IndyCar News: Scott McLaughlin fastest on Fast Friday at Indy

Last year’s Indy 500 polesitter Scott McLaughlin turned a lap of 233.954mph in his #3 Penske Chevy to top Fast Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

McLaughlin set his time in the heat of the day while those directly behind him set their fast time during Happy Hour when the track temperature was cooler.

Scott Dixon was 2nd fastest in his #9 Ganassi Honda, 0.2304s behind McLaughlin at 232.561mph. Dixon had the fastest 4-lap qualifying simulation speed – see table.

Scott Dixon – Photo courtesy of Penske Entertainment

Dixon’s teammate, Alex Palou, who leads the point standings after winning 4 of the first 5 races, was third at 232.528mph, 0.23s behind McLaughlin.

Andretti Global drivers Kyle Kirkwood and Colton Herta rounded out the top-5, 0.3s and 0.31s behind McLaughlin, respectively.

“Great day. It was a short day, said fast man McLaughlin. “We went out pretty early in the morning knowing that the conditions were just going to get tougher and tougher and then eventually were really, really good at the end. Yeah, I thought we did a really good job at the time.

“I thought our run — we did two full runs, and not many people actually did that, including my teammates as well.

“Yeah, I feel really good in the Pennzoil Yellow Submarine, and I feel like we were able to knock out some really good speed. Then obviously track temps go down, and the ambient is hot, so less drag later on this afternoon. I think we’re in a really good spot for tomorrow, and hopefully we can put a big number up, and the girls can pick me a decent draw.”

Rain is forecast tonight, which will wash all the rubber off the track. Saturday, the first day of qualifying, is forecast to be cooler, but windy.

Yeah, what is it supposed to be 25 degrees cooler tomorrow and maybe a little bit windier?” said Kirkwood. “It requires a lot of change for everyone, including the engine manufacturer. So it’s going to be different days, which is why they we want out there, ran right away, and then stopped because they know it’s going to be different tomorrow.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of takers tomorrow in the practice, which is unlike anything.”

2025 Indy 500 Fast Friday Results

Pos	No	Name	Time	Behind	Gap	FL	Laps	Speed	Engine	Team
1	3	Scott McLaughlin	38.4691	38.4691	‑‑.‑‑‑‑	2	15	233.954	Chevy	Team Penske
2	9	Scott Dixon	38.6995	0.2304	0.2304	10	14	232.561	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
3	10	Alex Palou	38.7050	0.2359	0.0055	11	15	232.528	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
4	27	Kyle Kirkwood	38.7752	0.3061	0.0702	21	25	232.107	Honda	Andretti Global
5	26	Colton Herta	38.7820	0.3129	0.0068	19	23	232.066	Honda	Andretti Global w/Curb‑Agajanian
6	12	Will Power	38.7959	0.3268	0.0139	18	26	231.983	Chevy	Team Penske
7	7	Christian Lundgaard	38.8243	0.3552	0.0284	17	18	231.814	Chevy	Arrow McLaren
8	76	Conor Daly	38.8451	0.3760	0.0208	20	22	231.689	Chevy	Juncos Hollinger Racing
9	66	Marcus Armstrong	38.8655	0.3964	0.0204	10	13	231.568	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
10	77	Sting Ray Robb	38.8912	0.4221	0.0257	17	20	231.415	Chevy	Juncos Hollinger Racing
11	60	Felix Rosenqvist	38.8955	0.4264	0.0043	6	7	231.389	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
12	75	Takuma Sato	38.8996	0.4305	0.0041	12	16	231.365	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
13	83	Robert Shwartzman	38.9113	0.4422	0.0117	11	14	231.295	Chevy	Prema Racing
14	21	Christian Rasmussen	38.9304	0.4613	0.0191	3	11	231.182	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
15	33	Ed Carpenter	38.9520	0.4829	0.0216	3	15	231.054	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
16	2	Josef Newgarden	38.9554	0.4863	0.0034	9	11	231.033	Chevy	Team Penske
17	45	Louis Foster	38.9632	0.4941	0.0078	12	23	230.987	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
18	90	Callum Ilott	38.9851	0.5160	0.0219	23	24	230.857	Chevy	Prema Racing
19	28	Marcus Ericsson	38.9964	0.5273	0.0113	12	14	230.791	Honda	Andretti Global
20	4	David Malukas	39.0034	0.5343	0.0070	7	8	230.749	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
21	06	Helio Castroneves	39.0213	0.5522	0.0179	17	20	230.643	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb‑Agajanian
22	98	Marco Andretti	39.0439	0.5748	0.0226	2	10	230.510	Honda	Andretti Herta w/Marco & Curb‑Agananian
23	5	Pato O’Ward	39.0556	0.5865	0.0117	2	6	230.441	Chevy	Arrow McLaren
24	18	Rinus Veekay	39.0615	0.5924	0.0059	22	24	230.406	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing
25	14	Santino Ferrucci	39.0643	0.5952	0.0028	3	16	230.389	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
26	20	Alexander Rossi	39.1932	0.7241	0.1289	22	24	229.632	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
27	51	Jacob Abel	39.1968	0.7277	0.0036	26	26	229.611	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing
28	15	Graham Rahal	39.2110	0.7419	0.0142	24	26	229.527	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
29	23	Ryan Hunter‑Reay	39.2404	0.7713	0.0294	3	6	229.355	Chevy	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
30	30	Devlin DeFrancesco	39.2729	0.8038	0.0325	15	18	229.166	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
31	6	Nolan Siegel	39.2850	0.8159	0.0121	11	12	229.095	Chevy	Arrow McLaren
32	24	Jack Harvey	39.2991	0.8300	0.0141	5	6	229.013	Chevy	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
33	17	Kyle Larson	42.0122	3.5431	2.7131	3	4	214.223	Chevy	Arrow McLaren
34	8	Kyffin Simpson	11:39.012	11:00.5437	10:57.000	1	1	12.875	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing

Fast Friday No-Tow Speeds

Pos	Car	Driver	Engine	Non-Tow Time	Non-Tow Speed (mph)	Diff	Gap
1	9	Dixon, Scott	Honda	38.6995s	232.561	–.—-	–.—-
2	10	Palou, Alex	Honda	38.7050s	232.528	0.0055	0.0055
3	27	Kirkwood, Kyle	Honda	38.7752s	232.107	0.0757	0.0702
4	26	Herta, Colton	Honda	38.7820s	232.066	0.0825	0.0068
5	3	McLaughlin, Scott	Chevy	38.7922s	232.005	0.0927	0.0102
6	12	Power, Will	Chevy	38.7959s	231.983	0.0964	0.0037
7	7	Lundgaard, Christian	Chevy	38.8243s	231.814	0.1248	0.0284
8	76	Daly, Conor	Chevy	38.8451s	231.689	0.1456	0.0208
9	66	Armstrong, Marcus	Honda	38.8655s	231.568	0.1660	0.0204
10	77	Robb, Sting Ray	Chevy	38.8912s	231.415	0.1917	0.0257
11	60	Rosenqvist, Felix	Honda	38.8955s	231.389	0.1960	0.0043
12	75	Sato, Takuma	Honda	38.8996s	231.365	0.2001	0.0041
13	83	Shwartzman, Robert (R)	Chevy	38.9113s	231.295	0.2118	0.0117
14	21	Rasmussen, Christian	Chevy	38.9304s	231.182	0.2309	0.0191
15	33	Carpenter, Ed	Chevy	38.9520s	231.054	0.2525	0.0216
16	2	Newgarden, Josef	Chevy	38.9554s	231.033	0.2559	0.0034
17	45	Foster, Louis (R)	Honda	38.9632s	230.987	0.2637	0.0078
18	28	Ericsson, Marcus	Honda	38.9964s	230.791	0.2969	0.0332
19	4	Malukas, David	Chevy	39.0034s	230.749	0.3039	0.0070
20	06	Castroneves, Helio	Honda	39.0213s	230.643	0.3218	0.0179
21	98	Andretti, Marco	Honda	39.0439s	230.510	0.3444	0.0226
22	5	O’Ward, Pato	Chevy	39.0556s	230.441	0.3561	0.0117
23	18	Veekay, Rinus	Honda	39.0615s	230.406	0.3620	0.0059
24	14	Ferrucci, Santino	Chevy	39.1631s	229.808	0.4636	0.1016
25	20	Rossi, Alexander	Chevy	39.1932s	229.632	0.4937	0.0301
26	51	Abel, Jacob (R)	Honda	39.1968s	229.611	0.4973	0.0036
27	15	Rahal, Graham	Honda	39.2110s	229.527	0.5115	0.0142
28	23	Hunter-Reay, Ryan	Chevy	39.2404s	229.355	0.5409	0.0294
29	30	DeFrancesco, Devlin	Honda	39.2729s	229.166	0.5734	0.0325
30	6	Siegel, Nolan (R)	Chevy	39.2850s	229.095	0.5855	0.0121
31	24	Harvey, Jack	Chevy	39.2991s	229.013	0.5996	0.0141
32	90	Ilott, Callum	Chevy	39.3181s	228.902	0.6186	0.0190
33	17	Larson, Kyle	Chevy	42.0122s	214.223	3.3127	2.6941
		(R) Rookie