Five drivers finished practice within two tenths of a second in the opening npractice session for Sunday’s IndyCar race at Portland International Raceway.

Christian Lundgaard nipped Alex Palou by just one tenth of a second, turning a lap of 59.1037 seconds. Following Palou were Marcus Armstrong, Felix Rosenqvist, Josef Newgarden. Newgarden’s time was 59.3014 seconds. Louis Foster in 13th place is the first driver more than a half second off Lundgaard’s mark.

Several red flags halted the session, the longest for Scott Dixon who went off course in turn 11 and narrowly missed hitting the tire barriers.

In a media availability after practice, David Malukas was non-committal about his status for 2026.

“Same old, same old,” was his response, saying he is racing for A. J. Foyt Racing right now.

Kyle Kirkwood also spoke. He had the seventh quickest time today. Kirkwood is encouraged necause when Andretti tested here a couple of weeks ago, morning conditions were similar to what they will be for tomorrow morning’s practice, and afternoon conditions were similar to Sunday’s race forecast.

Tomorrow is a quick, early day for IndyCar with practice at 9 am Pacific time and qualifying at 11:35 am. There is a finaql practice at 4:30 pm.

I will be back int he morning. Thanks for following today.