Three-time Xfinity Series race-winner Shane van Gisbergen was 27th fastest in this morning’s practice session on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.
The Kaulig Racing #97 completed 24 laps of the historic 4.0 km rectangular oval in the sole 50-minute practice outing, setting a best lap of 55.644 seconds at an average speed of 161.743 mph (260.3 kph).
That time was 1.673 seconds off the pace of Chandler Smith’s 53.971, which led the first Xfinity Series session on the IMS oval since 2019.
“It’s incredible,” Smith said.
“This is where it all started for me, as far as where the interest came about. I’m from Georgia, so the first time I saw the (IMS) racetrack was when I was quarter-midget racing. They set up a little quarter-midget track in the infield.
“I always dreamed of racing here on the oval in a competitive car in one of the top three series in NASCAR, and here we are.”
Parker Kligerman was second fastest, six-hundredths off the pace and more than half a second to the good of Conor Daly, who completed the top three
Brandon Jones and Riley Herbst rounded out the top five.
AJ Allmendinger was the fastest of the four-strong Kaulig Racing lineup, finishing tenth overall, nine-tenths off the lead time. Daniel Dye followed in 17th, ahead of Josh Williams in 19th and van Gisbergen.
Cole Custer ran the fastest 10-lap consecutive run from his 14th lap until his 23rd, averaging 162.928 mph (262.21 kph).
The Xfinity Series returns for qualifying on Sunday at 4.05 am NZST for qualifying ahead of the 100-lap race at 7.30 am.
Three Now will have live coverage of the race from 7.00 am.
I was listening to Shane’s radio and he seemed to be struggling with understeer!
PK, NZ.