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Alex Palou leads the way in Day 2 of Indy 500 practice

Rain was once again a topic of discussion Wednesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, limiting track time for the 34 drivers and teams. Tony Kanaan's veteran refresher test was also postponed to Thursday. 

Full-field practice didn't begin until after 1pm EST and drivers got almost three hours of practice time before some light raindrops and nearby lightning halted things again. The session resumed about 45 minutes later with a flurry of activity out on the track, but it did not last. The rain returned in the middle of 'happy hour,' once again pausing the action. Thankfully, this was brief and the second day of practice was able to reach its completion under green-flag conditions.

Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

There were no on-track incidents and the only yellow flags were for weather interruptions or track inspections. Championship leader Alex Palou topped the speed charts for Chip Ganassi Racing, reaching 227.546mph in a time that eclipsed Day 1's top speed by Will Power (227.026mph). Power was once again strong on Wednesday, ranking second overall at 225.584mph with his Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden third at 225.545mph.

"We did a little bit of (running in) traffic,” Palou said. “It’s always tough when people are in different run plans. A couple of good traffic runs. The car is feeling good. You always want it to feel a little bit better, but so far, so good.

“This is the biggest race, and that’s what we work so much toward. So, we’re going to try and chase that win.”

Scott Dixon and Conor Daly rounded out the top five while David Malukas, Marcus Armstrong, Helio Castroneves, Jack Harvey, and Christian Rasmussen filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Jacob Abel - Dale Coyne Racing (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

Ferrucci frustrated

Santino Ferrucci, who was very vocal about his unhappiness with the car, ranked 33rd while three-time Indy 500 pole-sitter Ed Carpenter was 34th (last).

"Felt comfortable with what we did overnight in clean air," Ferrucci told IndyCar on FOX. "Decided to go hop into the back of a train, just to get a balance read. And yeah, nope, I'm going back to last year's car. I'm fed up with trying to make this work. There was light at the end of the tunnel but not anymore."

Just like Tuesday, Kyle Kirkwood once again topped the speed charts for no-tow speeds at 222.760mph, followed by Rasmussen at  222.116mph and Alexander Rossi at 221.277mph.

As for most laps run, four drivers ran over half the length of a true Indy 500 with Castroneves leading that category at 114 laps completed on Wednesday.

Photos from Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Devlin Defrancesco, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Wet weather

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Wet weather

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Joey Logano

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Patricio O'ward, Arrow McLaren

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Jacob Abel - Dale Coyne Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Will Power, Team Penske

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Colton Herta, Andretti Global

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Kyle Larson, Arrow McLaren

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Jacob Abel - Dale Coyne Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Will Power, Team Penske

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Jacob Abel - Dale Coyne Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Marco Andretti, Andretti Global

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Will Power, Team Penske

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Colton Herta, Andretti Global

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Patricio O'ward, Arrow McLaren

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Callum Ilott, Prema Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Patricio O'ward, Arrow McLaren

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Jacob Abel - Dale Coyne Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Jack Harvey, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Rinus Veekay, Dale Coyne Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Jacob Abel - Dale Coyne Racing

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske

2025 Indianapolis 500 - Practice 3

IndyCar
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In this article
Nick DeGroot
IndyCar
Alex Palou
Chip Ganassi Racing
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