One accident earlier in the week left two NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers driving backup cars in Friday’s Miller Lite Carb Day practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward, whose cars made hard contact in Turn 2 in Monday’s practice, had different responses to final preparations for the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

Rossi was his usual reserved self, saying ECR’s No. 20 Java House Chevrolet was ready for Sunday’s race while politely sidestepping questions about the left middle finger and right ankle he injured and that required outpatient minor surgery Monday night. O’Ward was more detailed in his assessment of his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in the two-hour practice, but he, like Rossi, didn’t explain what led him to wind up in the bottom half of the lap times.

O’Ward’s best lap was 224.202 mph and ranked 20th among the 33 drivers. Rossi finished the practice with a best lap of 222.291 and ended up 31st. That’s not the best news for drivers who will start the 200-lap race in the second (Rossi) and sixth (O’Ward) positions.

“We had a very specific plan for today just to make sure that everything that we thought would happen would happen, and it all did,” said Rossi, who won the “500” as a rookie in 2016. “So, we’re in a really good spot for Sunday.”

Of driving with a brace inside his right driver’s boot and the ankle’s range of motion (photo, top): “It was different, but it was fine.”

And the finger: “Same. Good to go.”

Both veteran drivers used nearly all of the practice’s time allotted to prepare for Sunday’s race, which is set for broadcast at 10 a.m. ET (FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls). Both backup cars had been used on oval tracks last year, including Rossi’s at IMS, but O’Ward said his car felt different than the one that was damaged.

“Every car has its little details of how it likes certain setups and adjustments,” he said. “I think this one, as much as it was like the other, it wasn’t. It’s a different car.

“We’re getting there, we are getting there. (The practice) obviously ended much better than it started, so we’ve found the right direction, and I think we’ve got (the car) in the window where we can work with it during the race.”

Pato O'Ward

It was mentioned to O’Ward (photo, above) that he never said he was happy with the car.

“I’m happy with where we ended the day,” he said. “I wasn’t the happiest when (the practice) started, but the good sign is we’ve gone the right direction.

“I just think we know where we need to fix it, and we’ve just got to throw a few things at it and see if works to get a little bit happier for us.”

Romain Grosjean was the third driver involved in Monday’s incident, but his Dale Coyne Racing crew repaired the No. 18 Bmax.IO Honda in which he will start 24th. Grosjean used the modified car Friday to post the 11th-fastest lap at 225.151.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden led the session at 228.342 with Rossi’s ECR teammate, Christian Rasmussen, second at 227.474.