Rossi’s shunt after 15mins was a strange one, the car fishtailing viciously on the exit of the final turn, despite not initially riding the curbs. The #27 Andretti car, which had been seventh fastest up to that point, escaped its drivers’ control, went onto the grass and smacked an unprotected part of the barrier, most heavily with its right-rear corner.
The top of the rear attenuator was torn off, and thrown across the track just as Rossi’s semi-teammate Helio Castroneves arrived on the scene, and the right-front tire rode over the carbonfiber shard, picking up a puncture. Bizarrely, an IndyCar regulation meant that Castroneves would have to sit out the restarted session for five minutes, since he had required a tow-in.
However, the Andretti #27 crew – and their colleagues from other cars – had a daunting prospect to rebuild the car and fit a new engine in time for qualifying, set to begin 2hr45min later.
That wasn’t the only off for the team, as Romain Grosjean, who was sitting atop the times, went long into the quick chicane at Turn 7, launched off a curb and spun in the gravel. The ex-F1 driver smartly let the car roll backward out of the sandtrap, kept the engine alive, and continued.
Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet’s Rinus VeeKay was the first driver to break the 66sec barrier, turning a 65.9264sec after he put on a set of Firestone’s alternate compound, but there was a second red when Will Power’s Penske spun off at the same spot as Grosjean.
Thus there was a flurry of late improvements as everyone had to try out their alternates for the first time in the last seven minutes. Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet’s Pato O’Ward, last year’s polesitter, came up just 0.0872sec short of VeeKay’s marker, while Colton Herta jumped into third, displacing Penske’s pacesetter, Scott McLaughlin.
Grosjean wound up fifth, ahead of a trio of Chip Ganassi Racing-Hondas led by Alex Palou, while Callum Ilott’s superb form for Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevy continued with ninth fastest. Jack Harvey rounded out the Top 10 with an encouraging run, albeit 0.6324sec off the ultimate pace.
Qualifying begins at 12 noon local (Central) time.
| P | Name | FTime | Diff | Laps | Speed (mph) | Engine | Tire | Team |
| 1 | Rinus VeeKay | 1:05.9264 |
| 15 | 125.595 | Chevy | A | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 2 | Pato O'Ward | 1:06.0136 | 0.0872 | 18 | 125.429 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren SP |
| 3 | Colton Herta | 1:06.0434 | 0.1170 | 22 | 125.372 | Honda | P | Andretti Autosport |
| 4 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:06.1233 | 0.1969 | 20 | 125.221 | Chevy | A | Team Penske |
| 5 | Romain Grosjean | 1:06.2170 | 0.2906 | 20 | 125.043 | Honda | A | Andretti Autosport |
| 6 | Alex Palou | 1:06.2217 | 0.2953 | 25 | 125.035 | Honda | Ao | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 7 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:06.3982 | 0.4718 | 21 | 124.702 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 8 | Scott Dixon | 1:06.4093 | 0.4829 | 19 | 124.681 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 9 | Callum Ilott | 1:06.4217 | 0.4953 | 19 | 124.658 | Chevy | P | Juncos Hollinger Racing |
| 10 | Jack Harvey | 1:06.5588 | 0.6324 | 19 | 124.401 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 11 | Josef Newgarden | 1:06.6092 | 0.6828 | 21 | 124.307 | Chevy | P | Team Penske |
| 12 | Graham Rahal | 1:06.6366 | 0.7102 | 23 | 124.256 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 13 | Conor Daly | 1:06.7554 | 0.8290 | 19 | 124.035 | Chevy | Ao | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 14 | Kyle Kirkwood | 1:06.8065 | 0.8801 | 18 | 123.940 | Chevy | A | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 15 | Christian Lundgaard | 1:06.8069 | 0.8805 | 22 | 123.939 | Honda | A | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 16 | Will Power | 1:06.8251 | 0.8987 | 19 | 123.906 | Chevy | A | Team Penske |
| 17 | David Malukas | 1:06.8477 | 0.9213 | 20 | 123.864 | Honda | A | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD |
| 18 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:06.8540 | 0.9276 | 19 | 123.852 | Chevy | A | Arrow McLaren SP |
| 19 | Devlin DeFrancesco | 1:06.9085 | 0.9821 | 18 | 123.751 | Honda | A | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport |
| 20 | Alexander Rossi | 1:06.9384 | 1.0120 | 6 | 123.696 | Honda | P | Andretti Autosport |
| 21 | Helio Castroneves | 1:06.9884 | 1.0620 | 16 | 123.603 | Honda | A | Meyer Shank Racing |
| 22 | Takuma Sato | 1:07.0931 | 1.1667 | 23 | 123.411 | Honda | P | Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR |
| 23 | Jimmie Johnson | 1:07.2888 | 1.3624 | 22 | 123.052 | Honda | A | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 24 | Dalton Kellett | 1:07.3606 | 1.4342 | 22 | 122.921 | Chevy | A | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 25 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:07.4104 | 1.4840 | 17 | 122.830 | Honda | A | Meyer Shank Racing |
| 26 | Tatiana Calderon | 1:08.5398 | 2.6134 | 18 | 120.806 | Chevy | A | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
