Two-time defending Indianapolis 500 champion Josef Newgarden waited nearly three hours to start turning test laps Wednesday.
Colton Herta took advantage of the delayed start to hit some extra balls on the Brickyard golf course — in his fire suit. Kyle Larson, the 2021 Cup champion, 2020 Indy pole winner Marco Andretti and two-time Indy winner Takuma Sato, delayed their refresher courses until mid-afternoon.
Eventually, everything worked out.
All four Indianapolis 500 newcomers have passed the rookie orientation program, each veteran who needed the refresher course was cleared and 2008 Indy winner Scott Dixon overcame the 2-hour, 45-minute delay for an internet connectivity issue to post the fastest lap of the day at 225.182 mph on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's historic 2.5-mile oval.
“How can you not love being here? I really love it a lot more after the last two years,” said Newgarden, who was second-fastest at 225.125. “For most everybody here, it's putting basically a new car on the track and hoping it goes fast. It doesn't mean everything's going to be smooth sailing, but hopefully it goes well the next few weeks.”
The day certainly didn't start well for Newgarden or the other 31 IndyCar drivers. They wanted to see how the hybrid system and changing weight distribution would impact racing and tires the series fastest track.
Instead, they waited for the internet connectivity issue to be resolved.
The original schedule called for series regulars to start their first two-hour session at 10 a.m., followed by another two-hour window for rookies and refresher course drivers before opening the track to everyone for four hours, ending at 6 p.m.
Track officials adapted by shortening the first and third test sessions while still allowing the full two-hour slot for rookies and the veteran IndyCar non-regulars, extending testing until 7 p.m. as a smattering of disappointed fans sat patiently in the infield grandstand and in the seats on the outside of Turn 2. Finally, at 12:45 p.m., the green flag came out as the schedule was revised.
At least that was a sufficient solution on a perfect racing day — sunny, temperatures in the 70s and relatively tame winds for a session reigning Brickyard 400 winner Kyle Larson acknowledged he needed.
"It feels a little different, not quite the same balance I had last year,” the 2021 Cup champ said. “Overall, I felt comfortable but still felt rusty on small, little things, like hitting the buttons. Good to get all that out of the way today and hopefully we'll be better tomorrow.”
Larson is attempting racing's Memorial Day weekend double for the second straight year — completing all 1,100 miles of racing at Indy and Charlotte on the same day. He said he's undecided about giving it a shot again in 2026 while noting this may be his last IndyCar for the foreseeable future.
The series has had trouble establishing radio and data communications between the series new production truck and IndyCar teams, which has been a recurring theme through the first three races this season. New broadcast partner Fox also has had trouble receiving the necessary data for its telecasts.
But series officials issued a statement Wednesday night saying the connectivity issue was unrelated.
“This morning, IndyCar identified a connectivity issue with the series' upgraded software, which temporarily limited the series' timing and scoring and communication capabilities,” the statement read. “While there was a delay to the start of the two-day Indy 500 open test, corrective measures were implemented and the test resumed without further delays. IndyCar will continue to analyze and monitor the software to avoid any delays in the future.”
Still, it was unusual.
“That was the first one, but I’m glad they fixed it,” four-time Indy winner Helio Castroneves said when asked whether he'd ever waited through a delay because of connectivity problem. “It didn’t hurt the program, so far from what I understand.”
Things didn't go perfectly on the track, either.
Within the first hour, the cars of Jack Harvey and Santino Ferrucci both stopped on the track, bringing additional stoppages. Larson thought something was wrong with his car, too, and Graham Rahal's car appeared to tap the wall near the end of testing.
Series officials will crank up the boost for drivers Thursday, producing faster speeds on the second and final day of this week's testing.
Indianapolis will host its annual IndyCar road race May 10. Indianapolis 500 qualifying will be held May 17-18, and the Greatest Spectacle in Racing is set for May 25.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
FILE - The main gate of Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis is shown Nov. 4, 2019. (AP Photo/AJ Mast, File)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Sunday that the U.S. would not take a day-to-day role in governing Venezuela, a turnaround after President Donald Trump announced a day earlier that the U.S. would be running Venezuela following its ouster of leader Nicolás Maduro.
Rubio’s statements seemed designed to temper concerns about whether the assertive American action to achieve regime change might again produce a prolonged foreign intervention or failed attempt at nation-building. They stood in contrast to Trump’s broad but vague claims that the U.S. would at least temporarily “run” the oil-rich nation.
Meanwhile, a tense calm hangs over Venezuela after the U.S. military operation that deposed Maduro, who was brought to New York to face criminal charges.
Maduro and his wife landed late Saturday afternoon at a small airport in New York. The couple face U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
Here's the latest:
The governments of Spain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay said in a statement that U.S. involvement in Venezuela is “an extremely dangerous precedent for peace and regional security and puts the civilian population at risk.”
In a statement released jointly by the governments, they expressed their “concern about any attempt at government control, administration, or external appropriation of natural or strategic resources.”
These actions are “incompatible with international law and threaten the political, economic, and social stability of the region,” they added.
Besides expressing their “deep concern and rejection” of the U.S. operation that ended with the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, they called for dialogue, negotiation, and respect for the will of the Venezuelan people to resolve the situation, “without external interference and in accordance with international law.”
Associated Press video on Sunday shows a banner now on display in Iran’s capital warning the United States and Israel that their soldiers could be killed if they take action in the country.
Trump’s recent comment that the U.S. “will come to their rescue” if Iran kills peaceful protesters has taken on a new meaning after the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the “illegal U.S. attack against Venezuela.” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said adversaries of the U.S. should note that “America can project our will anywhere, anytime.”
From California to Missouri and Texas, protestors are planning demonstrations Sunday and through the week against President Donald Trump’s military operation and capture of Maduro, which one protest description called “the illegal, unconstitutional invasion of Venezuela.”
Dozens appear to be organized by chapters of Indivisible, a left-leaning group, and many take umbrage with Trump’s plans to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry and ask American companies to revitalize it.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa who serves as Senate president pro tempore, posted on X Saturday that Maduro is a narco-terrorist and his drug trafficking resulted in the deaths of too many Americans. He likened the Trump operation to then-President George Bush’s decision in 1989 to capture Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega following his indictment for drug trafficking.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat and one of President Donald Trump’s most outspoken critics, posted that U.S. military action in Venezuela is unconstitutional and is putting troops in harm’s way with no long-term strategy. “The American people deserve a President focused on making their lives more affordable,” Pritzker wrote.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, posted a statement on X calling the strikes illegal and criticizing Trump for taking action without congressional approval. “The President does not have the unilateral authority to invade foreign countries, oust their governments, and seize their resources,” she wrote.
France’s foreign minister says the departure of President Nicolás Maduro “is good news for the Venezuelans” and called for a peaceful and democratic transition of power.
Jean-Noël Barrot said “Maduro was an unscrupulous dictator who confiscated Venezuelans’ freedom and stole their elections.”
“Then, yes, we pointed out that the method used infringes the principles of international law,” Barrot said about the U.S. military operation on France 2 national television.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate leader, called Maduro “a horrible, horrible person” but added, “You don’t treat lawlessness with other lawlessness. And that’s what’s happened.”
“We have learned through the years that, when America tries to regime change and nation-building in this way, the American people pay the price in both blood and results,” Schumer told ABC’s “This Week.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says President Donald Trump’s conversations with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez now are ”very matter-of-fact and very clear: You can lead or you can get out of the way, because we’re not going to allow you to continue to subvert American influence and our need to have a free country like Venezuela to work with rather than to have dictators in place who perpetuate crimes and drug trafficking.”
Noem tells “Fox News Sunday” that the United States wants a leader in Venezuela who will be “a partner that understands that we’re going to protect America” when it comes to stopping drug trafficking and “terrorists from coming into our country.”
She says that “we’re looking for a leader that will stand up beside us and embrace those freedoms and liberties for the Venezuelan people but also ensure that they’re not perpetuating crimes around the globe like they’ve had in the past.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to back off Trump’s assertions that the U.S. was running Venezuela, insisting instead that Washington will use control of the South American country’s oil industry to force policy changes and, “We expect that it’s going to lead to results here.”
“We’re hopeful, hopeful, that it does positive results for the people for Venezuela,” Rubio told ABC’s “This Week.” “But, ultimately, most importantly, in the national interest of the United States.”
Asked about Trump suggesting that Rubio would be among the U.S. officials helping to run Venezuela, Rubio offered no details but said, “I’m obviously very intricately involved in the policy” going forward.
He said of Venezuela’s interim leader: “We don’t believe this regime in place is legitimate” because the country never held free and fair elections.
Venezuela’s capital Caracas was unusually quiet Sunday with few vehicles moving around. Convenience stores, gas stations and other businesses were mostly closed.
The presence of police and members of the military across the city was notable for its smaller size compared with an average day and even more so with the days when people protested against Maduro’s government in previous years.
Meanwhile, soldiers attempted to clear an area of an air base that had been on fire along with at least three passenger buses following Saturday’s U.S. attack.
The Brooklyn jail holding Nicolás Maduro is a facility so troubled that some judges have refused to send people there even as it has housed such famous inmates as music stars R. Kelly and Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Opened in the early 1990s, the Metropolitan Detention Center, or MDC Brooklyn, currently houses about 1,300 inmates.
It’s the routine landing spot for people awaiting trial in federal courts in Manhattan and Brooklyn, holding alleged gangsters and drug traffickers alongside some people accused of white collar crimes.
Maduro is not the first president of a country to be locked up there.
Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, was imprisoned at MDC Brooklyn while he was on trial for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into the U.S. Hernández was pardoned and freed by President Donald Trump in December.
▶ Read more about MDC Brooklyn
Residents look at a damaged apartment complex that neighbors say was hit during U.S. strikes to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A soldier stands atop an armored vehicle driving toward Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Shoppers line up at a supermarket in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
