Josef Newgarden set the fastest lap in Friday practice from the Milwaukee Mile with a lap at 22.9191 seconds (159.430 mph). Newgarden has won twice this season, both on ovals. He has won three times in a season on six occasions, but he has not done it since 2023. His last 11 victories have come on ovals, but he has yet to win at Milwaukee. In seven Milwaukee starts, Newgarden has yet to finish on the podium. He was fifth in 2014 and 2015. In the three races held over the last two years, he has led a combined four laps. The next victory would be the 35th for Newgarden in his career, moving him into a tie with Bobby Unser for eighth all-time.
Dennis Hauger was a surprise second-fastest in practice with a late lap in the session at 22.9266 seconds. Hauger has yet to start better than 22nd on an oval this season. He started 22nd at Phoenix and Nashville. His best oval results remains 15th at Phoenix. Hauger clinched the Indy Lights championship last year at Milwaukee with a second-place after starting on pole position.
Álex Palou was third-fastest at 22.9971 seconds, but Palou will serve a nine-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change after Washington, D.C., a set back to his hopes of clinching the championship with two races remaining. Palou will clinch the title scoring 17 points more than Kyle Kirkwood, losing no more than two points to Christian Lundgaard and losing no more than 34 points to David Malukas. Palou's worst starting position this season was 11th at Markham. He has not started outside the top fifteen since starting 24th in the 2024 finale from Nashville.
David Malukas was 0.1106 seconds off his teammate Josef Newgarden and fourth quickest, but, like Palou, Malukas will have a nine-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change. In three of four oval races this season Malukas has finished on the podium. This includes a third at the most recent oval race at Nashville after starting 25th. His worst oval finish was seventh at Gateway.
Rinus VeeKay rounded out the top five, a further 0.0024 seconds slower than Malukas, but you guessed it, VeeKay has a nine-spot grid penalty as well. Prior to his retirement at Washington, D.C., VeeKay had been running at the finish of every race this season. He was one of seven drivers entering last week that had finished every race. Four drivers suffered their first retirement of the season at Washington, D.C. One of those other three drivers was Malukas.
Alexander Rossi had the sixth-fastest lap at 23.0479 seconds. Rossi started sixth at Nashville last month, and he has started in the top ten of all four oval races this season. It has been a year since Rossi's most recent top five finish, which was a fourth at Milwaukee. In last three Milwaukee races, Rossi has an average finish of 5.667. His last victory was 70 starts ago, but Rossi has not won on an oval since Pocono in 2018.
Will Power was the fastest Andretti Global driver in seventh with a lap at 23.1188 seconds. Power is seeking his fourth consecutive podium finish, something he has not done since 2016 when he had a run of six consecutive podium finishes from the second Belle Isle race through Pocono. However, Power has finished outside the top fifteen in three of four oval races this season. He was eighth at Gateway.
Kyle Kirkwood was only 0.0016 seconds off his teammate Power, but Kirkwood was involved in an accident with Christian Rasmussen late in practice. Rasmussen was on Kirkwood's outside entering turn three when the Dane turned in on the American, causing a spin that put both cars in the barrier. Kirkwood started third and first in the last two oval races. Last year, Kirkwood had consecutive victories at Detroit and Gateway. It was the first time an Andretti Global driver won consecutive races since Colton Herta claimed the final two races of the 2021 season.
Patricio O'Ward was 0.2097 seconds off Newgarden's top time, placing O'Ward ninth in the session. O'Ward has failed to start in the top five of the last four races. He has not gone five consecutive races without a top five starting position since a nine-race run that covered the final eight events in 2024 and the 2025 season opener from St. Petersburg. His best starting spot on an oval this season was sixth at Indianapolis.
Sting Ray Robb rounded out the top ten with a lap at 23.1401 seconds, but, like his teammate VeeKay, Robb also has a nine-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change. Robb scored his best career starting position earlier this season when he qualified 12th at Phoenix. VeeKayhad also been running at the finish of every race this season prior to Washington, D.C., like VeeKay and Malukas. Last week was Juncos Hollinger Racing's first double retirement since the first race of the 2024 Iowa doubleheader.
Kyffin Simpson just missed out on the top ten, but his best lap was at 23.2102 seconds in practice, good enough for 11th. Washington, D.C. was the second time this season Simpson was the top Chip Ganassi Racing finisher, as he was fifth. Simpson has been the top Ganassi finisher as many times as Scott Dixon this season, and Simpson enters the final three races with a better average finish than Dixon at 12.533 to the New Zealander's 12.667. This race marks the 50th start in Simpson's career.
Scott McLaughlin was the slowest Team Penske car in 12th, 0.2912 seconds off Newgarden. McLaughlin will take a nine-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change like Malukas and the other two Juncos Hollinger Racing cars. Like Malukas and the JHR drivers, McLaughlin had been running at the end of every race this prior to his accident in Washington, D.C. The New Zealander had taken the checkered flag in 18 consecutive races.
Christian Rasmussen was 13th in practice at 23.2374 seconds, but the Dane's car will require repairs after contact with Kyle Kirkwood in turn three wrecked both cars. Rasmussen leads all drivers with seven retirements from 15 races this season. He has only six lead lap finishes, the fewest among full-time competitors. Last year, Rasmussen became the 22nd driver to have their first career victory come at the Milwaukee Mile, and the first since Michel Jourdain, Jr. scored his first career victory in the 2003 CART race.
Romain Grosjean set the 14th-best time in practice at 23.2628 seconds. Grosjean was 24th and ninth in his lone Milwaukee visit in 2024. The Frenchman's best oval finish this season was ninth in the Indianapolis 500. He rides consecutive top ten finishes into Milwaukee. Grosjean has never had three consecutive top ten finishes in his IndyCar career. He has had two consecutive top ten finishes on seven instances, including the last two races.
Scott Dixon has made 15 Milwaukee starts, and he was 15th in practice at 23.3675 seconds. Dixon ended his top ten finish slump with an seventh-place finish last weekend. He had gone eight consecutive races without a top ten finish. In the last seven Milwaukee races, Dixon's best starting position is tenth, which came in 2015. He has not started in the top five at this circuit since he rolled off from third in 2011.
The first driver over a half-second slower than Newgarden was Santino Ferrucci in 16th, 0.5452 seconds behind the Penske driver. Ferrucci was fourth in both Milwaukee races held during the 2024 doubleheader. He is still looking for his first top five finish of this season. Milwaukee was the site of his first top five finish of that 2024 season. Ferrucci has had three consecutive seasons with at least one top five result.
Graham Rahal led the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing cars in practice. The problem is Rahal was only good enough for 17th-fastest. Since finishing ninth at Phoenix, Rahal has finished 19th or worse in the other three oval races this season, two of which have been retirements. While he qualified third at Phoenix, Rahal has not started in the top ten of any other oval races this season.
Felix Rosenqvist ran the second-most laps in the session, 88 only behind Álex Palou's 93, but Rosenqvist was 18th on the speed chart. Rosenqvist has finished 24th and 19th in the last two races. He has not had three consecutive results outside the top fifteen since 2021 when over stretch of five starts his best finish was 16th. That stretch began with the second Texas race and went through the first Detroit race with Mid-Ohio included on the end. Rosenqvist missed the second Detroit race and Road America that year due to injury.
Marcus Armstrong positioned himself directly behind his Meyer Shank Racing teammate in practice, 19th and only 0.0396 seconds slower than Rosenqvist. In nine oval starts with Meyer Shank Racing, Armstrong has seven top ten finishes with an average finish of 10.222. He has two top five finishes on ovals this season, finishing fifth at Phoenix and Indianapolis.
A surprise in 20th was Marcus Ericsson with the Swede 0.6594 seconds slower than Newgarden's best lap. While Ericsson scored his fourth consecutive top ten finish at Washington, D.C., it was also his second consecutive top five finish. The Swede has never had three consecutive top five finishes in his IndyCar career. He has finished in the top ten in the last two oval races, including a second to Newgarden at Gateway
Mick Schumacher's first trip to Milwaukee placed him in 21st for his first practice session, 0.7467 seconds from the top time. Schumacher has finished better than his starting position in three of four oval races this season. He made up nine positions in the Indianapolis 500 going from 27th to 16th, and he improved eight spots at Nashville finishing eighth from 16th on the grid.
Christian Lundgaard's oval woes with Arrow McLaren continued in Milwaukee practice. Lundgaard was 22nd at 23.7652 seconds. The Dane's best oval start this season was 16th at Gateway. He has finished better than his starting position in all four oval races, but his best result was tenth at Gateway. Lundgaard has two top ten finishes in three Milwaukee starts, and his worst finish is 12th. His sixth-place finish last year matched his best career oval finish, which came at Iowa a month earlier.
Louis Foster slotted into 23rd in practice, the final car within a second of Newgarden's fastest time. Foster was 0.8461 seconds off the best time. Foster has started outside the top fifteen in all four oval races this season. His best oval result remains 12th in last year's Indianapolis 500, the first oval race of Foster's IndyCar career. He won at Milwaukee two years ago in Indy Lights.
Caio Collet is coming off his first career top ten finish with a ninth in Washington, D.C., but Collet is wishing he was back in the nation's capital as he was 24th in practice, 1.2228 seconds off Newgarden's best time in the session. Collet's best starting position on an oval was 15th at Nashville. In two Indy Lights starts from Milwaukee, Collet had finishes of eighth and seventh.
Nolan Siegel had an accident on his second lap of practice, and his only completed lap was an installation lap. Siegel is coming off his best career finish of sixth in Washington, D.C. In three Milwaukee starts, his best finish is 17th and he has failed to get pass lap 25 twice. Last year, he had an accident on the opening lap.
IndyCar qualifying will take place at 11:00 a.m. ET. Each car will run two laps. The first qualifying lap will determine the starting grid for today's race with the second lap setting the starting grid for tomorrow's race.
Fox's coverage of the Snap-On Makers and Fixers 250 will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 2:50 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 250 laps.
