Daly founded out the top five with a 224.931 mph best lap time. Seven of the top eight in the charts were cars that belonged to Penske, Ganassi and their affiliated teams with A.J. Foyt Racing's David Malukas in sixth ahead of Marcus Armstrong and Hélio Castroneves in seventh and eighth respectively.

Castroneves also completed the most laps of anybody on Wednesday with 114, as 2555 laps were turned between the 33 drivers throughout the day.

Arrow McLaren's slight lack of pace continued into Tuesday, with Kyle Larson the top in papaya lying 13th in the speed charts. Pato O'Ward, Nolan Siegel and Christian Lundgaard lay 20th, 25th and 30th respectively.

Jack Harvey showed well for the only part-time team, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, as he finished ninth with Christian Rasmussen finishing the day in 10th.

Although his teammate was quick, Santino Ferrucci lay 33rd in speed. The American opted to change to last year's speedway car in the morning after not feeling comfortable with the package that A.J. Foyt Racing have brought thus far in 2025.

Kirkwood tops no-tow times again

In a similar story to the opening day of practice, Kyle Kirkwood found himself atop of the no-tow times with a 222.760 mph best lap, over 3 mph faster than what the American achieved on Tuesday. Andretti's no-tow pace seems strong, with Colton Herta lying in fourth and Marco Andretti in fifth. Marcus Ericsson did not set a no-tow time.

Rasmussen's encouraging pace continued as he was second on the no-tow times with a 222.116 mph best lap, with his teammate, Alexander Rossi just under a mile-an-hour slower in third.

PREMA had a particularly worrying day of opening practice as they missed much of the morning session as their speedway cars were not ready for running. However, their no-tow pace on Wednesday may be source of encouragement as Robert Shwartzman was sixth in the no-tow, with Callum Ilott following the Israeli in seventh.

Devlin DeFrancesco, Kyffin Simpson and Newgarden rounded out the top ten, ahead of Ed Carpenter, Dixon, Jacob Abel, Daly and Power.

Brady to drive two-seater

IndyCar announced that the two-seater will return to the pace laps of the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in six years, and they've done so by pairing up two individuals widely considered as the greatest to ever play their respective sport.

Seven-time Super Bowl Champion and five-time Super Bowl MVP, Tom Brady will pair up with seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Jimmie Johnson to lead the field to green on May 25th for the 'Greatest Spectacle in Racing.'

Brady featured in an IndyCar advert based around Josef Newgarden at the start of the 2025 season, which was aired at this year's Super Bowl, as part of FOX's broadcast deal with IndyCar. Brady is an analyst for FOX Sport's NFL coverage hence has links to IndyCar's new broadcast partner.

Johnson has raced at the Indianapolis 500 once, where he was crowned rookie of the year in 2022 despite crashing out in the closing stages. Similarly to what Kyle Larson will do on May 25th, Johnson will fly to Charlotte Motor Speedway to make his 700th career NASCAR Cup Series start in Charlotte in the No.84 Legacy Motor Club entry, a team he co-owns.

“I love the Indy 500,” Johnson said. “There is an energy and excitement around the ‘500’ that is unlike anything I have experienced before. Certainly, pre-race ceremonies are the ultimate racing experience that I’ve had outside of the car. I’m thrilled to be a part of the program and to see the stands full one more time. I’m extremely honored to come back and do it and to be able to also share this experience with another seven-time champion.”

Newgarden "thinks it's possible" for Penske to sweep front row

Team Penske stole the headlines in qualifying last year as they swept the front row, repeating what the team achieved in 1988.

Last year's qualifying saw Chevrolet dominance, with the entire Firestone Fast Six being Chevrolet-powered entries. However, Honda are believed to have made a significant step forward based off the opening two days of running at IMS, particularly with Chip Ganassi Racing.

"I think Chevrolet has done a good job," Newgarden said. "We were in a great place last year. They definitely got to make a step because we knew Honda was probably going to make a step, and I think we've tried to. So far it looks good this week. It's just going to be a matter of how does it progress into the weekend is what we're going to need to look for."

All three Penske drivers came into last year's qualifying with an incredible amount of confidence that they would sweep the front row, and Newgarden thinks it's possible that it could be done again.

"I think it's possible, definitely. We're coming from a very good spot last year, so everyone is going to have to make a big jump, which is possible. We know that everyone gets better every year. So we've tried to make a step too to retain hopefully a speed advantage.

"It's definitely possible. You know, we can do it. I don't know that that's going to materialize, but we're trying to put our best foot forward and put three fast cars on the track.

They look quick. We'll see what it brings on Saturday and Sunday."

Power thinks competition "will be closer"

Power seemed the most confident of the Penske drivers heading into qualifying last year, which was backed up by the Australian qualifying in the middle of the front row. Things didn't quite go to plan on race day though as noted by Power:

"I had a fast car in qualifying. Definitely not in the race. I just went backwards the whole race on any restarts. It feels a lot better [in reference to his race package this year]."

When asked by DIVEBOMB if Power thought Penske could replicate the same pace they displayed at the Speedway in 2024, the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner was less committal to Penske dominance.

"I think it will be closer, yeah, for a number of reasons. Not just people caught up. It's probably a bit of a different -- it looks like it's windy. It's going to be more difficult because of the weight. I think that's more pronounced in qualifying trim when you are on lighter downforce.

Yeah, I can see it being a little less about the speed of the car, but more about the handling."

Power was also asked if he had an early read into which cars looked strongest in the pack, and the Australian mentioned familiar names as ones to watch:

"I think my two teammates look really good. Palou looked good. He was running trying to get a big tow lap, I suppose. Maybe he was on light fuel. Rosenqvist.

"I sat in a line, man. Everyone looked about the same. No one was really passing. Some cars were closer. Yeah, it's difficult to tell. Very hard to tell."

Refresher program helped Sato "a lot"

Takuma Sato is one of seven drivers who has the Indianapolis 500 as their only planned event of 2025. Sato drove full-time in the series between 2011 and 2022, before dropping to a oval-only schedule in 2023 and has been an Indy-only entry since 2024.

Any driver who hasn't competed in an oval race since the previous year's Indianapolis 500 is required to run a 'refresher,' which is a series of laps which progressively build in speed, with 10 laps being completed at the 205, 210 and 215 mph marks.

It often gets criticised when Indianapolis veterans such as Sato and Kanaan have to run it due to their countless laps completed at the Speedway, but Sato gave a more positive outlook on the program.

"But to me, to get out of the car 11 months, close to 12 months, jump in the car and go 230 miles per hour, you feel the speed for sure. I think the refresher program actually helped me a lot. So just get through the speed, you know, extra two sets of tires, make more a little confident or comfortable to the environment to get up to speed.

"Then at least we have a full five days before the qualifying depending on the weather, of course. That's compared to the usual weekend, let's say Friday, Saturday, two practice sessions, straight to go to qualify. If you are out the of the car 11 months, you don't have a chance. Here I think you can gradually catch up. Having said that, it's never easy, but I think there is a good time to catch up."

Sato spends his time based in his native Japan mentoring drivers in the Honda Driver Development Program. Sato noted that he spends much of his time flying all over the place, which makes him busier than when he was doing a full 17 race IndyCar schedule.

The two-time Indianapolis 500 champion also gave some insight into the impact of his major crash that he suffered at April's Open Test which forced Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to build Sato a new chassis.

"You could use some of the parts, but bear in mind, you know, the chassis recorded 94 Gs, and my body become 3.5 tons in millisec. Imagine the whole thing is cracked basically. I had broken seat. I have everything broken.

"But big thank you to the INDYCARs and safety teams and Dallara that saved me and I'm in one piece, and I'm happily driving here again. All in all, I think technically there's, let's say, maybe 10% of the parts have been slide to the brand new. Pretty much everything was a new car."

IndyCar move start times for five races

Also announced on Wednesday, IndyCar have moved the start time of five races to avoid clashes with the NASCAR Cup Series. The two series, both broadcast on FOX, have clashed several times already in 2025, which is usually to the detriment of IndyCar's viewership figures..

This is headlined by the Gateway 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway which will shift to a night race in Sunday Primetime on Father's Day, June 15th at 20:00 ET.

“This is a massive primetime showcase under the lights for the stars of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said. “This is also a tremendous display of partnership from both FOX Sports and our friends at World Wide Technology Raceway, who’ve worked with us to generate this exciting opportunity for our sport. Race weekend in St. Louis is just a month away, and fans in venue and around the country are in for a real treat when INDYCAR arrives in town.”

The following week's event at Road America has been brought forward by two hours to 13:30 ET, whilst Mid-Ohio, two weeks later has moved forward an hour to 13:00.

The second event at Iowa Speedway has also been brought forward to 13:00 whilst the following weekend at Toronto sees the race move forward by two hours to noon.