Rasmussen tops practice ahead of qualifying at Indy

The story of Sunday morning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was one of statements made by the 14 drivers who chose to go out and work on their cars ahead of today’s single-day qualifying process and the 19 who elected to stay in their garages and skip the pair of 30-minute sessions scheduled from 9:30-10:30am ET.

All entries from Arrow McLaren (except for Ryan Hunter-Reay, who was slowest), Chip Ganassi Racing, Team Penske, and others opted to wait until the start of qualifying at 12pm to dive into the action while ECR and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, and select others, dispatched all of their drivers to make qualifying simulation runs for one last time.

ECR’s Christian Rasmussen was the fastest in his No. 21 Chevy at 232.255mph and he had RLL’s Takuma Sato right behind him in the No. 75 Honda at 231.759mph. ECR co-owner Ed Carpenter was third in the No. 33 Chevy at 231.684mph.

The only notable occurrence during the combined one-hour of lapping happened with Sato who brushed the Turn 3 exit wall with the right-rear tire and left a brief stretch of black along the white paint. It was the first incident of any kind during practice, and the two-time Indy 500 winner’s car was completely undamaged.