INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis 500 drivers turned Wednesday's practice into a possible race day preview.
They ran in packs, created long, snaking lines through the two long straightaways and mostly avoided trouble over the frantic final 75 minutes on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5-mile oval.
Conor Daly and Alex Palou took advantage of the cool, overcast conditions to post the fastest laps on the second practice day. Daly posted the best lap of the day at 228.080 mph with Palou just a fraction slower at 228.026. They were the only drivers to top 228, while Palou had the fastest trap speed of the day at 237.220.
“We have, we think, found some speed in other areas,” said Jack Harvey, Daly's teammate with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. “So, generally, they're just all excited to try and I think, I mean I think we were good the last month of May, but I think we can be a lot better this year.”
Harvey has been fast all month, though he finished 14th on Wednesday at 225.100.
The weather created ideal conditions for speed and the drivers didn't disappoint.
Daly, the stepson of speedway president Doug Boles, seems to be making the most of his first and possibly only IndyCar start of the season. He was one of five drivers to top 225 on Tuesday, then backed that up with an even better performance Wednesday.
David Malukas was the strongest of Team Penske's drivers, finishing third at 227.139, just behind Palou, the Spaniard who has won four series crowns and is the defending 500 champ. Graham Rahal and France's Romain Grosjean rounded out the top five.
Though most of the 33 drivers stayed on the track as long as they could over the final 75 minutes, crew members for three previous race winners — Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi — were also busy trying to fix problems.
Hunter-Reay, of Arrow McLaren, had a radio issue. Castroneves, of Meyer Shank Racing, had an issue with the car's balance, while Rossi's Ed Carpenter Racing crew worked on the engine.
Drivers return to the track Thursday then will receive a turbocharge boost Friday before making four-lap qualification runs on Saturday and Sunday. The race is scheduled for May 24.
It hasn't just been busy on the track.
One day after series officials announced their second rule change of the month, race organizers announced all reserved seats have been sold for the second straight year and the third time since 2016. That also means fans in central Indiana will be able to watch the telecast live.
And NASCAR team BRANDed Management announced it would give 45-year-old British driver Katherine Legge a chance to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600. If Legge qualifies for both races, she'll become the first woman to attempt racing's “double” — 1,100 miles of racing in one day — a half century after Janet Guthrie arrived at the Brickyard with the hope of qualifying for the 33-car starting grid. When that didn't happen, Guthrie wound up starting NASCAR's World 600, which is now known as the Coca-Cola 600.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
FILE - Conor Daly greets fans before an IndyCar auto race, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
While John Tortorella has only been coaching the Vegas Golden Knights for a little over six weeks, they are his sixth NHL team and he is coming up on his 22nd anniversary of hoisting the Stanley Cup.
Through all that, he still wonders something about playoff hockey.
“I’m not sure what’s better: experience or youth, when you have no clue what’s going on?” Tortorella said. “They don’t understand the pressures of it because they don’t know. Or the experience.”
Tortorella's team showed the value of experience, taking a 3-2 series lead over the mostly new-to-this Anaheim Ducks by winning in overtime on Tuesday night. On the flip side, the less-seasoned Buffalo Sabres beat the Canadiens in Montreal to even up their best-of-seven series at 2-2.
Next up are two more chances to test Tortorella's question.
When/Where to Watch: Game 5, Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT (TNT, TruTV)
Series: Tied 2-2
Just when it looked like the Sabres were in trouble, they scored the opening goal less than seven minutes into Game 4 and endured a back-and-forth night full of replay reviews and penalties. Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff wasn't thrilled with some opposing players “going down easy” and wished for more embellishment calls, but he's proud of how his young group handled it.
"We battled through all that," Ruff said Wednesday. “We got to make sure we’re in there but at the same time not taking anything stupid and putting our team at a disadvantage. It’s a fine line right now, but I think there’s a way to juggle around it.”
The Canadiens got a taste of playoff hockey a year ago, losing in five games to Washington in the first round. A few players are left (and Phillip Danault returned) from 2021, when they went on an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final before falling short against Tampa Bay.
Captain Nick Suzuki, one of those players, chalked up the latest defeat to a bad bounce and already seems ready for Game 5.
“We knew we had to go to Buffalo anyway,” Suzuki said. "We’re a good road team. We've shown that all year, so we've go do it again and bring it back home.”
A few Sabres players have been in the NHL postseason, but the organization is here for the first time since 2011 after ending the longest drought in league history. The newcomers have been some of Buffalo's best players, and it seems like they are enjoying the ride.
“As a kid, this is what you dream of, playing playoff hockey,” said Josh Doan, who leads the team in scoring this series with six points. “There’s nothing you trade it in the world for, getting the opportunity to do this.”
When/Where to Watch: Game 6, Thursday, 9:30 p.m. EDT (TNT, TruTV)
Series: Vegas leads 3-2
Tortorella would love for experience to win out because the Golden Knights are “full of it.” And they know it.
“We’re a pretty comfortable group in there, and there’s a lot of players in there who’ve been through it and had a lot of success and won,” Vegas defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. “We’re an older team, and it’s that feeling that no moment is too big.”
Vegas won't have top-pairing defenseman Brayden McNabb, who was suspended for his late hit that injured Ducks center Ryan Poehling.
Even without Poehling, Anaheim has plenty of veteran guys to rely on, including Cup winners Alex Killorn and John Carlson and players like Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba who have gone on deep runs. But the Ducks' core is about youth, speed and not getting intimidated by the situation.
“I’m pretty excited to see what we all got," 23-year-old center Mason McTavish said. ”It’s our first time with our backs against the wall. I’m excited for us to kind of show everybody what we got."
Coach Joel Quenneville, who has three Cup rings from his time as head coach in Chicago, has been around long enough that Tuesday night reminded him of a similar Game 5 — 11 years ago ... at Anaheim. That was when he was with the Blackhawks, who erased exactly this deficit on the way to their third championship in six years.
“(We have) a lot of younger guys that they’ve been fine the whole playoffs and nothing seems to change their demeanor or their approach,” Quenneville said. “We’ll come back home and focus on the next game and know we’re right in the thick of things."
As for the notion that a young team needs to learn how to lose before it can win, Quenneville quipped, “I’m not ready for that.”
AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York, AP Sports Writer Mark Anderson in Las Vegas and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Buffalo Sabres' Zach Benson (6) reacts to a goal by teammate Tage Thompson against Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) during second period, second round, game 4, NHL playoff hockey game in Montreal on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Buffalo Sabres' Zach Benson (6) reacts after scoring against Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) during third period, second round, Game 4, NHL playoff hockey action in Montreal on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Vegas Golden Knights center Tomas Hertl (48) and left wing Brandon Saad (20) celebrate after Hertl's goal against Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal (1) during the third period in Game 5 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus
