INDIANAPOLIS -- Hopes for a clean and safe Indianapolis 500 were boosted Friday by a clean and safe Carb Day practice.
The 33 drivers set to race Sunday completed nearly 1,200 incident-free laps in the hourlong session, paced by Team Penske's Will Power at 229.020 mph.
With the aid of the aerodynamic draft created by other cars on the track, 10 drivers posted laps faster than Scott Dixon's pole speed of 226.760 mph.
Power, who will start from the middle of the front row, ran 46 laps Friday, more than every driver except his Penske teammate, three-time Indianapolis winner Helio Castroneves.
The Australian was nonchalant about leading the final practice before the race.
"It means nothing really; it's just a big draft," Power said. "For the race, it's more about how you can get through traffic, and the further back in the train you get, the harder it is.
"No one is going to want to lead, but our plan is to try and stay up near the front all day."
Despite running a lot of laps Friday, Power said that the Penske team made no major changes to his No. 1 Verizon Chevrolet.
"At this point, you're pretty set on what you're going to run," he said. "It's about little tweaks here and there, pit stop practice, and practicing coming in and out of the pits.
"You're just trying to get in the groove for the race."
Castroneves, who was the first of five drivers to suffer a crash in the past week, ran 52 laps Friday and expressed confidence in his quest to claim a record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500 victory.
"Once we figured out the car, it's been pretty solid for the race," Castroneves said. "Running with each other feels pretty good, but so much will depend on the weather.
"There are probably 10 cars out there that are so good, but everybody is so close to each other and it's obviously all about being there at the end to have an opportunity to battle for the win."
The only driver to encounter trouble Friday was Penske's Juan Pablo Montoya, who finally got out for a short run with five minutes left in the session after fixing a turbo boost problem.
The Colombian was not concerned about the lack of track time, and he managed to top 226 mph despite running only a handful of laps at speed.
"If you were out to lunch with an hour of practice left, you're not going to get it fixed," Montoya remarked. "Today the conditions are so much cooler than they're expecting for race day, so it really doesn't matter what you have in your car because everything is going to feel good. Everybody probably came out of that practice thinking 'I'm going to win the race.'
"But Sunday, when the sun comes out, I think the field is going to get strung out," he added. "I feel we've been good in every condition, so I'm pretty excited."