For the second time in as many years, the Dollar General #67 owned by Sarah Fisher paced the field on opening day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This time, however, the car was piloted by IndyCar rookie Josef Newgarden (@josefnewgarden). The 21 year old Tennessee native, who replaced Ed Carpenter during the offseason, was the only car to break the 220 mph barrier, with a top average speed of 220.250 mph. The lap put him .1 sec ahead of Panther Racing's JR Hildebrand (@JRHildebrand). The sophomore star, who was just one corner away from winning last year's "500", benefited from the same draft that put Newgarden to the top. Rounding out the top 5 were Bryan Clauson (@BryanClauson), James Jakes (@JamesJakes), and Tony Kanaan (@TonyKanaan).
Notes
- Honda dominated the opening day of practice, claiming 7 of the top 10 spots. Their single turbo design, compared to the twin turbos of the Chevrolets and Lotuses, seems to have a slight advantage during early practice for the 96th annual "Greatest Spectacle in Racing".
- The incident free session saw 25 of the 33 cars take to the track, with notable absences from James Hinchcliffe (@Hinchtown), Wade Cunningham (@WadeCunningham) and both Dragon Racing drivers, Sebastien Bourdais and Katherine Legge (@katherinelegge).
- The fastest four (Newgarden, Hildebrand, Clauson, and Jakes) have a combined 1 prior Indianapolis 500.
Practice begins tomorrow at noon for another 6-hour session. Speeds will be sure to climb as teams continue to figure out the new DW12s and engines.
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