Alex Palou leads tense Indy 500 drafting practice, Rasmussen crashes

The two-hour session is the last on-track practice until Carb Day on Friday, and all 33 teams took full advantage of it. Alex Palou led the way in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda with a 226.765mph lap, followed by Helio Castroneves in the No. 06 Meyer Shank Racing Honda at 226.441mph, and Takuma Sato in the No. 75 RLL Racing Honda at 226.087mph.

Jack Harvey was the top Chevrolet in fourth, followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay in fifth, Nolan Siegel sixth, Will Power seventh, Josef Newgarden eighth, Christian Rasmussen ninth, and Conor Daly tenth on the time sheets.

88 laps was the most run by any driver with both Power and Callum Ilott reaching that total.

The session featured one on-track incident as Rasmussen touched the wall at the exit of Turn 2, breaking the rear rear toe-link. He tried to hang onto the car, but it eventually spun into the infield grass and impacted the inside wall. It was not a significant impact, but it’s worth noting that this is the second time this month Rasmussen lost it at the exit of Turn 2.

Robert Shwartzman and Prema Racing shocked the world when they earned pole position for the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500, but things didn’t go as smoothly in Monday drafting practice. Shwartzman had a huge lock-up while trying to practice his pit entry and the crew struggled in a practice pit stop.

But one of the sketchier moments for Shwartzman came when 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson thought about making a big move late into Turn 3. Thankfully, disaster was avoided as Larson lifted at the last possible second. Larson ranked 11th on the speed charts at 225.056mph while Shwartzman was down in 26th with a fast lap of 222.561mph.

There were several other close calls and big overtakes as focus shifts to race day, including one moment where Newgarden went three-wide down the frontstretch as Graham Rahal moved up towards him, but thankfully, no contact was made.