Indy 500 front-row starter Josef Newgarden leads Monday practice

IndyCar teams and drivers focused on full-tank runs in the three-and-a-half hour session, to see how their cars will handle in the 100th running of the iconic race.

There were times when the cars with a higher ride-height to accommodate the domed skids made Monday's practice look like a frantic, high-speed traffic jam.

Indy 500 polesitter Hinchcliffe wishes he'd turned dash off

Ed Carpenter Racing's Newgarden set the pace with a lap of 227.414mph, ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing pair Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon, as Serge Karam completed an all-Chevrolet top four.

Newgarden also logged the fourth-most laps for the day, 111 in total.

"It was a hot day and it was hard," he said.

"The track temperature today was similar to Sunday so now that we are putting our race downforce on it was even more than we needed last week when it was cool.

"This is the most representative day of what we are going to see on race day and that is great.

"Everyone ran in a pack today and that is what we needed to see.

"To me, some guys looked really good at some points and bad at other points.

"That is how it is going to look on race day and it's about making your race more good than bad. That is going to be the key."

Polesitter James Hinchcliffe kept a low profile in 17th with a lap of 224.602mph.

It was Dale Coyne Racing's Pippa Mann who set the pace for Honda, in fifth, having also clocked 116 laps.

"It gets really interesting and difficult and you react to what everybody else is doing not just what you are doing," Mann said of running in traffic with the higher ride heights.

"If a driver four cars up in front of you has an issue, you also have to be able to react to what that issue may be and try to get back to power appropriately to make the most out of his issue and pounce on the guy in front of you."

In the final session before Friday's Carb Day running, Jack Hawksworth's AJ Foyt entry stopped with a small engine fire.

PRACTICE RESULTS: