Johnson shows promise during Indy 500 Open Test sessions called early because of accidents

On a cold track that featured a slick pit exit lane, Jimmie Johnson of The American Legion experienced smooth sailing in Wednesday’s first day of the Indianapolis 500 Open Test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Johnson had the third fastest speed for much of the first session. He returned later in the day in the final practice session to work on group running in packs and to check off items from the team’s long list of testing assignments.

But with two separate crashes involving defending and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves at 5:11 p.m. Eastern Time, and another crash involving 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power and Colton Herta at 5:35 p.m. ET, INDYCAR officials ended testing one hour early.

According to INDYCAR, officials from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, INDYCAR and Firestone are conducting an investigation on the pit access road to determine why that area has a grip issue. They are determined to correct the issue overnight in time for Thursday’s second day of testing that is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET.

Officially, Johnson finished the day 25th fastest in the final practice session with a fast lap of 218.785 miles per hour in the No. 48 Carvana/American Legion Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. But he only got to run 21 laps in the session, far less than the team hoped to run if the session had been complete.

“It was a great day of testing here at Indy,” Johnson said. “The second session, we had some really interesting things go on with accidents that really cut our lap times down to nothing and eventually ended the session. I really think it’s the cold temperatures we have, the tires are hard and skatey, and guys were spinning off the access lane onto the race track where it’s unsafe. INDYCAR decided to call it a day.

“We feel really good where we are in Practice 1. We didn’t get much done in Practice 2, so we are going to go home and sleep on it an come back on Thursday.”

Chip Ganassi Racing driver and 2008 Indianapolis 500 winning driver Scott Dixon was the fastest driver in the two-day test session. He ran a fast lap of 227.187 miles per hour in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.

“I think the conditions are always pretty ideal when you run this time of year,” Dixon said. “The car feels really good. A lot of it depends on track placement and how much confidence you have in the car, how big a toe you can get. I guess we lucked out on that today.

“We still have a bit of a test left. We didn't get through too much of it because how the session was kind of fragmented, then obviously finishing early. Still a lot of work to do I think for tomorrow. Maybe we'll get a bit of a time extension tomorrow depending on conditions. All in all, I think all the drivers were really confident with how the day went and how the cars felt. But I think that's maybe across the board because of conditions.”

Conor Daly’s No. 20 Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing was second at 226.985 mph. British rookie driver Callum Ilott was third at 226.308 mph in the No. 777 Juncos Chevrolet. Santino Ferrucci’s Dreyer & Reinbold Chevrolet was fourth at 226.182 mph with Ericsson’s Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda fifth at 225.341 mph.

Rossi, who started the spinning earlier in the day, finished sixth at 225.212 mph in the No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda.

Tony Kanaan, who will drive The American Legion No. 1 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing in the 106th Indianapolis 500, was 22nd with a fast lap at 220.332 mph.

This is the first day of a two-day test session for the May 29 106th Indianapolis 500. Thursday’s schedule calls for track action from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET, weather permitting.