Newgarden draws first blood
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| Josef Newgarden |
IndyCar points leader Josef Newgarden turned the fastest lap in opening practice for the IndyCar season finale at Sonoma. Newgarden's lap of 1m16.395s led a Team Penske 1-2-3 using the superior Team Penske shock package.
Will Power was 2nd quick in the #12 Penske Chevy ahead of defending IndyCar champion Simon Pagenaud.
The fastest non-Chevy and non-Penske shock car was Alexander Rossi in the #98 NAPA Andretti Honda just 0.177 sec behind Newgarden.
Results
| Pos | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Gap | Laps | Engine | Points | Team |
| 1 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 1:16.395 | –.—- | –.—- | 8 | Chevy | 560 | Team Penske |
| 2 | 12 | Will Power | 1:16.432 | 0.0372 | 0.0372 | 10 | Chevy | 492 | Team Penske |
| 3 | 1 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:16.505 | 0.1097 | 0.0725 | 10 | Chevy | 526 | Team Penske |
| 4 | 98 | Alexander Rossi | 1:16.572 | 0.1770 | 0.0673 | 13 | Honda | 476 | Andretti Herta Autosport |
| 5 | 18 | Sebastien Bourdais | 1:16.606 | 0.2110 | 0.0340 | 15 | Honda | 170 | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 6 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 1:16.620 | 0.2247 | 0.0137 | 10 | Honda | 557 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 7 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 1:16.671 | 0.2761 | 0.0514 | 9 | Honda | 373 | Andretti Autosport |
| 8 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | 1:16.703 | 0.3075 | 0.0314 | 7 | Chevy | 538 | Team Penske |
| 9 | 10 | Tony Kanaan | 1:16.748 | 0.3534 | 0.0459 | 8 | Honda | 375 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 10 | 27 | Marco Andretti | 1:16.784 | 0.3893 | 0.0359 | 8 | Honda | 336 | Andretti Autosport |
| 11 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1:16.907 | 0.5122 | 0.1229 | 13 | Honda | 466 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan |
| 12 | 26 | Takuma Sato | 1:16.968 | 0.5726 | 0.0604 | 16 | Honda | 421 | Andretti Autosport |
| 13 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe | 1:17.121 | 0.7260 | 0.1534 | 7 | Honda | 360 | Schmidt Peterson |
| 14 | 21 | JR Hildebrand | 1:17.329 | 0.9337 | 0.2077 | 16 | Chevy | 315 | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 15 | 19 | Ed Jones | 1:17.396 | 1.0010 | 0.0673 | 11 | Honda | 332 | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 16 | 20 | Spencer Pigot | 1:17.425 | 1.0304 | 0.0294 | 13 | Chevy | 184 | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 17 | 83 | Charlie Kimball | 1:17.438 | 1.0434 | 0.0130 | 13 | Honda | 289 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 18 | 8 | Max Chilton | 1:17.474 | 1.0786 | 0.0352 | 12 | Honda | 360 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 19 | 14 | Carlos Munoz | 1:17.545 | 1.1501 | 0.0715 | 13 | Chevy | 298 | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 20 | 7 | Jack Harvey | 1:17.617 | 1.2218 | 0.0717 | 11 | Honda | 33 | Schmidt Peterson |
| 21 | 4 | Conor Daly | 1:17.657 | 1.2616 | 0.0398 | 17 | Chevy | 264 | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 22 | 13 | Zachary Claman DeMelo | 1:17.951 | 1.5556 | 0.2940 | 16 | Honda | 26 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan |