Will Power posted the fastest lap speed in practice for the 97th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race -- the fastest practice lap since 2003 -- in the session preceding Pole Day qualifications May 18.
Power, driving the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, toured the 2.50-mile oval at 229.808 mph (39.1631 seconds).
“It's pretty heavy on air, you could say," Power said. "It's very difficult to predict what to run trim-wise for qualifying. We'll see when the temperature comes. If it's similar to this, I think we have a good idea. We're just working it out. You’ve just got to make an educated guess."
Team Penske teammate AJ Allmendinger, a first-year Indy 500 competitor, was second at 229.086 mph. Josef Newgarden (228.609) was third and Graham Rahal (228.318 mph) was fourth. Twenty-five drivers turned 476 laps without incident.
Click it: Indianapolis 500 Qualification Order || Practice 8 results || Combined results
"The track had decent amount of grip with cool conditions," said Allmendinger, who is sixth in the qualifying line. "I’ve never been here before, but I’m learning really quick that weather will play a huge factor. I think the car has good speed, but it’s tough to tell with the tows that are out there."
NBC Sports Network will broadcast Pole Day (11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 4:30-6:30 p.m. ET) activities in addition to Bump Day (noon-6:30 p.m. ET) proceedings May 19 (Verizon FiOS 90/590, DirecTV 220, DISH 159 and AT&T UVerse 640). Check local listings for other cable/satellite outlets.
Timing & Scoring with the integrated IMS Radio Network broadcast is available at www.indycar.com and INDYCAR 13 app.
Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indianapolis 500 champion, drew the first spot in qualifications.
Conor Daly, who did not get on the track May 17 as the A.J. Foyt Racing crew was reassembling the No. 41 ABC Supply car after it made contact with the SAFER Barrier exiting Turn 1 a day earlier, posted a best lap of 223.121 mph of 36 laps.
Twenty-four positions will be filled from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. (ET), with a qualification attempt consisting of four consecutive timed laps. Positions 1-24 will be based on the fastest four-lap averages. Each entrant is allowed three qualifying attempts in the first segment.
The nine entries posting the fastest speeds will return for knockout qualifying from 4:30-6 p.m. to determine the Verizon P1 Award winner and set the first three rows for the 200-lap race.
The pole winner will receive a $100,000 bonus, with second receiving $50,000 and third place receiving $40,000 in the Verizon Front Row awards. Bonus points of 15-1 are awarded through the 33-car field.
On Old National Armed Forces Bump Day, positions 25-33 will be determined based on the day's fastest four-lap averages. Once the field is filled, any qualifying attempt that is faster than a qualified entrant in the field will bump the slowest qualifier regardless of the day of qualification.
The "bumping" entrant is placed at the rear of the field, while the "bumped" entrant is removed from the field, but has the opportunity to bumps its way back into the field as time allows. Each entrant is allowed three qualifying attempts.