Conor Daly Pushes Speed Limit Past 228 on Ideal Day at Indy

In nearly ideal conditions, speeds soared Wednesday on the second day of practice for the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, with Conor Daly leading two drivers over 228 mph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Indianapolis-area native Daly continued his strong start to the event by posting the fastest speed of the two days of practice, 228.080 mph, in the No. 23 DRR KINGSPAN Chevrolet of Indy 500-only team Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Daly turned his top lap in thick traffic, getting an aerodynamic tow, just slightly over an hour into the six-hour session.

SEE: Practice Results

Conditions were ideal for speed on the 2.5-mile oval, with air temperatures in the mid-60s and partly cloudy skies.

“Feeling great, but we weren’t even flat on that lap,” Daly said. “The car feels pretty good. It’s going really well. Honestly, it was very exciting out there, too. I saw more side-by-side racing out there on that run than I’ve seen in practice for a long time. It seemed good.”

Daly was third fastest on Opening Day on Tuesday at 225.838.

Reigning “500” winner and NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou, fastest Tuesday at 225.937, was second today and one of two drivers over 228 mph at 228.026 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

David Malukas was third at 227.139 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, jumping from 10th Tuesday. Graham Rahal continued to show consistent speed, fourth at 226.835 in the No. 15 United Rentals Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan after stopping the clocks in sixth Tuesday.

Romain Grosjean also continued the trend of carrying Opening Day speed into today, rounding out the top five at 226.591 in the No. 18 Bmax.IO Honda of Dale Coyne Racing. Grosjean was ninth Tuesday.

Ideal conditions and aerodynamic tows from leading cars helped speeds elevate in traffic today. Pato O’Ward was the fastest driver running alone, with a best solo lap of 221.409 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi was the second-fastest solo driver at 221.392 in the No. 20 Java House Chevrolet of Ed Carpenter Racing.

The top two no-tow speeds were slightly slower than the fastest no-tow speed of 222.062 on Tuesday by Kyle Kirkwood in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda of Andretti Global.

All 33 cars entered in the event this year combined to turn 2,542 incident-free laps today, a considerable hike from the 1,996 laps recorded on Opening Day. Palou carried the biggest workload, turning a session-high 118 laps after completing just 28 laps Tuesday.

Practice resumes from noon-6 p.m. ET Thursday (noon-4 p.m., FS2; 4-6 p.m., FS1; FOX One, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls).

The 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is scheduled for Sunday, May 24 (10 a.m. ET, FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls).