Josef Newgarden fastest in final Indy 500 practice. Takuma Sato and other contenders have problems

INDIANAPOLIS — Josef Newgarden spent the final 2-hour practice for the Indianapolis 500 on Friday carving through a track full of cars.

He'll have to do the same thing when it counts on Sunday.

The two-time defending Indy 500 winner, who will start in the last row as punishment for an illegally modified part found during qualifying, had the fastest lap of the 2-hour final practice on Carb Day at 225.687 mph. Teammate Will Power, who will also start at the back, was fifth while fellow Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin was just 27th on the chart.

''We have the tools and the people to battle to the front,'' Newgarden said, ''which is what we plan to do.''

McLaughlin, whose car did not have the offending part and escaped Team Penske punishments, will start 10th after wrecking his primary car in practice last Sunday. His fastest lap in the final session of practice was just 221.675 mph.

''I know we have fast cars,'' McLaughlin said. ''Everyone feels that way, as well.''

The final opportunity to put cars on the track before race day, when a grandstand sellout is expected to produce a crowd of more than 350,000 people, turned out to be an eventful one for Rahal Letterman Lanigan and several other teams.

Graham Rahal, who struggled just to make the 33-card field, only got about 40 minutes of practice in before a mechanical issue produced a puff of smoke and fluid out the back of the No. 15 car. He wound up going to the garage area early.

''It just seems like we've always been behind and things keep happening,'' said Rahal, whose team was still trying to diagnose the problem. ''We can't get caught up here. The car was better today, a lot better. ... It is what it is at this stage. You just got to go.''

Two-time winner Takuma Sato, who will start for RLL in the middle of the front row, also failed to make it to the end. He pulled his car behind a wall and waited for time to run out on the session before his team began to troubleshoot his problems.

Ryan Hunter-Reay's session quite literally went up in smoke. Fire erupted out the back of the No. 23 car, which had been eighth-quickest in practice, and the 2014 race winner had to quickly escape from the vehicle as the emergency crew arrived.

''I had a methanol fire back in 2003, and I just remember what went on there and that same kind of feeling. So after I felt a liquid or whatever it was — it could have been some kind of fire-retardant liquid — it just started to smoke more and more.''

Hunter-Reay wasn't sure the extent of the damage to the rear of the car or what it could mean for his race.

''I hope it's not a hybrid deal because Jack (Harvey) earlier in the week had a hybrid melt down on him,'' Hunter-Reay said. ''But yeah, that caught my attention. When it fills up with smoke in fourth gear, something is seriously wrong.''

Rookie pole-sitter Robert Shwartzman spent long stretches in his pit box as Prema Racing tried to get his car working better in traffic; Colton Herta, who went to a backup car after his crash last Saturday, had trouble with his brake systems; Ed Carpenter's hybrid system had to be replaced because it wasn't working properly; and 2016 winner Alexander Rossi went to the garage just 30 minutes into practice because of water that suddenly began leaking from the back of his car.

The result was a busy Gasoline Alley just 48 hours before the green flag for ''The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.''

''I think the car has been good and we were happy with where we were in practice Monday,'' said Rossi, who will start on the outside of the fourth row. ''But that's what Carb Day is for, to find issues like this.''

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