What a difference a day makes. Today is sunny, beautiful, and 80 degrees. All 33 cars have been on track today. Some teams have had their cars run in groups to practice passing and drafting. The session has only stopped once for 11 minutes for a track inspection.

Scott Dixon has the fastest lap so far this afternoon at 227.335 mph, followed by Pato O’Ward at 226.048. More notable for qualifying are the no tow speeds and the trap speeds.

Will Power has the fastest no tow lap at 224.325 mph. Juan Pablo Montoya has the fastest trap speed on the front stretch at 237.625. Dixon is quickest through turns 1 and 2. Tony Kanaan has the best trap speed in turn3, and O’Ward is fastest in turn 4.

Kyle Kirkwood has run 66 laps today, the most of any driver. Alexander Rossi has turned just 16 circuits.

Sunday’s pole day qualifying has a slight tweak to help the cars in the Fast Six cool down for the final round. It will fit in the time window allotted for the pole run. It involves a five minute break to help cool the engines and two pace laps at 100 mph to bring the engines back up to peak running temperature. I will have more details later.

Some photos of today’s action.