IndyCar
PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon Fastest On Day 2 At Indy
SPEEDWAY, IN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon posted the fastest lap in the second day of practice for the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 present by Gainbridge.
Dixon’s fast lap of 226.102 mph in the No. 9 Honda came late in the session with the aid of an aerodynamic tow.
“Today, we made some minor changes and tried to figure out some different balances,” said Dixon, who opened the season with three-straight victories. “We’re also focusing on how the cars feels. We also worked on finding traffic today to see how the car would respond.”
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato posted the second fastest lap, 225.693 mph, which came early in the days action.
I’m pretty happy,” said Sato. “I think it was quite a productive day. Obviously the scoreboard was nice, being in the first place and second place felt good. It means nothing, but I think that’s a reflection of the cars getting quite a good adhesion. You get in a big tow, you’re able to follow people with the new tire. Obviously, that pure speed is far off from non-tow situation, but I’m pretty happy with that speed.”
Andretti Autosport’s Marco Andretti continued his strong start by posting the third fastest lap of the day at 225.249 mph. Andretti was 2nd fastest overall on Wednesday (day 1).
“We tried some things outside the box that didn’t really work,” said Andretti. “The good thing for me at Indy in the past has been what you go back to what you think is good, and it still works. So we went back to what we had, and the car feels good like it did yesterday.”
Dixon’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammates were a little over a half-second behind their teammate. Felix Rosenqvist’s fast lap in the No. 10 NTT DATA Honda was 222.645 mph and Marcus Ericsson was right behind him in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda at 222.630 mph.
“We’re not where I want to be yet with the balance, and we’ve been going in circles a little bit,” said Rosenqvist, who picked up a win earlier in the season in the second race at Road America. “It always feels bad when you’re running in traffic, but we really have to push it these next few days and put ourselves in the worst type of scenario to get really good in the race. We’re sticking to our program and working hard.”
“I think it was another good day with a lot of laps done,” said Ericsson. “We went through different setups again and tried some different downforce levels. We’ve mainly been gathering information and focusing on the car. I have a good feeling in the car. It feels good in traffic, and that’s what you want.”
Sato’s teammates Graham Rahal was also a half-second behind his teammate in the No. 15 United Rentals Honda at 223.297 mph. Spencer Pigot was a tick behind Rahal in the No. 45 Hy-Vee EMBRACE Pittsburgh Honda at 223.043 mph.
“We had a really good day for the No. 15 United Rentals team,” said Rahal. “We did a couple of long runs, and the last one in particular felt really good. We seemed to be competitive. We tried a lot so we stopped a little bit early because we’ve got a lot of data to go through.”
“The day was okay,” said Pigot. “I think we had a few things that we didn’t quite get a handle on today, but we definitely made some good changes throughout the day to the Hy-Vee/EMBRACE Pittsburgh car, so we will try to build on those for the next time we do race running.”
Teams get additional turbo boost on “Fast Friday” as they begin preparations for qualifying on Saturday and the “Fast 9 Shootout” on Sunday, which will decide the pole position and the first three rows (positions 1 thru 9) for “The Greatest Spectacle In Racing”.
“It’s always exciting when the boost gets turned up,” said Pigot. “It’s definitely a little different going a lot faster with less downforce. We’re just trying to get the opposite of today where we were looking for traffic, running with cars to improve our race setup, and now we’re looking to be all by ourselves. It’s a totally different mindset, but Fast Friday is always a fun day.”
“It’s going to be cool,” said Dixon. “It’s a big jump (in power). I expect to see some pretty big speeds, especially in tows. I’m excited for Fast Friday.”
WASHINGTON D.C. (August 22, 2026) – Alex Palou’s blistering lap of 56.8993 seconds in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda puts the four-time NTT IndyCar Series Champion on the pole position for Sunday’s Freedom 250 on the streets of Washington D.C.
“Incredible,” said Palou. “My car was on rails. Super-fun lap, super-fun car to drive. Couldn’t be happier. Looking forward to tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, man, 250 miles.”
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood lines up second after a lap of 57.4661 in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda.
“P1 both first and second group, and the last one Alex Palou is just a legend and goes faster on his one-lap dash than he did the whole rest of the run, I think,” Kirkwood said. “He made us look silly out there.”
Scott McLaughlin spoiled the Honda party up front, putting the No. 3 PPG Chevrolet third on the grid after a fast lap of 57.4200.
Palou’s CGR teammates Scott Dixon and Kyffin Simpson did not fare as well as their teammate.
Dixon was on a lap that would have allowed him to transfer into the next round of qualifying, when Simpson hit the wall, triggering a red flag which cancelled Dixon’s lap. The No. 9 PNC Bank Honda will start 14th.
Bringing out the red flag penalized Simpson of his two fastest laps so the No. 8 Sunoco Honda will start last in 25th.
Coverage of the Freedom 250 starts at 11:30 a.m. on Fox and IndyCar Radio with the green flag waving in our nation’s capital at 1 p.m.
MARKHAM, ONTARIO (August 15, 2026) – The NTT IndyCar Series is making it’s first visit to a new street circuit in Markham, Ontario but a familiar face topped the speed charts after the first practice.
Four-time Series Champion Alex Palou turned the fastest lap around the 12-turn, 2.19-mile temporary street course, a 1-minute, 14.9915-seconds (100.811 mph) lap in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
A.J. Foyt Racing rookie Caio Collett was second quick with a 1-minute, 15.0454-seconds (100.739) in the No. 4 Chevrolet.
Louis Foster was third quick in the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda at 1:15.0278 (100.702) followed by Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin 1:15.2981 (100.401). Will Power rounded out the Top 5 at 1:15.3152 (100.378).
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammates were not as strong. Six-time Series Champion Scott Dixon was 20th at 1:16.4583 (98.877) in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. Kyffin Simpson was 24th at 1.17.3893 (97.688) in the No. 8 Sunoco Honda. Simpson made contact with the wall at Turn 6, causing damage to the rear suspension. Simpson limped to pits for repair and returned to action later in the session.
Practice 2 is set for 2:30 p.m. as delayed track construction forced officials to cancel Friday’s activities and condense Saturday’s schedule. NTT P1 Pole Qualifying is set for 6:30 p.m. ET
MARKHAM, ONTARIO (August 14, 2026) – Issues with the completion of the temporary street circuit in Markham Ontario has forced the NTT INDYCAR SERIES first practice to be moved to Saturday as all of Friday’s on-track activity had to be scrubbed from the schedule.
“INDYCAR is incredibly disappointed that our promoter was not able to complete the track build on time, despite significant support from our team on site,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said. “Ontario has always been a magnificent market for our sport and the number of spectators that attended today is a shining example of that. New events can always pose logistical challenges and we join in the frustration of our loyal fans and apologize.”
Green Savoree Promotions also issued a statement.
“Ensuring the safety of the drivers and the completion of the certification process of competing on a brand-new racetrack delayed all on-track activities today. Today’s sessions have been rescheduled to Saturday, August 15, to allow for further track preparations.”
“We greatly appreciate all the fans who made it out to the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham today and chose to spend the day with us. The attendance and support were overwhelming.”
The revamped schedule calls for the first practice to take place at 10:00 a.m. followed by a second practice at 2:30 p.m. and P1 Pole Qualifying at 6:30 p.m.
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