Musings From the Weekend: I Think We're Going to be Ok

Scott Dixon took his fourth Indianapolis 500 pole position. Will Power made it by the skin of his teeth in another hairy bumping battle. Jonathan Rea picked up his 100th World Superbike victory in the first race of the season and Rea won the second race as well. Charles Leclerc's hometown dream ended before the Monaco Grand Prix even started. There is a new championship leader in Formula One. People are for some reasons upset that Monaco was not more exciting. Where have they been for the last 90 years? NASCAR made its first trip to Austin, and it rained... a lot. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.

I Think We're Going to Be Ok

Indianapolis 500 qualifying felt familiar. 

Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Ed Carpenter, Hélio Castroneves, and Ryan Hunter-Reay all made the Fast Nine. Marco Andretti made his 16th Indianapolis 500. Graham Rahal made his 14th. Takuma Sato will look to win his third Indianapolis 500 in his 12th start. Juan Pablo Montoya made his Indianapolis 500 return, as did four-time champion Sébastien Bourdais.  

Nine past Indianapolis 500 winners made this year's race, the most since the record-setting ten qualified for the 1992 race. Most of these drivers have been around IndyCar for the last two decades. Dixon has been the driver of this generation, winning his first race at 20 years old and picking up 50 more victories and six championships in the 20 years since. Kanaan has long been the fan favorite. Castroneves has spent majority of his career on three Indianapolis 500 victories, on the doorstep of greatness. Montoya didn't spend his career IndyCar, but his two stints have been memorable, and the Colombian's presence made those five full seasons glorious.

Hunter-Reay, Sato and Bourdais are all over 40 years old. Will Power just turned 40. IndyCar is going through a change, and it is not too dissimilar to the 1992 race. 

Twenty-nine years ago, A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Tom Sneva and Gordon Johncock all made their final Indianapolis 500 starts that cold day. Five of other six past winners in that race would make two more Indianapolis 500 starts or fewer. Mario Andretti ran 1993 and 1994. Danny Sullivan ran 1993, took a sabbatical in 1994 and returned in 1995. Bobby Rahal missed 1993 and then finished third the following two years. Al Unser made his final start in 1993 and he failed to qualify in 1994. Emerson Fittipaldi nearly won in 1994 and then infamously failed to qualify in 1995. 

The only past winner to have a significant career at Indianapolis after 1992 was Arie Luyendyk, who made nine more starts and that is because of the side Luyendyk landed on during The Split. The Dutchman ended up in the Indy Racing League instead of staying in CART. 

The Split factored into this generational change and identity crisis. Rahal raced until the 1998 season and could have made another three attempts at Indianapolis if it wasn't for The Split. Al Unser, Jr. won the 1992 race and won again in 1994, but he would not return until 2000, just after the prime of his career while also battling addiction. Michael Andretti lost prime years at Indianapolis, not returning until 2001. 

Add to it in the coming years Alex Zanardi, Greg Moore, Jimmy Vasser, Gil de Ferran, Bryan Herta, Christian Fittipaldi, Robby Gordon, Mark Blundell and Adrián Fernández would all rise to prominence in CART and the likes of Paul Tracy and Scott Pruett were just entering their primes. 

The early 1990s is viewed as a period of lost identity for IndyCar as so many generational talents left the series. No one really filled that void immediately. Again, The Split really didn't help, as American open-wheel racing dealt with its own identity crisis, but the past will not necessarily be repeated in the present and 2021 is set up a lot differently, though the next big generational change is ahead of us. 

One, there are a lot more established, younger drivers now than back in 1992. This year alone has seen Álex Palou, Colton Herta, Patricio O'Ward and Rinus VeeKay win a race. The latter three drivers are the youngest three drivers on the grid. Herta and VeeKay are on the front row for this year's Indianapolis 500. Palou is starting seventh. O'Ward qualified 12th. Pietro Fittipaldi qualified 13th for his first Indianapolis 500 and he will only turn 25 years old next month.

IndyCar looked a lot different in 1992. Thirty-six-year-old Stefan Johansson was Rookie of the Year that season and he only ran nine of 16 races and Johansson didn't even run Indianapolis that year. Robby Gordon and Jimmy Vasser were also rookies that year. Gordon started only seven races and Vasser ran majority of the races with the small Hayhoe-Cole Racing. The rookie classes before 1992 were less than impressive as well. Of the rookies of the year from 1986 to 1991, only Eddie Cheever would go on to win an IndyCar race and Cheever would also win the 1998 Indianapolis 500. 

Two, forget the youngest drivers, IndyCar has a large base of experienced drivers who are ten years away from this conversation. Josef Newgarden has two championships and doesn't turn 30 years old until this December. Graham Rahal is only 32 years old, and he is already making his 14th Indianapolis 500 start. Though Marco Andretti has cutback to part-time this year, he is making his 16th Indianapolis 500 start and he is only 34 years old. 

Alexander Rossi turns 30 in September, and he is one of the top drivers in the series. Add Felix Rosenqvist and Conor Daly to that list of drivers who turns 30 later this year. Marcus Ericsson is 30 years old. Scott McLaughlin is only 27 years old, and his rookie season has been impressive. McLaughlin is the top Team Penske starter for this year's race! Jack Harvey just turned 28. I guess James Hinchcliffe is considered the elder statesman of this middle-aged group at 34 years old. 

Between these two lists, 15 drivers have been named and none of them are even 35 years old. They could all be around for another ten years. That's nearly half of the Indianapolis 500 grid this year. 

Three, while we will see some of our favorites retire soon, we still have a few good years left. I don't know how long Tony Kanaan and Hélio Castroneves will continue as part-timers, but after this year's qualifying effort, I bet both have two or three years left. Both might try and race to 50. We haven't had someone that old start the Indianapolis 500 in a while. It could become a goal that motivates both to keep at it. 

Scott Dixon is going remain full-time for at least another five years. Same as Will Power. Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato and Sébastien Bourdais have a few more years left. Ed Carpenter could be an Indianapolis one-off for another decade. Simon Pagenaud is only 37 years old. He arguably could be the eldest statesman of the middle-aged group, but Pagenaud has plenty of years left.

This transitional change will not be as sudden as the 1990s and IndyCar is much deeper than it was 30 years ago. 

If I wanted to be facetious, I would say IndyCar's fall from national prominence has been so great that it doesn't matter because none of these drivers are stars and IndyCar isn't going to lose that many fans because Kanaan and Castroneves are retiring, but in all seriousness, IndyCar has talent lined up for the next two decades. 

Herta, O'Ward and VeeKay could be around until 2041. There will be some staying power for years to come and we do not know who will be joining the series next. In 2010, Newgarden and Rossi were American Formula One hopefuls racing in year. A decade later, they are two of IndyCar's best drivers. We don't know who is coming next and there will be plenty of Americans following in the footsteps of Newgarden and Rossi. 

IndyCar will soon see change, but it is more ready than it has ever been for the future. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Scott Dixon and Jonathan Rea, but did you know...

Max Verstappen won the Monaco Grand Prix and in doing so Verstappen takes the World Drivers' Championship lead for the first time in his career and Red Bull has taken the World Constructors' Championship lead for the first time since it won its fourth consecutive title in 2013.

Guanyu Zhou, Dan Ticktum and Théo Pourchaire split the Formula Two races from Monaco. 

Chase Elliott won the rain-shortened NASCAR Cup race from Austin. Kyle Busch won the Grand National Series race, his 98th victory in the series. Todd Gilliland won the Truck race, his first victory since October 2019. 

Scott Redding won the World Superbike race from Aragón. Steven Odendaal swept the World Supersport races, his first career victories in the series.

Elfyn Evans won Rally de Portugal.

Coming Up This Weekend

105th Indianapolis 500

Coca-Cola 600

MotoGP's Italian Grand Prix

World Superbike will head to Estoril. 

Circuit Paul Ricard will host a 1000-kilometer endurance race for GT World Challenge Europe.

Supercars visit Winton Motor Raceway.

First Impressions: 105th Indianapolis 500 Sunday Qualifying

1. We begin with another Last Row Shootout, which frankly was tame compared to past years, but it still provided plenty of nerves. Another large name was in the mix. Three years ago, Will Power was on top of the mountain with an Indianapolis 500 victory. Now, he was fighting to save his week, month, year and perhaps legacy. Team Penske was looking to avoid embarrassment. An 18-time Indianapolis 500 winning team shouldn't be in this position. A full season entrant should not be in this position and yet Power found himself in the most stressful day of his career. 

The track conditions again were uncooperative to late runners and each car that went out took that place in the order. Sage Karam was the first one to take to the track and he had the fastest run of the session at 229.156 mph. Power was next, and he was running close to identical to Karam, but he brushed the wall exiting turn two on his final lap and ended up completing his run at 228.876 mph, but with minor damage, his crew could not repair the car without withdrawing his time. Power could only sit and wait. 

Simona de Silvestro provided a cushion for Power, as de Silvestro's four-lap average was 228.353 mph, putting her 33rd on the grid. Charlie Kimball was faster than all of de Silvestro's attempts yesterday, but in this session, Kimball was slower at 227.811 mph. RC Enerson and Top Gun Racing never broke 228 mph all week and Enerson's attempt was at 227.298 mph. 

It came down to de Silvestro or Kimball, and the wait began. Enerson made an additional attempt but went slower. Karam was set. Power was fortunate he wasn't 33rd. Kimball's crew tweaked on the car and could milk the clock. De Silvestro was left vulnerable, the Paretta Autosport team unable to touch the car unless it risk forfeiting its time. 

Kimball took the track with about 6:45 left, leaving about 2:30 for de Silvestro's team to counter. Kimball's first lap was a mile per hour off the first lap de Silvestro ran. Each lap got slower and with two and a half minutes left we knew the final round: Sage Karam, Will Power and Simona de Silvestro.

Charlie Kimball and RC Enerson failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.

2. Credit to Karam and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. This team should adopt the #31 because this is its third consecutive year it has qualified 31st and this duo started 31st in Karam's debut Indianapolis 500 in 2014. Every year, this team just finds enough speed to get in and over bigger organizations. I bet Karam and this team wishes it had more insurance and wasn't always on the last row. Maybe it can build off another 31st starting position.

3. Will Power hung on and it could have been much worse. If Power had knocked the wall down in turn two, it would have been over. A lot of great drivers have missed this race. Penske had both cars miss in 1995. Before that, Bobby Rahal missed in 1993 and he was the reigning champion. Let's not forget James Hinchcliffe and Fernando Alonso in recent years. 

It never felt like Power was in danger entering the day. One car beating him, sure, that made sense, but three cars beating him? We knew Enerson wasn't going to be close. De Silvestro could have edged ahead, but Power had been faster than Kimball all week and it didn't feel like Kimball could get to Power's level. 

Team Penske has been praised on its race pace all week, but none of those cars are in the top half of the field. Scott McLaughlin is firmly in the middle. If any team can win from behind it is Team Penske, but 32nd is a massive hole.

3. Simona de Silvestro was the sentimental favorite of the weekend and she pulled it out, but only just. When the Paretta Autosport entry was announced with Team Penske affiliation, I thought this car would at worst be in the mid-20s. I thought with Penske's help this car would get into the field comfortably. I knew there would be some difficulties as a new team and a one-off team. On top of it, de Silvestro hasn't been to Indianapolis since 2015. It is a completely different car. 

All week, she has look competitive. She hasn't look out of her element. I think everything has clicked, but that doesn't necessarily mean the car will be stellar. She made the field and that is most important. 

4. And now to the drivers who didn't make the race. Charlie Kimball will not get an 11th Indianapolis 500 start. Kimball has been a fixture in IndyCar for a decade. He has never been the best driver on the grid, but he has been good. There is nothing wrong with being good. For the last few years, he has been hanging on. He has gone from full-time to part-time, back to full-time and this year all he had announced was the two Indianapolis races. 

It didn't help that his car was the same one used for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis a week ago. This was not an Indianapolis 500 dedicated car and that likely played into its lack of speed.

A result like this does not help Kimball's cause. I hope he will get additional opportunities. His career is at a crossroads and Indianapolis may soon no longer be in his future.

5. RC Enerson wasn't close to the top 33 all week, but it wasn't because of the driver. This was a new team who had the car for about a month before it took to the racetrack. I don't think this group could have done any better than it did. 

I hope Enerson comes back, but I am not sure Top Gun Racing can improve enough as an independent organization. I think it at least needs a technical partnership. There are also no additional opportunities for this team to prepare for Indianapolis. It could run Gateway and just go through a race weekend, but there are no other superspeedways. If Pocono was still on the schedule or Michigan and Fontana were on the schedule, then the team could have a mock run and see if it could learn anything before next May, but that option does not exist. 

Will Top Gun Racing get a shot at redemption, or will this be one of those quirky entries lost to history?

6. On to the Fast Nine and Scott Dixon backed up his pace with a four-lap average of 231.685 mph, good enough for his fourth career Indianapolis 500 pole position. Dixon has to be the favorite for the race. He was stellar last year. He looks better this year. He is already the championship leader and he just added another nine points to his total. 

7. Colton Herta was second at 231.655 mph. Herta is set up for his best Indianapolis 500 run, and with his teeter-totter season, Herta needs a great race. One of his biggest championship rivals is starting ahead of him, and with double points, Herta cannot afford to give up 20 points to Dixon. We know Dixon can handle the pressure of an Indianapolis 500. This will be new territory for Herta.

8. Rinus VeeKay keeps up his dream May with a front row starting position at 231.511 mph. Even better, VeeKay was ahead of Ed Carpenter, who was at 231.504 mph. Ed Carpenter Racing has found its next generation driver in VeeKay. The team now needs to get the race result. 

9. Row two will be rounded out with two Ganassi entries. Tony Kanaan ran a 231.032 mph with Álex Palou taking his repaired car to 230.616 mph. Kanaan is back in a great car and it could be his last great attempt at a second Indianapolis 500 victory. Palou has fit right in with this team and through five starts, it feels like this is just the beginning for him with this organization. 

10. The third row will be Ryan Hunter-Reay (230.499 mph), Hélio Castroneves (230.355 mph) and Marcus Ericsson (230.318 mph). Hunter-Reay was never thrilled with his qualifying pace and he ended up seventh. His practice pace has been strong. He could be a sleeper from seventh. 

Castroneves could become a four-time winner and he could do it with Meyer Shank Racing. For how disappointing this week has been for Team Penske, Castroneves winning his fourth Indianapolis 500 in his first start away from the team will hurt. 

Ericsson is there. We have yet to see him really assert himself in a race in his IndyCar career. It will be difficult, especially when his three teammates are ahead of him. The time has never been better for Ericsson to standout. 

11. A practice follows this evening and then comes Carb Day. Passing could be better than previous years, but it sounds like it will still be an advantage to be up front. We will find out in a week.

First Impressions: 105th Indianapolis 500 Saturday Qualifying

1. On a warm, spring day, where track conditions proved to be uncooperative to teams hoping to improve qualifying times, we cannot begin with the who is on the outside and who survived on the bubble, but we must start with the procedure and how Indianapolis 500 qualifying continues to be unnecessarily quirky.

After unsuccessful qualifying attempts from Simona de Silvestro, Will Power, Charlie Kimball and RC Enerson, Dalton Kellett sat 30th, the final guaranteed spot in the field and at the front of the priority line. Entrance into the priority line meant a car's qualifying time is withdrawn. Kellett took to the track, removing himself from 30th, however, he had no time to beat because in this current format any qualifying run that does not stay in the top 30 is no longer on the board. 

Power's 229.228 mph run and de Silvestro's 228.173 mph run were not marks Kellett had to meet. At the same time, Kellett's 229.250 mph run no longer existed. Kellett was out of the race, but was guaranteed at least 30th if he completed his run. Kellett completed the ten miles at an average of 228.323 mph, nearly a mile per hour slower than his original time and he was still in the field. 

Time remained on the clock and de Silvestro was able to make one final attempt, but her third run was 228.013 mph, short and Kellett stays in the race despite running slower than he did before. 

I cannot blame Dalton Kellett for anything he did, although it was nearly a devastating decision that would have completely changed his Saturday night mood, but IndyCar's loophole is another glaring blemish on what was once a simple format. 

IndyCar has been screwing around with the Indianapolis 500 qualifying format ever since the creation of the Indy Racing League in 1996, but every time you think you know the answers you find IndyCar has changed them. We are used to seeing a qualifying run count no matter if they put a car in the field or not. It is why the first alternate once existed. The 34th fastest time stuck around in case one of the field of 33 fell out between qualifying and race day. It didn't matter if that 34th time was from a car that was bumped or from a qualifying effort that never made the field of 33. 

Eleven years ago, Sebastián Saavedra made the Indianapolis 500 on a qualifying time that was outside of the field. Why? Because Paul Tracy and Jay Howard both withdrew times good enough to make the race and then could not beat Saavedra's time. There were consequences for Tracy's and Howard's decision.

In this format, Kellett was forced to withdraw his time because he was in the priority line. He also couldn't afford to move out of line and let someone else go, but because Kellett was 30th and because he took to the track late enough in the day, he basically got to ensure he would be in the race despite going slower than his existing times. 

Qualifying runs should count until they are withdrawn or that car sets a better time. What would have happened if Kellett had crashed on his qualifying attempt and ended the day? He withdrew his time and IndyCar already said Power's 229.228 did not exist. Based on IndyCar's rule, only 29 cars would be in the race and four spots would have to be decided on Sunday in the Last Row Shootout. IndyCar would have to run it that way to be consistent with its own practice.

What happens if it rains all day tomorrow and the Last Row Shootout cannot take place? IndyCar already said those qualifying runs do not exist. Power's 229.228 and de Silvestro's 228.013 do not exist. IndyCar cannot go back and conveniently use those times to set the final row when it already decided those times were no longer on the board. It also means a Last Row Shootout would be run no matter what, even if it meant running it Monday or Tuesday or Sunday morning before the race if Speedway, Indiana saw seven days and nights of rain. 

I don't like this loophole and it shouldn't exist. It has been over 25 years since the split and over 25 years since Indianapolis 500 qualifications have been bastardized on a regular basis. I like the Fast Nine and I am fine with the Last Row Shootout, but there is no reason why IndyCar should be picking and choosing which qualifying attempts are on the board and which ones are not. If a qualifying run is complete, it remains on the board. It should be that simple.

 

2. Every year we have bumping, there is one name we do not expect to be there, and Will Power is the lucky contestant in 2021. 

It doesn't make any sense how Team Penske is this far off. The team hasn't been great this week, but it hasn't been bad to the point Power could not be in the top 30. Scott McLaughlin is leading the way in 17th, Josef Newgarden is 21st and Simon Pagenaud is 26th. None of them are doing well, but it is still shocking Power could not at least be 30th. 

The good news is I think Power will be fine for tomorrow. I know that is foolish to say considering the Australian finds himself in this position to begin with, but he just needs to beat two cars to make the race. I don't see three of the other four cars in this session beating Power. One could, but I don't see two running faster than Power let alone three. 

3. On top of Power's participation in this group, we have the Penske-affiliated Paretta Autosport and Simona de Silvestro. I thought she would at least find herself in the 20s, somewhere around where Pagenaud ended up in 26th. I thought the Penske connection would get Paretta and de Silvestro into the field and I am not sure we can even guarantee that. 

De Silvestro had solid first lap speed, but she lost significant time over four laps. On her second qualifying attempt, she opened with a lap at 230.201 mph but dropped to 228.568 mph on lap two, lost another quarter mile per hour on lap three and was down to 226.548 mph on the final lap. That attempt was technically faster than Kellett's second attempt, but de Silvestro cannot afford to lose than much time over four laps. She needed her final three laps to remain within a miles per hour of her first lap. If she did that, she likely would have made the field.

4. Sage Karam again finds himself in the Last Row Shootout. Two years ago, I wrote that Karam was on borrowed time. He and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing have been a constant presence at Indianapolis, but each year they dip closer and closer to the bubble. One of these years they will end up on the wrong side of it and this could be it. 

No one wants to see that because D&R has remained a great steward to IndyCar as a yearly Indianapolis 500 one-off since 2013. For years, I have wished for D&R to return to full-time competition like how Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing returned to IndyCar full-time with the DW12 chassis in 2012 and I would love to see Karam get a full-time shot at IndyCar, but each year this team remains stagnant. It has kept them in the field but I fear one off year or two and then the program disappears for good.

If there is any hope for Karam it is his first attempt was 229.158 mph and he waved off two attempts that averaged 229.016 mph and 228.880 mph. He has life.

5. After the week A.J. Foyt Racing had, it is a victory that only Charlie Kimball must compete in the Last Row Shootout. For most of the week I expected at least two Foyt cars to be in the battle at the bottom. I was even wondering what the team would do if all four cars were at the bottom, assuring at least one would miss. 

Kimball's first attempt was 228.401 mph, better than all three of de Silvestro's attempts. He could silently make the field, but I feel like the ceiling is higher for de Silvestro than it is for Kimball. 

6. RC Enerson and Top Gun Racing are not making this race. I know that is stupid to say but the team's only qualifying run was 227.410 mph. He is a mile per hour away from being a mile per hour away. It is tough to watch, and I have to give credit to the team for trying, but this was a late entry, it has no technical support. I am all for the little guys giving it a shot, but the team lost its first two practice days. It was always an uphill battle that was never going to go in its favor. 

I hope the team makes a second attempt and perhaps gets some testing in. It has been a while since we have seen an entry this underfunded show up for qualifying. It didn't do poorly but considering the strength of the current IndyCar grid it is not even in the ballpark.

7. Here is what we know about the Last Row Shootout: It is 75 minutes multiple attempts will be allowed and the qualifying order will be based on the original qualifying draw. 

That means Karam will be the first car out because he was 14th in the original draw. Power is the second qualifier after drawing 18th and Enerson will be third, as his original draw position was 27th. De Silvestro drew 33rd and she will be the penultimate first attempt and Kimball will be the final runner after he was 34th. 

Once everyone gets an attempt, the line will open for any more additional attempts with the gun going off at 2:30 p.m. ET. 

8. Hey! Let's go over the Fast Nine. Scott Dixon made the first attempt of the day; it was the fastest run of the day at 231.828 mph and he didn't take another lap. Colton Herta made two attempts and he picked up her 1.4 mph on his second run, slotting him second at 231.648 mph. Tony Kanaan was slightly off at 231.639 mph and Ed Carpenter rounded out the top four at 231.616 mph. 

9. Rinus VeeKay had a second attempt that moved him to fifth at 231.483 mph and Hélio Castroneves' first run with Meyer Shank Racing sees him in sixth at 231.164 mph. Leaving Team Penske doesn't look that bad after all.

10. Álex Palou made the questionable decision to make another qualifying attempt from the second lane, the safe lane where a driver doesn't have to withdraw a time and he had a heavy accident in turn two on his third lap. Palou's original qualifying run of 231.145 mph stands, and he remains in the Fast Nine, but I didn't agree with the decision. 

I understand wanting to get a little more insurance over tenth spot, and it was a tight group from Castroneves in sixth to Alexander Rossi in tenth, just 0.118 mph covered those cars. Over ten miles that is just 0.0798 seconds, but I think this is a case where it doesn't pay off to be proactive. 

I know he was in the safe lane and his time counts, but now his car is being repaired and we do not know if that car will be close to where it was before the accident. I get going out if you are ninth or just on the outside, but Palou shouldn't have rolled those dice and he admitted he made the mistake asking to go out again while the team was not comfortable with it.

11. For a guy who had good times all week but expressed displeasure with his pace and said he wasn't going to make the Fast Nine, Ryan Hunter-Reay looked good clocking in at eighth at the end of the day. Hunter-Reay will likely admit the draw was in his favor and going out third is likely what got him this spot, but his car hasn't looked that bad. I think the draw got him an extra five or six spots, but he still would have qualified in the top 15. 

12. Oh! And Marcus Ericsson made it four Ganassi cars in the top nine as Ericsson was ninth. He has been quiet all week. He has been quiet his entire time with Chip Ganassi Racing. This is a good showing for him and if there was ever a time to have a breakout race, this is it.

13. Let's go over the rest of the field. 

Alexander Rossi missed out on the Fast Nine by 0.0393 seconds. This feels like another year where Rossi's draw killed him. I think if Rossi had drawn third in place of Hunter-Reay, Rossi would have been mid-231 and solidly in the Fast Nine. It is still a good run. 

Ed Jones was one of the final guys to get a shot at the Fast Nine from the safe lane before the bubble battle commenced in the priority line and he went to 11th. Not bad form Jones, but he qualified well the last time he was at Indianapolis in 2019 and then didn't do much in the race.

Patricio O'Ward was 12th. That isn't bad but I suspect Arrow McLaren SP thought it would have gotten into the Fast Nine. 

Pietro Fittipaldi was the top qualifying rookie in 13th, and he deserves a lot of praise. He looked good. 

Felix Rosenqvist ended up 14th, which is respectable compared to his teammate. 

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing did not get any cars into the Fast Nine and that is a shocker when considering how these cars looked in practice. The RLLR cars were having balance issues over a four-lap run, but I would have expected it to better than Takuma Sato in 15th, Graham Rahal in 18th and Santino Ferrucci in 23rd. 

Considering how James Hinchcliffe's week was going, I bet he is satisfied with 16th. 

14.  We touched on Team Penske above, but I think we need to hit on them again. I don't get it. This team went from controlling the Indianapolis 500 in 2018 and 2019 to a non-factor in qualifying the last two years. I expect a big change to come, but to have no cars come close to the Fast Nine after having at least one make it for every year from 2009 through 2019 is staggering. 

15. Another year and another dismal qualifying run after strong practice results for Conor Daly. This year is worse than last year because the other two Ed Carpenter Racing cars made it. 

Jack Harvey had a right rear tire basically shedding on his first qualifying attempt and his first attempt was the slowest run of the day at 225.496 mph. However, once a proper set of tires shod his car, Harvey went to 20th. I think that lost first attempt hurt his chances to go for the Fast Nine. On that second run, he just had to put it in the field and he quickly did it, but he could not afford many more attempts after that. 

16. A.J. Foyt Racing does deserve some praise because J.R. Hildebrand got up to 22nd on what was his best run of the month. It was never in doubt. Sébastien Bourdais was only 27th, but it felt like 229.744 mph was going to be enough. It wasn't great but he didn't have to get into the traffic jam for 30th either. 

Again, Dalton Kellett held on. On a day where Team Penske has its act together, Kellett is likely in the Last Row Shootout, but he benefited today. 

17. Who are remaining? 

Juan Pablo Montoya is giving off a throwback vibe to when Gordon Johncock, Tom Sneva, Johnny Rutherford and Al Unser made their final attempts. It is in an oddly high-numbered car with a part-time team and the speed isn't great or there at all. I am not sure how many more times Montoya is going to return to this. Enjoy this year because it could Montoya's last at the Speedway. 

Marco Andretti had no confidence all week. I was wondering why Andretti didn't at least run Texas as a shakedown for himself. For a guy who has fallen backward at the start of this race the last two years, including failing to lead a lap from pole position, I can't see how this year will be any better.  

Stefan Wilson made it, but that was closer than expected. I didn't think he would be fighting for the Fast Nine, even though his practice speeds were encouraging yesterday, but I thought he could be 18th to 22nd. He made it, but it was closer than he probably would have liked. 

Max Chilton made it! Chilton sounded happy all week. I didn't think he would show great speed. I didn't think he would crack the top half of the field, but I thought he could be somewhere between 22nd and 30th. I always felt Chilton was going to make the top 30 and avoid the Last Row Shootout. 

18. This was the most relaxed I have been for an Indianapolis 500 qualifying day than I can ever remember. I was more relaxed than the years when there were only 33 cars. Figure that one out!?

Do I not care anymore? Is this race meaningless? Have I found completeness with the universe? I don't know! At no point today did I feel my heart rate increase to jackrabbit mode, even when the top 30 traffic jam took place. Even with a Team Penske car in the mix I remained calm. This was dramatic and yet it didn't cause any flutters in my stomach.  

Let's see if tomorrow is any different. 

105th Indianapolis 500 Qualifying Preview

Today begins the longest two days for the 35 entrants for the 105th Indianapolis 500. Day one will witness two fights, one to be in the top nine and get to compete for the prestige of pole position, the other will to be in the top 30 and get a good night sleep even if it was a stressful day. 

For those five teams outside the top 30 when Saturday concludes, the weekend will only get longer while their course of action becomes clear. Five drivers will have 90 minutes to decide who will be busy in seven days' time and who will join an esteemed, but infamous list. 

There have been four practice days, over two-dozen hours of on-track action. While practice is not a clear representation of qualifying pace, it does provide us a reference for who should be in the fight at the top and who will be scrapping at the bottom. 

Who is in Play For the Fast Nine?

Honda. Honda. Honda. 

Honda took nine of the top ten, 12 of the top 15 and 15 of the top 20 on the overall board on Fast Friday. When it came to the no tow speeds, Honda took eight of the top ten and 12 of the top 15. Honda drivers also had nine of the top 12 four-lap averages from Fast Friday. 

Chip Ganassi Racing led the way as Scott Dixon topped the overall board at 233.302 mph and Marcus Ericsson had the best four-lap average on Friday at 231.950 mph. Dixon topped two of four days overall and he was fifth and eighth in the other two days. He has the best average practice result through practice week at 3.75 and Tony Kanaan has the second best at fifth. Kanaan was fastest on Thursday while he was 11th, fifth and third on the other three days. Ericsson has the third best average at 6.5 and he has been in the top ten of all three days. 

While Álex Palou is not on the heels of his teammates, he still holds the ninth best average practice position, and he has been in the top nine twice on the no tow report this week.

Alexander Rossi and Colton Herta lead the way for Andretti Autosport. Rossi was first, third and first on the three days he registered a no tow lap, though Friday was the only day he broke the top ten overall, ending up seventh. Rossi had the fourth best four-lap average on Friday. Herta had the second best four-lap average on Friday, and he was second overall. Herta has been in the top nine on the no tow report after three days and his average of tenth is sixth best.

Takuma Sato looked strong all week and he was ninth and fifth on the no tow report on the final two practice days. Sato was in the top nine overall after three of four practice days. Graham Rahal was second on the no tow report on Friday after his previous best result was 14th and he has not been in the top ten overall after any of the practice days. Sato had the sixth best four-lap average on Friday, but the team had difficulty stringing together four consecutive laps due to balance issues.

Conor Daly ranked in the top five overall in the first three practice days and he was third and fourth on the no tow report on the first two days. However, he was 19th overall on Fast Friday and 18th on the no tow. Ed Carpenter topped the no tow report on Tuesday, and he ranked in the top ten for the no tow on three days. His average no tow result was 7.75 and Carpenter had the seventh best four-lap average on Friday. 

Rinus VeeKay has also showed good pace but was only in the top ten overall on Thursday when he was sixth, but his average practice result for the week was 11th, eighth best and he had the tenth best four-lap average on Friday.

Patricio O'Ward was seventh, seventh, 14th and sixth overall in each practice day, he was third on the no tow report on Friday and he had the third best four-lap average on Friday. 

For the Second Consecutive Year, Where are the Chevrolets?

The Chevrolet teams are closer, but none look threatening, and Team Penske again appears out of the mix for the Fast Nine let alone for pole position. 

Will Power topped Tuesday overall, but was ranked 15th, 15th and 29th over the next three days. Power registered no tow laps on three days and, though he was tenth and fourth on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, the Australian ended up 32nd on the no tow report on Friday. 

Simon Pagenaud was second on the no tow report Wednesday and Thursday, but he was 20th and 26th on the other two days. Pagenaud ranked sixth overall on Tuesday, but he was 28th, 23rd and 30th in the other three days. 

Josef Newgarden was fourth overall on Thursday, but his other three overall results were 14th, 30th and 22nd. Newgarden was fifth on the no tow report Thursday, but he was 11th, 18th and 17th on the other three days. 

Scott McLaughlin's best practice result was 13th on Thursday. Though he was seventh and sixth on the no tow report the first two days, he was 29th and 20th the next two days.

While Patricio O'Ward should be in the mix for the Fast Nine, his Arrow McLaren SP teammate Felix Rosenqvist never cracked the top fifteen overall or on the no tow report on any of the four practice days. Rosenqvist's average practice result was 18.75 and average no tow result was 21.25.

Who is Biting Their Fingernails?

Majority of A.J. Foyt Racing organization, as J.R. Hildebrand and Charlie Kimball have two of the three lowest average no tow results through four practice days. Hildebrand was outside the top thirty on Wednesday and Thursday, but he did get up to 24th on Friday. Kimball was 34th on the no tow report on Friday. Hildebrand and Kimball are ranked 32nd and 33rd in terms of average overall practice result. 

Sébastien Bourdais was 33rd, sixth, 34th and 33rd overall in each respective practice day. Bourdais was 31st on the no tow report on Friday. 

Top Gun Racing and RC Enerson did not complete Rookie Orientation until early Wednesday, but the team did not get its first official practice laps in until the middle of Thursday. Enerson was slowest each day, and he was 34th and 35th on the no tow report each day he ran.

While Andretti Autosport might have two cars fighting for the Fast Nine, it has two cars closer to the bottom than it would like. Marco Andretti's no tow report results were 33rd, 31st and 23rd in the three days he registered a no tow lap. Andretti's overall results are encouraging as he was tenth on Wednesday and his average practice result was 18.5, but Andretti has not had great comfort with his car. 

James Hinchcliffe was 32nd overall on Wednesday and Thursday. His average no tow result was 24.25, tied for 29th. Hinchcliffe was bumped in 2018 and he participated in the Last Row Shootout in 2019, ending up 32nd on the grid.

Sage Karam has looked comfortable and appeared to be happy most of practice week, but the margins are thin. Karam put his Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet 21st and 22nd on the no tow report on two practice days, and he was fourth and sixth overall after the first two practice days, but he was only 28th and 31st overall on the final two days.

Juan Pablo Montoya has not looked like the Juan Pablo Montoya of old. The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner was outside the top twenty overall after the final three practice days and he had the 31st best no tow result. However, one of those days was when he was 35th on Thursday. He was 20th and 21st on the other two days he registered laps.

Who Should be Happy With Where They Are At?

Stefan Wilson should be thrilled. Wilson had the fifth best four-lap average on Fast Friday. His worst no tow result was 15th over the four practice days and his best result was eighth.

Though his results are not much better than his three teammate, Dalton Kellett has been leading the Foyt organization. Kellett's average practice results are unimpressive with an average of 27.25, but the Canadian was in the top twenty of the no tow report after three of four days with his worst day being 23rd on Thursday.

Ed Jones was ninth overall on Tuesday and Friday, but he has never been better than 17th on the no tow report. Jones did have the ninth best four-lap average on Friday.

Max Chilton will be cutting it close, as he had the 33rd best average practice result over practice week at 28.25, but his average no tow result was 15.25, 12th best over the week. Chilton was fourth and third on the no tow report after the first two practice days and the Carlin driver was 23rd on the no tow report on Friday.

After his practice accident on Thursday, Santino Ferrucci should be ecstatic that he was 14th overall on Friday, ninth on the no tow report and he had the eighth best four-lap average on Friday. Ferrucci was third overall on Thursday prior to his accident. He will also be a contender for the Fast Nine.

Jack Harvey has not been in the top fifteen overall after any of the four practice days, but Harvey's no tow results are 13th, fifth, first and 11th. His average no tow result of 7.5 is third, only behind Rossi and Dixon. The Briton could be a sleeper for the Fast Nine. Harvey's Meyer Shank Racing teammate Hélio Castroneves has not shown upper echelon speed, but his average overall practice result is 15.75, equal to Rossi and ahead of Newgarden and Rahal. 

Simona de Silvestro has been positive all week, though she was 31st and 32nd on the final two practice days. She was eighth on the no tow report Tuesday and 12th on Thursday but dropped to 30th on Friday. Paretta Autosport might be in the back half of the field, but the team should have some breathing room to the bubble.

Who Has Not Yet Been Mentioned?

Pietro Fittipaldi and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Fittipaldi's overall pace was nothing to write home about until he jumped to 18th on Fast Friday, but the Dale Coyne Racing driver was 16th and 13th on the no tow report on the first two practice days. 

Hunter-Reay has the sixth best average overall practice result at tenth, but his average no tow result is 18th and his best no tow outing was tenth on Tuesday. Hunter-Reay expressed he does not have the pace to be in the Fast Nine, despite having the 11th best four-lap average on Friday. It does appear the 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner should find himself solidly in the middle of the field. 

What is the Qualifying Order?

Honda will have the first eight qualifiers on Saturday with Scott Dixon leading the way before Andretti Autosport teammates Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Hélio Castroneves will be the fourth qualifier ahead of Ed Jones. James Hinchcliffe and Stefan Wilson make it four Andretti qualifiers in the first seven attempts. Tony Kanaan rounds out the Honda octagonal.

The first Chevrolet out will be Josef Newgarden and Newgarden leads a Chevrolet trio of qualifiers. Rinus VeeKay and Scott McLaughlin round out the first 11 attempts. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammates Takuma Sato and Santino Ferrucci will follow McLaughlin. Sage Karam will be 14th ahead of Pietro Fittipaldi's first Indianapolis 500 qualifying attempt. Juan Pablo Montoya goes out 16th with J.R. Hildebrand in 17th.

The middle qualifier will be Will Power, the 18th driver out. Ed Carpenter and the Arrow McLaren SP teammates of Patricio O'Ward and Felix Rosenqvist will follow. Max Chilton will be the 22nd qualifier with Dalton Kellett going out next and Conor Daly will round out a string of nine consecutive Chevrolet qualifiers. 

The 25th qualifier will be Graham Rahal ahead of Jack Harvey, RC Enerson and Álex Palou. Simon Pagenaud will be the final Penske qualifier in 29th. Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi will go out 30th and 31st respectively. After finishing 32nd in last year's Indianapolis 500, Marcus Ericsson will be the 32nd qualifier. Simona de Silvestro makes her Indianapolis 500 qualifying return 33rd in line. A.J. Foyt Racing teammate Charlie Kimball and Sébastien Bourdais round out the qualifying line. 

What is the Weather Forecast?

Conditions are favorable for both qualifying days, but temperatures will be high. 

Saturday sees a high of 85º F with mostly cloudy skies. The chance precipitation is below ten percent. Winds will be coming from the west southwest at five to ten miles per hour. The day should begin around 79º F at noon before moving up to 81º F an hour later. The temperature will creep up another degree at 2:00 p.m. and then it should remain around 83º F for the rest of the afternoon. 

Temperatures will remain around 86º F on Sunday with chances of precipitation increasing but remaining low at only 13%. Winds will continue coming from the West and remain between five and ten miles per hour. At 1:00 p.m., temperatures should be around 82º F while it should be around 84º F at the start of the Fast Nine. 

What is the Qualifying Weekend Schedule?

There will be a one-hour practice starting at 9:30 a.m. ET on Saturday with the field split into two groups. Group A will take the first half hour and Group B will have the track for the second half hour. 

Day one qualifying will begin at noon and run through 5:50 p.m. The top nine drivers at the end of the first qualifying day will advance to the Fast Nine session. Positions tenth through 30th at the end of Saturday will be locked in the field and make up rows four through ten. The bottom five cars will participate in the Last Row Shootout. 

Sunday begins with a one-hour practice session at 11:00 a.m. The Last Row Shootout teams will get the first half hour while the Fast Nine participants will take the final half hour. 

The Last Row Shootout will begin at 1:15 p.m. ET and run through 2:30 p.m. Each entry will get one qualifying attempt, but there will be time for additional attempts. The Fast Nine session will be at 3:00 p.m. ET and each entrant will get only one attempt. 

After qualifying is complete, there will be a two-hour practice for all 33 qualifiers starting at 5:00 p.m. ET. 

105th Indianapolis 500 Practice Preview

Five IndyCar races are in the books for the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series season. The 105th Indianapolis 500 marks the sixth race of the season and it is back in the month of May. The return to May has brought 35 cars to the entry list. 

Chevrolet leads the way with 18 entries to Honda's 17 cars. Nine past winners are entered and if all nine make the race it would tie 1987 for the second most past Indianapolis 500 winners in the race. The 1992 race had a record ten drivers. While there is an abundance of past winners, only three rookies are entered. This will be only the second Indianapolis 500 since reunification to have fewer than four rookies. Stefano Coletti and Gabby Chaves were the only rookies in 2015. 

There are not many races where we preview practice but that is the beauty of the Indianapolis 500. Each session tells us something about the field and the race winner is waiting in plain sight. 

What is the schedule?

Practice opens with a seven-hour day on Tuesday May 18, starting with veterans on track from 10:00 a.m. to noon ET. The Rookie Orientation/Refresher program will take place from noon to 2:00 p.m. All cars will be allowed to take to the track at 3:00 p.m. ET and cars will be on track until 6:00 p.m. 

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will all be six-hour days, all start at noon and run through 6:00 p.m.

On Saturday May 22, there will be a one-hour practice session ahead of qualifying starting at 9:30 a.m. The 35 cars will be split into two groups and each group will get a half hour on track. Day one qualifications will begin at noon on Saturday and qualifying will run until 5:50 p.m. ET. This session will determine which cars will be in the Fast Nine session on Sunday, which cars will be locked into positions tenth through 30th on the grid and which entries will participate in the Last Row Shootout. 

There will be another one-hour practice session on Sunday May 23 starting at 11:00 a.m. for the Last Row Shootout participants. The Last Row Shootout will take place at 1:15 p.m. with the Fast Nine following at 3:00 p.m. After qualifying is complete, there will be a two-hour practice session starting at 5:00 p.m.

What is the forecast?

There is a 30% chance of rain on Tuesday with highs around 72º F and winds around 10 mph from the Southeast. The wind should remain consistent into Wednesday but the temperature should jump up to 80º F with cloudy conditions. The chance of precipitation drops to about 20%.

The wind again will remain consistent around 10 mph on Thursday on another warm day, highs around 85º F. Friday conditions are forecasted to remain some identical to Thursday with a high of 86º F and winds from the Southwest. On both days, the chance of precipitation is set around 5%.

These mid-80s, ten-mph Southwest winds remain in the forecast into the qualifying days on Saturday and Sunday. Rain is only around a 15% chance on Saturday, but it skirts up closer to 20% on Sunday with possible thunderstorms approaching the area Sunday night. 

Who will participate in Rookie Orientation and the Refresher?

We know one driver will have to complete Rookie Orientation. That is RC Enerson, who will look to make his Indianapolis 500 debut with the new Top Gun Racing in the #75 Chevrolet. Enerson shook down the car at Gateway a week ago. The Floridian has made four IndyCar starts, three in 2016 with Dale Coyne Racing and one in 2019 with Carlin. Enerson has not made an oval start since the 2016 Freedom 100, his final Indy Lights start. In his 51 Road to Indy starts, only six have come on ovals. 

Stefan Wilson is back at the Speedway for the first time since 2018. Wilson is back with Andretti Autosport in the #25 Honda and he will need to complete the refresher program. J.R. Hildebrand  will drive the #1 A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet and he will be in the refresher session as well.

Scott McLaughlin and Pietro Fittipaldi are the only other rookies entered in this year's Indianapolis 500, but both completed their rookie orientation at the preseason open test prior to May. Other drivers who would be eligible for the refresher but also participated in the April test include Juan Pablo Montoya, Hélio Castroneves, Simona de Silvestro, Santino Ferrucci, Sage Karam, Charlie Kimball and Marco Andretti.

Who is not there?

While there are two more entries than last year, six drivers are not returning to the Speedway this year. 

Oliver Askew, Spencer Pigot and Zach Veach make it three Americans who will not be returning in 2021. Askew is competing in IMSA's LMP3 class with an entry from Andretti Autosport. Askew and Pigot won the LMP3 class at the 24 Hours of Daytona with Riley Motorsports. Veach moved to the Lexus GT Daytona program in IMSA. 

Ben Hanley and DragonSpeed are not returning after making the race the last two years. Hanley and DragonSpeed have kept their focus on LMP2 competition the FIA World Endurance Championship and the European Le Mans Series. 

Fernando Alonso is back in Formula One with the Alpine organization. James Davison is focusing on competing in the NASCAR Cup Series. Davison had started the last four Indianapolis 500s and six of the last seven. 

What trends should we know for the Fast Nine and the race?

Last year, Jack Harvey became the third driver since 2016 to top the no tow report for a practice and not make the Fast Nine. Ryan Hunter-Reay did it in 2017 and Tony Kanaan did it in 2018. In both those cases, Hunter-Reay and Kanaan started tenth. Harvey set a new low, starting 20th.

Harvey had the second best average no tow result over the three practice days last year. The no tow report is not an accurate barometer of who will make it. Harvey had the second best average but ended up 20th. Colton Herta had the fourth best average and was tenth. Charlie Kimball was tied for the fifth best average last year with Takuma Sato and Alexander Rossi. Sato and Rossi both made it. Kimball ended up 29th. 

Marco Andretti had the tenth best average no tow result and ended up on pole position. His best no tow showing was fourth on Fast Friday. Scott Dixon was 16th and 25th in the no tow report the first two days, jumped up to second on Fast Friday and ended up second on the grid. Ryan Hunter-Reay was second, third and first in the no tow over the three days, was second in Saturday qualifying but ended up fifth in the Fast Nine session. 

When looking at the overall practice results, all three drivers who topped a practice day made the Fast Nine. James Hinchcliffe topped Wednesday with Dixon and Andretti topping the next two days. Since 2015, of the 17 drivers to top the no tow report and make the Fast Nine, eight have started on row one and seven have started on row tow. 

Overall practice speed was actually a better indicator of who made the Fast Nine than the no tow reports last year. Six of the top seven drivers in terms of average practice result made the Fast Nine. The one exception was Conor Daly, who had the third best average practice result at fifth, behind only Andretti and Dixon. There was a drop off for the other three Fast Nine participants. Rinus VeeKay and Graham Rahal never broke into the top ten on any of the three practice days. Rossi made it but he was 18th and 26th on the first two days before ending up ninth on Friday. 

Last year was the first time Team Penske failed to put a single car in the Fast Nine session. The team's top qualifier was Josef Newgarden in 13th. Honda had eight of the nine participants last year with Rinus VeeKay the lone Chevrolet in the group. Last year was also the first time Honda has swept the front row at Indianapolis in the DW12-era. 

In the DW12-era, two of the nine Indianapolis 500 winners were not in the top five for any practice days ahead of qualifying. The best Tony Kanaan was in practice in 2013 was seventh and that was on opening day. Juan Pablo Montoya's best practice day was sixth on Thursday. Last year, Takuma Sato was 13th, second and eighth over the three practice days. Only once in last ninth years has the Indianapolis 500 winner topped a practice session in the practice week. That was Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014, who topped the Monday practice before qualifying.

Only once in the last nine years has an Indianapolis 500 winner not been in the top ten for multiple practice days. In 2018, Power was 19th, 21st, 13th and fifth over the four practice days.

What trends should we know for bumping?

Arrow McLaren SP might not be safe. The team has been in the bubble battle for three of the four years we have had bumping in the DW12-era. 

The first was way back in 2013 when Katherine Legge was a late entry to the race and she got in ahead of Michel Jourdain, Jr. In 2018, James Hinchcliffe missed the race and Hinchcliffe the following year had to participate in the Last Row Shootout, but he made it in 32nd position. 

A.J. Foyt Racing is known to have a car close to the bottom. In both 2013, 2015 and 2018, Foyt had a car on the last row of the grid. In 2018, James Davison was the 33rd car on the grid. 

While there was no bumping last year, both Dreyer & Reinbold Racing entries were on the last row of the grid, and if there was a 34th entry, both cars would have been competing in the Last Row Shootout. In 2019, Sage Karam did participate in the Last Row Shootout with D&R. 

There is no clear indication in what teams will be in the bumping fight. The seven drivers to be bumped in the DW12-era represent an additional Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry (Jourdain), a pure one-off and the smallest team entered (Lazier Partners Racing in 2015), a fourth Dale Coyne Racing entry (Pippa Mann), a full-time Schmidt Peterson Motorsports entry (James Hinchcliffe), Fernando Alonso and his McLaren one-off with Carlin assistance, and both full-time Carlin cars in 2019. 

In 2013, Jourdain was in the bottom three in all six practice days he participated in. Lazier was slowest in all four practice sessions he ran in 2015. Mann was outside the top thirty in three of her four practice sessions two years later with her best practice result being 25th. Hinchcliffe started well in practice, ending up 13th of 23 cars on day one, but he dropped to 25th the next day and was 29th, 31st and 29th over the next three days. 

In 2019, Alonso was 32nd, 29th and 24th in the three practice sessions he ran. The Spaniard missed Thursday practice because of an accident on Wednesday and waiting for the spare car to get a paint job. O'Ward was 22nd and 23rd, but he had an accident on Thursday, and he dropped to 34th in Friday practice. Chilton's practice speeds were mostly toward the bottom of the charts all week. He started off 27th and 30th before jumping to 15th on Thursday. He would drop to 33rd on Friday. 

Two years ago, two of the three cars that missed the race lost track time due to an accident. Kyle Kaiser was in the Last Row Shootout and took the 33rd starting position after suffering an accident on Fast Friday. Any car that has trouble during the week will be on bubble watch. 

If we go back before the DW12-era, the 2011 bumping fight saw four full-time Andretti cars in the mix with Ryan Hunter-Reay and Mike Conway both failing to qualify and Conway had won at Long Beach a month earlier. Full-time cars from Dale Coyne Racing and Conquest Racing were also on the outside. Meanwhile, Chip Ganassi Racing had two cars and Team Penske had a car that were in precarious situations. 

In 2010, Tony Kanaan had a pair of accident force him to be a bump day qualifier and he ended up 32nd on the timesheet. Also fighting to get in on bump day were Paul Tracy in an additional KV Racing entry, Takuma Sato in a full-time KV Racing entry, Jay Howard in an additional Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing entry, Sebastián Saavedra with the debuting Bryan Herta Autosport, John Andretti in an additional Andretti Autosport entry and Bruno Junqueria was a late addition to the proceedings in an extra FAZZT Race Team entry. 

Junqueira did seven practice laps, made one qualifying attempt and set the seventh fastest time of the month, solidly putting him into the field. Kanaan had to claw his way in and Saavedra had a serious accident on a practice run send him to hospital. Meanwhile, Tracy and Howard both sought to improve their times but each qualifying run was slower. Both withdrew times that would have been good enough to make the race, but instead Saavedra qualified despite never having to withdraw his time to make an additional attempt.

There are teams on paper that appear destined for heartbreak, and some will experience palpitations, but some make it with ease. Others do fall short, but size does not grant safety and every year we have bumping there is always one or two entries we have solidly penciled in the lineup fighting for their lives. There are plenty examples of those teams living a nightmare in broad daylight. 

Can this prolific season continue?

There have been five winners through the first five races of the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series season. Three of those drivers are first-time winners. Two Chevrolet teams have won a race and neither is Team Penske. Dating back to last season, there have been seven different winners in the last seven races. 

This is the first season with at least three first-time winners since 2013, when there were four first-time winners that season. Four of the five winners are under 25 years of age and all five winners represent a different nationality. 

Ganassi drivers take the top two spots in the championship and all four Penske drivers are in the top ten of the championship, but six teams are represented in the top ten and the top Andretti Autosport driver is tenth. 

IndyCar last had six consecutive winners to open a season in 2017, but three of those winners were Team Penske drivers. The four Honda winners did come from four different Honda teams. 

Team Penske has won two of the last three Indianapolis 500s. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has yet to win a race this season and it is the defending Indianapolis 500 winner. Takuma Sato won last year, Graham Rahal was third and the team's third driver, Santino Ferrucci, was fourth last year. Rahal enters with three consecutive top five finishes while Sato's best finish is sixth. 

Andretti Autosport has a victory with Colton Herta but none of its other three full-time drivers have a top five finish this season. James Hinchcliffe hasn't finished in the top fifteen this year. Last year, Andretti Autosport put four cars in the Fast Nine and Herta qualified tenth. 

While A.J. Foyt Racing had a good start to the season with Sébastien Bourdais, the Frenchman has finished 19th or worse in the last three races. At Texas, Bourdais was only able to complete 55 laps in two races. Dalton Kellett has been running at the finish of every race this season, but his best finish is 18th and he has been off the lead lap in four of five races. 

While we have been getting a rash of first-time winners, there are many drivers with lengthy droughts. Alexander Rossi has not won in his last 26 starts. Ryan Hunter-Reay has gone 36 races since his most recent victory. It has been 41 starts since Bourdais won the 2018 season opener. Rahal's last victory was 62 races ago. Tony Kanaan has made 91 starts since he won at Fontana in 2014. While it has only been 40 starts since Ed Carpenter last visited victory lane, it has been nearly seven years since that Saturday night in Texas. Charlie Kimball has a picket fence, 111 starts since his lone IndyCar triumph at Mid-Ohio in 2013. Marco Andretti is approaching a decade since his most recent victory and he has made 157 starts, far pass Graham Rahal's record of 124 starts between victories. 

Those who are looking to make it four first-time winners this season include Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Ericsson and Jack Harvey. 

Last year's Indianapolis 500 had seven different teams represented in the top ten. Andretti Autosport had the most representatives but its best finish was Hinchcliffe in seventh. The 2019 Indianapolis 500 had six different teams in the top ten. Team Penske and Andretti Autosport each had three representatives, but Team Penske had three of the top five, including the race winner, while Andretti took second and the other two were eighth and tenth. 

Six of the nine Indianapolis 500 winners in the DW12-era have been first-time winners. Takuma Sato is the only driver to have won multiple Indianapolis 500s in the DW12 chassis.

Musings From the Weekend: Is The Double Dead?

This is all the news from Friday: The Toronto IndyCar race was cancelled. The Road to Indy will end its season at Mid-Ohio in the first weekend of October in place of Toronto. Formula One will not be going to Turkey, which was added in place of Canada, and the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring returns, while the French Grand Prix moves up a week. MotoGP will not be heading to Finland and the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring returns. Max Chilton was not able to make it into the United States in time for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. That was just Friday! That doesn't include other items from earlier in the week, such as the 35 cars on the Indianapolis 500 entry list, Roger Penske driving a Porsche RS Spyder or Super GT postponing its Suzuka race. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.

Is The Double Dead?

Indianapolis 500 festivities are ahead of us, as practice begins on Tuesday and will continue through the week before what should be another agonizing qualifying weekend, between teams fighting to make the Fast Nine and fight for pole position and the teams at the bottom scrapping to get the final spots in the field of 33. 

Each year, Indianapolis brings out some different faces. Along with the regulars, we get to see some interesting one offs and 2021 will not disappoint us. Juan Pablo Montoya is back, as is Simona de Silvestro. Tony Kanaan will be in a fourth Ganassi entry and Hélio Castroneves will drive for Meyer Shank Racing, Castroneves' first time attempting the Indianapolis 500 for a team other than Team Penske. Stefan Wilson is back. RC Enerson will attempt to make his debut.

Fernando Alonso sparked international interest in 2017 and will his subsequent attempts in 2019 and 2020. Danica Patrick even made one final Indianapolis 500 start in 2018. While Romain Grosjean and Jimmie Johnson are both competing in the road and street course races this season, both have left the door open for an Indianapolis 500 debut and oval races in the future. To add to the international flavor, the reigning three-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin is trying to make the race, as McLaughlin is now full-time in IndyCar. 

The Indianapolis 500 is in a wonderful place and there will always be drivers interested in giving it a go, whether it is as a one-off or as a part of a full season campaign, but one common conversation held every May has been nonexistent this year and we must wonder if it could be impossible going forward.

Is the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double dead? 

The 2021 NASCAR schedule had a seismic change from what had gone rather untouched over the previous 50 years. One of the big changes was in the month of May. NASCAR will still run the "600" on Memorial Day weekend, but May is no longer a long homestay for the teams in the Charlotte-area. The All-Star Race has moved from the weekend before the "600" to the middle of June and it has moved from Charlotte to Texas. With the exhibition moved to the edge of summer, the weekend before the "600" now has a championship race in front of it, and this year it is NASCAR's inaugural trip to Austin. 

Kurt Busch was the last driver to attempt The Double in 2014. Before Busch, no one had done its since Robby Gordon in 2004. John Andretti was the first drive to attempt it back in 1994, but Tony Stewart would go on to make it famous a few years later, as Stewart attempted it twice in 1999 and 2001 and he competed all 1,100 miles in 2001 with finishes of sixth in Indianapolis and fourth in Charlotte. 

The Double is not regularly attempted, but it is always brought up, and every now and then there is a name that expresses serious interest. It was not long along Kyle Busch hinted he was working on a program until conflicts prevented him from pursuing it further. Kyle Larson was frequently linked to a potential attempt when he drove for Chip Ganassi Racing. There are probably a bunch of other drivers that would love to do and there will likely be many more NASCAR drivers in the future who would love an Indianapolis 500 attempt. 

However, with NASCAR's schedule open to future change, could it be the end of all those hopes?

It was doable before because there were once two qualifying weekends at Indianapolis and in later years the only qualifying weekend fell on NASCAR's All-Star weekend. It is an exhibition race. A NASCAR driver didn't want to miss it, but a driver could and it would not hurt his or her championship standing. If the qualifying weekend falls against a points race, it is going to be hard for any driver to attempt it. 

NASCAR team owners are already strict with what their drivers do in their free time. While Larson does plenty of dirt racing and some drivers get to run the one-off dirt race or sports car race, most are not allowed to think about an IndyCar let alone get in one. The guys that have attempted The Double had enough credit to go run Indianapolis, but if a championship race is the same weekend as Indianapolis 500 qualifying, a team owner is not going to let his driver put his full-time job in the backseat. 

It could still be possible. The NASCAR championship structure is sickeningly forgiving. If you win one race, you are in the playoffs, as long as you stay in the top 30 of the championship. In some years, only 30 drivers have started every race through the end of the regular season. Kurt Busch won at Martinsville before he attempted the Indianapolis 500 in 2014. Busch had already announced the Indianapolis program, but that victory eased his nerves and likely allowed him to put greater focus on Indianapolis that May. 

Because Austin is a new track for NASCAR, there will be practice and qualifying ahead of the race this year, but majority of the races this season do not have practice or qualifying. If it is just a Sunday race, a NASCAR driver could qualify in Indianapolis on Saturday and have plenty of time to get to the NASCAR race. A conflict could still exist if that NASCAR driver makes the Fast Nine or has to be a part of the Last Row Shootout, but Saturday could be wide open. Of course, if the NASCAR continues to change the schedule and Austin was to move to another date, NASCAR could put a race that Saturday night, crushing any Cup driver's qualifying hopes. 

Practice and qualifying should return for most events next year in the Cup Series, as a new car will be introduced, and the teams needs track time. After 2022, NASCAR might decide to cut back on practice if the teams have enough data. That could open the door again. NASCAR might move the All-Star Race back to that weekend. We are not sure what NASCAR is doing, but NASCAR is not going to cater to the Indianapolis 500, even if many, including its own drivers would appreciate it.  

As of now, it looks like The Double will be put on pause for a few years. It is a grueling test, but one that is remarkable and something that makes motorsports special. Stewart's 2001 accomplishment deserves more recognition. I remember Deion Sanders tried to play an NFL game and a National League Championship Series game on the same day. We don't have two-sport athletes anymore. Even the amount of cross-pollination in the top levels of motorsports is low, but it is incredible to see, and it does make those drivers stand out. 

While the NASCAR drivers could be prevented from The Double if scheduling conflicts remain, the door could be open for some IndyCar drivers to venture to Charlotte for a nightcap to the biggest day in American motorsports. Perhaps The Double isn't dead, only evolving. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Rinus VeeKay, but did you know...

Jack Miller won the MotoGP's French Grand Prix, his second consecutive victory and it came after Miller had to serve two long lap penalties for pit lane speeding in a day-to-wet-dry race. Raúl Fernández won the Moto2 race, his second victory of the season. Sergio García won the Moto3 race, his first victory since the 2019 Moto3 season finale at Valencia.

Alex Bowman won the NASCAR Cup race from Dover, his second victory of the season. Austin Cindric won the Grand National Series race, his third victory of the season.

The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque won the IMSA race from Mid-Ohio, its second victory of the season. The #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier-Nissan of Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga won in the LMP3 class. The #96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley won in the GTD class.

The #41 Team WRT Oreca-Gibson of Louis Delétraz, Robert Kubica and ye Yifei won the 4 Hours of the Red Bull Ring, its second consecutive victory to start the European Le Mans Series season. The #19 Cool acing Ligier-Nissian of Matt Bell, Niklas Krütten and Nicolas Maulini won in the LMP3 class. The #288 AF Corse Ferrari of Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Alessio Rovera won in the GT class.

Linus Lundqvist and David Malukas split the Indy Lights races from Indianapolis. Christian Rasmussen won the first and third Indy Pro 2000 races with Artem Petrov winning the second race. Yuven Sundaramoorty won the first two U.S. F2000 races and Kiko Porto won the third race. 

Giuliano Alesi won the Super Formula race from Autopolis, his first career victory in a rain-shortened race. 

Coming Up This Weekend

Indianapolis 500 qualifying.

The Monaco Grand Prix.

Formula E returns to Marrakesh. 

NASCAR makes its first trip to Austin. 

World Superbike opens its season in Aragón. 

The World Rally Championship keeps Portugal busy.

First Impressions: Eighth Grand Prix of Indianapolis

1. Rinus VeeKay came out of nowhere to take his maiden victory, making it three first-time winners through the first five races of the season. To be fair, it wasn't really out of nowhere. VeeKay has been in the top ten for most of the season. He really hasn't put a wheel wrong. He qualified seventh for this race, but I didn't get the sense he was going to leap from seventh to the top of the field. I thought he could compete for a top ten spot, maybe a top five, but victory? I didn't see it. 

VeeKay showed great speed over each stint and the tires worked better for him in each stint. He clawed into the battle and tire strategy got him on top. From there he pulled away from the rest of the field. Last year, I felt VeeKay was finally the driver to get Ed Carpenter Racing out of its post-Josef Newgarden funk. He carried over his strong finish to his rookie year into 2021 and now he has a race victory. 

I am not sure exactly where VeeKay falls among the young drivers. He hasn't been as explosive as Colton Herta and he doesn't have the pizzazz of Patricio O'Ward, but he has been quick in every series and his entire career has been in the United States. He went through each Road to Indy series. He is as close to an American as you can ask for. He is a good guy. He comes off as down to Earth. I don't think he has done anything malicious on the racetrack. I don't recall him making any enemies. Between VeeKay, Herta and O'Ward, three drivers all 22 years old or younger, IndyCar could have a trio that last two decades. They could hang around to 2041. Nothing is guaranteed, but the next generation is here.

2. The weekend started with the glorious story of Romain Grosjean's pole position and for the first half of the race it felt like the fairy was going to come true, but Grosjean lost the advantage in the middle of the race as he switched to the primary tires. On top of it, Grosjean struggled with traffic. It was a good day, but he fell out of contention in the later stages and second will have to do. 

I am not surprised with Grosjean's speed. He did spend a decade in Formula One. He was on the podium with Lotus. He was sixth and fifth in his first two starts with Haas. Grosjean had too much success in Europe's junior series to think he would be completely out of his element in IndyCar. It was going to be different and there would be a learning curve, but he wasn't going to be lost. He wasn't going to be one of the slowest. Every weekend he has been respectable. Everything clicked this weekend and he nearly pulled off an incredible victory. The rest of his season should be interesting.

3. It looked like Álex Palou was going to be the one who could have spoiled Romain Grosjean's party, but Palou was caught behind his own teammate Jimmie Johnson when he exited pit lane. This left him a sitting duck to VeeKay down the Hulman straightaway into turn seven. Palou never recovered from that. VeeKay may have always gotten ahead of the Spaniard, but it looked like Palou was going to be fighting for his second victory today. Instead, he was third. A good result, but it could have been better.

4. Josef Newgarden ran fourth today. I am not sure how many laps he spent in fourth, but if you said he spent 75 of 85 laps in fourth I would believe you. We haven't seen a race on the IMS road course where a Team Penske was not a factor until today. Newgarden was fine in fourth, but he never was a threat. It is still a strong day for the championship, and we shouldn't be concerned. Team Penske had three cars in the top ten. Today was just different.

5. Graham Rahal had the drive of the day to fifth. He went off course after contact with Conor Daly in the opening corner accident. It broke Rahal's sided, he had to make a pit stop, then the crew made a second pit stop, the race went back to green and Rahal was caught out. The team gave Rahal a fuel number to run so he could make it on only three stops. He was furious, but slow and steady got him fifth! It is frustrating because he couldn't do more. Fifth was as good as it was going to get, but with how good his car was he probably wish he could have fought for more. 

6. Simon Pagenaud ended up sixth, which is a typical Simon Pagenaud day. Do nothing wrong and finish sixth. 

7. Alexander Rossi got up to seventh after starting 14th. Rossi appeared to have an engine going sour late in the race, but he held on for the top ten result. He is also the top Andretti finisher, which is not a good thing because he was only seventh and Andretti Autosport needs to be putting cars on the podium and in the top five. 

8. Scott McLaughlin kept his nose clean and finished eighth. It is another solid result for him. Through five races, he hasn't done anything wrong this season and hasn't really looked out of his element.

9. Scott Dixon made a pit stop under the caution after the opening lap incident and went off strategy for the entire race. It got him a ninth-place result. Dixon won this race last year in July, but outside of Palou, the entire Ganassi team has been off on the track. The team did not do well during the Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader and the team was not spectacular today. Despite this, Dixon maintains the championship lead and Palou is second.

10. And Marcus Ericsson makes it three Ganassi cars in the top ten as he finished tenth. Ericsson made some aggressive moves to get into the top ten. Ericsson has yet to have a stellar race with Ganassi. He has yet to put his mark on a race and mix it up for the lead or a podium, but he is a consistent driver who has regularly finished in the top ten. He needs to find a little more though if he hopes to stay with Ganassi for a long time. 

11. Will Power's weekend was kind of written when he brought out the red flag in the second round of qualifying and could not start better than 12th. Power never really appeared to be a threat. I think if he doesn't get knocked out of round two, he makes the Fast Six and this is a different race. It is a missed opportunity, but it could have been worse.

12. Twelfth does not tell the full story for Ryan Hunter-Reay. He ran well considering he started 19th. I thought he might have been able to pull out a top ten finish with his alternate strategy. He was just shy of it. It is not great on paper, and it has been a tough year for Hunter-Reay, but it was a solid drive.

13. Colton Herta should have been in the top ten, but Marcus Ericsson nudged Herta off course. I am kind of surprised Ericsson didn't get a penalty for that. Herta was kind of stuck in eighth all race. It wasn't a great day for him.

14. Let's wrap up the field. Ed Jones didn't do much with his good starting position. None of the Arrow McLaren SP cars were competitive. Patricio O'Ward was 15th, Felix Rosenqvist was invisible in 17th and Juan Pablo Montoya was not a factor in 21st. Takuma Sato was in the way for about nine drivers today and he was 16th. A.J. Foyt Racing was also lost with Sébastien Bourdais in 19th, Dalton Kellett in 20th and Charlie Kimball in 22nd. 

15. Jack Harvey had a podium run going and then had the pit stop from hell. They didn't get one of the wheel nuts secured, lost a host of spots and then had a right rear tire puncture on his out lap. Instead of sipping champagne on the podium, he is 23rd just ahead of Jimmie Johnson. Oof. 

16. This was the worst possible winner for Conor Daly. Daly was knocked off course when Simon Pagenaud bumped him, and Daly stalled in the grass. It broke something in the gearbox, Daly had to get repairs and he finished 35 laps down. Daly has been poor with Ed Carpenter Racing. He still hasn't finished in the top ten with the team. I believe VeeKay has finished ahead of Daly in every one of their head-to-head starts as teammates. Even worse, Daly started sixth, a spot ahead of VeeKay. Daly needs to get some results with ECR. VeeKay is showing the team has speed. If Daly cannot match it, ECR will get a new road/street course driver will be in order for the #20 Chevrolet. 

17. And now the Indianapolis 500 is ahead of us. Practice begins Tuesday and we have five different winners to open the season and seven different winners in the last seven races dating back to last season. Can the Indianapolis 500 be any crazier? Qualifying comes first and we know how bumping shakes up the show.