Colton Herta shows speed as Honda fights back in penultimate Indy 500 practice session

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Colton Herta and Andretti Global showed Monday that the Honda teams at the Indianapolis 500 just might have something for the mighty Chevrolet cars from Team Penske and Arrow McLaren when the green flag drops next weekend.

Herta spent about half of the penultimate 2-hour practice for Sunday’s race at the top of the speed chart, ultimately finishing with the second-quickest lap behind Penske’s defending race winner, Josef Newgarden. In fact, Herta was so pleased with how his car felt that he began practicing pit stops and ended the session early, rather than logging any more laps.

“I definitely felt very good. I felt very confident in the car and what I was able to do,” said Herta, who will start from the inside of fifth row on Sunday. “The car just felt solid. It was right underneath me. I was happy.”

So was the Andretti contingent, which landed only Kyle Kirkwood among the fast 12 in qualifying. He will roll off in the middle of the fourth row, while Marco Andretti will start 19th and Marcus Ericsson will be in the middle of the last row.