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The quickest of the day would be Helio Castroneves at 227.377 MPH. His Team Penske Chevrolet has sometimes been good, sometimes bad, but with speed like this, Helio will be one to keep an eye on come race day. Helio has never started this far back in the field, but with patience and smart strategy, Helio could pull off an upset of a 4th 500 win.
It is rare this much talent occupies this little space. Two absolute legends in their element.
After IndyCar’s practice, is the Indy Lights Freedom 100. Indy Lights is the final step on the Mazda Road to Indy, the feeder system into IndyCar. To both give young drivers some experience on Indy’s oval, and to give some extra exposure to the series and its stars, Lights runs a short, 100 mile race on the oval. The cars are fast, able to reach 200 MPH on the straights and can run flatout in the corners. Because the cars are running flatout around the entire track, it tends to be a bit of a parade, with all Freedom 100s, save for two, being won by a driver on the front row. Unfortunately for you, due to a computer snafu, all of our Freedom 100 pictures got deleted or corrupted, so please enjoy the start of the Indy Lights GP instead.
Once Lights wraps up, the IndyCars are back out for the Tag Heuer Pitstop Competition! The PSC is the chance for the unsung heros of IndyCar to show their stuff and get their day in the sun. At Indy, every fraction of a second counts and a good pitstop can make or break a race. The PSC is a fun competition to let the teams prove who is best, with a nice $50,000 cherry thrown in on top for the winners.
The PSC is done drag race style. Two cars line up on Indy’s pit road. An F1 style starter light signals the cars, which take off into a pit box. Poor Sage Karam had the unlucky of going against Helio Castroneves in the first round. Karam is driving for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, which only races at the 500, whereas Helio’s Penske team has won the PSC an incredible 8 times including 2013, 2015, and 2016!
The car must do a full tire change and simulated fuel hookup, then the cars launch again and the first car across the finish line wins!
