Herta tops second Portland practice

Colton Herta was fastest in the second practice session at Portland International Raceway. The Andretti Global driver produced a 58.4238s lap in the No. 26 Honda in the final run before qualifying where the ambient temperatures were comfortable and edging towards 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Herta was shadowed by championship leader Alex Palou in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda (58.4531s), Ganassi’s Scott Dixon (58.5023s), defending winner Will Power (58.5376s), an inspired Devlin DeFrancesco (58.5441s) and Rinus VeeKay (58.5770s) who completed the top six. The entire field was covered by less than one second which hasn’t happened since the Portland event in 2019.

The 45-minute outing saw Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward – the only driver who can overtake Palou in the standings – down in 11th after trying a different rear damper package to close the session. Reigning polesitter Santino Ferrucci continued his hunt for speed and was left in 24th. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden had his session cut short with an engine issue in the No. 2 Chevy which was taken back to the team's transporter to get started on an engine change while the session was ongoing.

The unapproved engine change comes with a six-position grid penalty for Newgarden once the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland arrives on Sunday.

UP NEXT: Qualifying, 2:35pm ET

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