'He's above everyone else': Indy 500 rookie lashes 'idiot' for hair-raising move

Indy 500 rookie Nolan Siegel lashed Christian Rasmussen as an "idiot" during an X-rated spray in practice on Friday (AEST).

Siegel, 20, was bewildered by Rasmussen's late dive on turn three at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"Rasmussen is such a f---ing idiot," the Californian said over his Arrow McLaren team radio.

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"He's already on the list of idiots. There's too many of them but he's above everyone else."

Rasmussen finished eighth on the speed chart on what was a dramatic day on the track for the 24-year-old from Denmark.

Rasmussen spun coming out of turn two right in front of Kyle Larson, but he managed to only brush the wall with the rear wing of the Ed Carpenter Racing entry before getting the car pointed straight again down the backstretch.

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"It's what happens," Rasmussen said.

"It's obviously not where you want it to be, but I think we have fast cars around here, so it's still a positive day. I have that out of the way and we move on."

Commentator James Hinchcliffe was mesmerised by Rasmussen's 360.

"Such a late spin," Hinchcliffe said on Stan Sport's coverage.

"It's not often you have the chance to get the car all the way around and still be going in a straight line. He kind of saved it for a minute there.

"He was almost drifting it for a while. Larson, doing a good job, not overreacting. It almost looks like a Daytona wreck."

Larson, the NASCAR Cup Series star, is taking his second shot at 'The Double' by trying to run the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte on the same day.

Meanwhile, two-time defending winner Josef Newgarden was back atop the speed chart in the last practice before cars get a horsepower boost on 'Fast Friday' for qualifying weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

American Newgarden turned just 35 laps but with a fastest of 364.73 km/h.

New Zealand's Scott Dixon was second quickest.

"Lots of things can change," said Dixon, who is trying to tie Rick Mears' record with his sixth Indy 500 pole.

"The Penske teams seem strong, there's no doubt about that. They're running some big laps. There can always be some kind of weird twist."

Dixon was the lone Honda-powered car among the top five with a best lap of 362.84 km/h for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Conor Daly was third and Pato O'Ward was fourth on a good day for McLaren.

"They're two different beasts you're trying to make go fast, to be fairly honest with you. Just because you have a good traffic car doesn't mean you'll have a good qualifying car, and vice versa," O'Ward said.

"In traffic, I think we've gotten better, but there's still a handful of other cars that I believe are a lot stronger than we are, so still work to do."

Honda was planning to change the engines on all of its fulltime entries ahead of this weekend's qualifying.

It will be the second engine change for Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 winner.

His initial engine was changed on Thursday (AEST), and Honda plans to send that one back to California to inspect what was wrong with it.

Dixon will be penalised for that change at the following race, in Detroit on June 2 (AEST), while the rest of the Honda engine changes are permitted under Indy 500 rules.

"I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings," Dixon said.