The New Zealander was the only driver into the 229mph bracket as the field experienced two hours of green flag time at The Brickyard; still well short of the customary six for Day 2 Practice but more than the 23 minutes which the weather allowed for on Day 1.

McLaughlin’s 78-lap haul was the fourth-highest of the day and his very fastest was an average speed of 229.493mph (369.333km/h) on Lap 14 in the #3 Chevrolet.

2018 Indy 500 victor Will Power finished second with a 228.767mph (368.165km/h) in the #12 Chevrolet on Lap 21 of 60, and 2023 race winner Josef Newgarden took fourth with a 227.675mph (366.407km/h) in the #2 Chevrolet on Lap 37 of 72.

Denying Penske a sweep of the top three was Andretti Global’s Colton Herta, who was first of the Honda drivers on a 227.858mph (366.702km/h) in Car #26.

Still, it was only McLaughlin who beat Scott Dixon’s Day 1 effort of 229.107mph (368.712km/h) in the #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, when no driver turned any more than 13 laps.

Takuma Sato (#75 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) set the fastest non-tow lap, a 221.219mph (356.018km/h).

Day 2 Practice was supposed to start early at 10:00 ET to make up for that lack of track time 24 hours earlier, only for more rain to delay proceedings by just over five hours.

The finish of the session was thus extended an hour to 19:00 ET (09:00 AEST) but more rain after just 2:00:51s of running sent drivers back to pit lane.

They remained there for the duration, with the chequered flag waving at about 18:55 ET when it became obvious there would be no let-up in the weather.

Day 3 Practice is also scheduled to start early, on Thursday at 10:00 ET/Friday at 00:00 AEST.

The Yellow Submarine is speedy 😮‍💨@smclaughlin93 hits 229.493 mph on the leaderboard.

📺: #Indy500 practice on Peacock pic.twitter.com/daNZOFa69k

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 15, 2024

Results: Day 2 Practice