Newgarden leads Palou in opening Milwaukee practice

The quick one-hour practice session ahead of qualifying for Sunday’s Snap-on 250 at the Milwaukee Mile featured many of IndyCar’s best oval drivers atop the speed chart led by Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden.

“It feels good. It’s very compact,” Newgarden said of the action-packed Saturday schedule. “That’s IndyCar. The team seems ready to rock.”

Newgarden’s 161.066mph lap in the No. 2 Chevy edged new IndyCar champion Alex Palou in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda (160.544mph) and oval ace Conor Daly in the No. 76 Chevy was third (160.436mph). Dale Coyne Racing’s Rinus VeeKay was fourth in the No. 18 Honda (160.260mph) ahead of Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson in the No. 28 Honda (160.086mph) and Rahal Letterman Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal in sixth with the No. 15 Honda (160.082mph).

An extended caution was needed to deal with track inspections when a number of cut tires were discovered, and also the removing of Louis Foster’s No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda from the track after an engine failure. The rookie turned three laps before the issue emerged; once the car was returned to RLL’s transporters, the team launched into an engine change to get the car ready for Foster to take part in the session set to run two hours after practice ended.

• UPDATED: Foster, Dixon, Simpson entries get engine penalties for Milwaukee

UP NEXT: Qualifying, 2:05 pm ET

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