Good afternoon from IMS. Some notes on the day so far.

I do not recall a bigger turnout for Fast Friday than I see today. I was in line to park for 15 minutes. The Pagoda Plaza is very busy. The crowd tracks with the announcement made by Doug Boles this morning.

Boles said that there are fewer than 1,000 grandstand seats remaining, mostly between turns 3 and 4, and that the local television blackout is lifted for the race. FOX 59 will re air the race as scheduled Sunday night, conflicting with the Pacers’ first home game of the third round of playoffs.

The sellout, which Boles expects to be complete this weekend, is the first since 2016.

Sonsio Grand Prix Note– Boles told me that tickets for the Grand Prix were up 4% on Friday and 7% on Sunday. He sees no direct correlation between Grand Prix and 500 sales.

On Track– Scott McLaughlin turned a blistering 233.951 mph lap early, and no one has come within two miles an hour of that time. Will Power is second and Christian Rasmussen sits third at the moment.

50 minutes into the session Kyffin Simpson hit r

the wall exiting turn 4. the car lifted but didn’t flip. Simpson slid in to pit entry. He got out of the car under his own power.

Santino Ferrucci seems to have his issues solved. he has a quick lap of 230.389 today.

Graham Rahal continues to struggle. He has the third slowest speed of theafternoon.

Marco Andretti has been the only Andretti Global car on track. Andretti is 10th fastest with 230.510 lap.

Still to make an appearance today- Pato O’Ward, Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood, and Marcus Ericsson.

I’ll be back at the end of the day with a wrap up and the qualification draw.