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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Romain Grosjean used some humor — and cited his Swiss roots — to punch back at his feud with Marcus Armstrong on Thursday.

Hey, it's worth a shot.

Grosjean insisted he never intended to fight Armstrong when he said he wanted to hit him during a post-race dust-up on pit lane after the two IndyCar drivers collided during the Indianapolis Grand Prix. Instead, Grosjean called Saturday's clash a misunderstanding in the heat of the moment.

“I'm Swiss," he said when asked if he'd ever punched someone. "I think the whole thing got misinterpreted because some people that had no right to be involved got involved. Marcus crashed into me, got a drive through (penalty) for it, and it ruined my race. It was a top five easy, if not better. So we had the discussion, and I said, ‘I want to punch you,’ like as a joke, and that’s when mechanics got involved and started pushing me back. All I wanted was to speak with Marcus.”

But when Grosjean started yelling at Armstrong, his Meyer Shank Racing team members tried to deescalate the situation by stepping between the drivers.

Armstrong still seemed taken aback when he spoke with reporters Tuesday, saying he only wanted to address it one time.

Armstrong acknowledged he'd “dive-bombed” Grosjean's car on the speedway's 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course and suspected Grosjean might be upset by what Armstrong called a clean move. He still seemed surprised someone he considers a friend confronted him in that manner, which caused an unnecessary distraction with this season's biggest race looming on May 24.

So Armstrong made light of the situation, too.

“I'm thinking about taking up boxing,” he joked. “But in all seriousness, it's not a problem. We just had a bit of a kerfuffle on track. We kind of made contact and I was fully up alongside him and we made contact, which happens in IndyCar racing, and afterward, he was pretty angry.”

Grosjean's frustration is understandable.

The former Formula One driver switched to IndyCars in 2021 and made the podium six times in his first three seasons, including a career-best second four times. He hasn't been in the top three since.

Last year, he made no starts as a reserve driver for Prema Racing, which captured the Indianapolis 500 pole with Robert Shwartzman. This year, Grosjean has started all six races with Dale Coyne Racing with his best finish, eighth, coming in IndyCar's season opener. He's had just one top-20 finish in the last five races and wound up 21st courtesy of Saturday's crash.

“As I say, it’s past. I would have just liked (Armstrong to say) ‘I apologize, made a mistake. Better drive through. Sorry, I ruined your day.’ End of the story.”

But the ramifications haven't appeared to linger during this week's practices. Grosjean and Armstrong each seem more concerned with finding speed and preparing for the turbocharged boost of power they'll get Friday, the final practice before this weekend's two qualifying sessions.

Then they'll focus on getting ready for the 500 on May 24 and perhaps the drama of this episode will be forgiven, forgotten and neutralized.

“We're not saving the world, we're entertaining," said Grosjean, who also hit a bird in open testing on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5-mile oval in late April. “We are passionate. We do things that we're very lucky to do. But if there's no emotion in sports, what's the point of sports?”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis 500 drivers turned Wednesday's practice into a possible race day preview.

They ran in packs, created long, snaking lines through the two long straightaways and mostly avoided trouble over the frantic final 75 minutes on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5-mile oval.

Conor Daly and Alex Palou took advantage of the cool, overcast conditions to post the fastest laps on the second practice day. Daly posted the best lap of the day at 228.080 mph with Palou just a fraction slower at 228.026. They were the only drivers to top 228, while Palou had the fastest trap speed of the day at 237.220.

“We have, we think, found some speed in other areas,” said Jack Harvey, Daly's teammate with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. “So, generally, they're just all excited to try and I think, I mean I think we were good the last month of May, but I think we can be a lot better this year.”

Harvey has been fast all month, though he finished 14th on Wednesday at 225.100.

The weather created ideal conditions for speed and the drivers didn't disappoint.

Daly, the stepson of speedway president Doug Boles, seems to be making the most of his first and possibly only IndyCar start of the season. He was one of five drivers to top 225 on Tuesday, then backed that up with an even better performance Wednesday.

David Malukas was the strongest of Team Penske's drivers, finishing third at 227.139, just behind Palou, the Spaniard who has won four series crowns and is the defending 500 champ. Graham Rahal and France's Romain Grosjean rounded out the top five.

Though most of the 33 drivers stayed on the track as long as they could over the final 75 minutes, crew members for three previous race winners — Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi — were also busy trying to fix problems.

Hunter-Reay, of Arrow McLaren, had a radio issue. Castroneves, of Meyer Shank Racing, had an issue with the car's balance, while Rossi's Ed Carpenter Racing crew worked on the engine.

Drivers return to the track Thursday then will receive a turbocharge boost Friday before making four-lap qualification runs on Saturday and Sunday. The race is scheduled for May 24.

It hasn't just been busy on the track.

One day after series officials announced their second rule change of the month, race organizers announced all reserved seats have been sold for the second straight year and the third time since 2016. That also means fans in central Indiana will be able to watch the telecast live.

And NASCAR team BRANDed Management announced it would give 45-year-old British driver Katherine Legge a chance to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600. If Legge qualifies for both races, she'll become the first woman to attempt racing's “double” — 1,100 miles of racing in one day — a half century after Janet Guthrie arrived at the Brickyard with the hope of qualifying for the 33-car starting grid. When that didn't happen, Guthrie wound up starting NASCAR's World 600, which is now known as the Coca-Cola 600.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing