It’s been a strange build-up to the race resulting in what to me feels like a slightly off-beam atmosphere. At some point IMSA-style hybrid engines were meant to make an appearance, but those have been delayed to the presumed (and sometimes public) disappointment of various suppliers and marketing departments. A big cheating scandal erupted at Long Beach as two Penske(!) drivers were found to have made illicit use of the push-to-pass button at St Petersburg. In a more quotidian sense, it rained almost every day during practice and the forecast for the race itself still looks uncertain. All the more reason, you might conclude, to enjoy the 200 laps of the ancient rectangle that I assume gave the name to Speedway, Indiana. There will be drama, somebody will win, and a strangely troll-like mask in their likeness will be carved? wrought? cast? onto the side of the big trophy with the tiny naked guy waving a flag on top.
If you’re new to the Indy 500, the important thing to remember is that the majority of the laps are a pitstops and fast single-file exercise. One year Max Chilton led for about a quarter of it. However in the metaphorical background drivers are saving fuel, out-pitstopping each other, staying out of trouble and generally behaving like sensible adults with something to lose, which of course they do. Last year the most notable thing that happened in this phase was when leaders Alex Palou and Rinus Veekay collided in the pitlane in one of those mad rushes when a convenient caution period (it was Sting Ray Robb) means everyone opts for fuel and new tyres at once. They kept going but their race outlooks were materially downgraded (Veekay ended up 10th, Palou a surprising 4th).
Drivers swap positions, somebody crashes, a couple of eye-catching sprints up the order are made, and the pace quickens and un-quickens according to whatever fuel numbers the race engineers think should be met. This pattern usually continues until the last round of pitstops at something like lap 170-180. The pit strategies are finished, the continuous fiddling with car setup stops, the fuel saving (hopefully) ends, and the remaining action is in the hands of the drivers.
Last year, things got messy at this point as said drivers decided the way to win was through the guy in front, and carnage ensued. Kyle Kirkwood got airborne, Agustin Canapino got airborne in a less spectacular fashion, there were three red flags in the last 16 laps, and on the restart with a single lap to go, Penske’s Josef Newgarden passed the reigning champion Marcus Ericsson and then swerved about like maniac to hold the lead to the finish line. Controversy and a vague feeling of self-loathing ensued, but Newgarden had won his first Indy 500 7 years after falling just short at the 100th.
Race gets underway at 12 noon eastern time / 5pm BST. Owing to some quirk in the scheduling Sky Sports are showing the build-up for FREE on their Youtube channel. Free Taps! Free flyover! Free pipers!
Your runners:
Row 1: Scott McLaughlin, Will Power (W), Josef Newgarden (W)
Penske Racing lock out the front row with a terrifying display of not being fazed by Indycar’s biggest cheating scandal since that time Max Chilton repeatedly bypassed the chicane at Long Beach and no one seemed to be able to stop him. Will the absence of suspended boss Tim Cindric hurt the team? Has nobody been reminding the drivers and engineers that you can’t win the race on Pole Day? Will all three of them crash into each other on the parade lap? We will find out. In any case, Scott McLaughlin leads the field with a record pole speed. Last year he started and finished fourteenth, which until this month was also his best-ever start and finish.
Row 2: Alexander Rossi (W), Kyle Larson ®, Santino Ferrucci
The terminally low-key Alexander Rossi leads his teammate and guest NASCAR driver Kyle Larson on row 2. Rossi went through a period a few years ago where he responded to in-race setbacks with extraordinary feats of overtaking and rage. He, or perhaps the universe, is gentler now, but he is no closer to victory number two. Kyle Larson is the world’s least surprising top-performing rookie: he is a champion stock car driver, has a great car and Robin Miller had touted him for a run at the 500 since he (Larson) was in his teens. Benchmark to beat: Kurt Busch’s sixth-place finish in 2014. Elfin irritant Santino Ferucci gives AJ Foyt another good news story with another second-row start. Last year he started fourth and finished third. This year, start sixth and finish… first?
Row 3: Rinus Veekay, Pato O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist
Holland’s fastest* driver fasts again with another top 10 race start, although at a mere P7 this is actually his lowest starting position in his five Indy 500s. Veekay’s finishing record is less impressive and while he can undoubtedly turn laps in clear air with the best of them, at some point some obstacle presents itself and he disappears into the midfield (if lucky). He’s worth following on race day. Former teammates (of each other) Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist complete the third row. O’Ward is only the third driver in McLaren’s pretty impressive Month of May, but there’s no reason why he can’t glide to the front. The exiled Rosenqvist is having a good start to life with Meyer-Shank Racing and has the dubious honour of being the fastest-qualifying Honda in the field.
Row 4: Takuma Sato (2W), Kyle Kirkwood, Ryan Hunter-Reay (W)
Takuma Sato is predictably enough the next-fastest Honda qualifier; he is also the only Rahal Letterman Lanigan entry to qualify outside the last two rows. Some yahoo put that down to a special engine but one might also consider the number of Indy 500s won by the other members of his team. Top Andretti qualifier Kyle Kirkwood starts in the middle: he finished last year’s race upside-down and facing an insurance claim from the owner of a parked car in
Row 5: Colton Herta, Alex Palou, Callum Ilott
We’re deep in the pack but there are potential winners here. Admittedly Colton Herta hasn’t won a race in two years, but in that time Alex Palou has won more or less every race except this one. If you get either of these two in the sweepstake it’s best to hope they have a better race car than qualifying car. They probably will. Outside of row 5 is Callum Ilott, who in the absence of sports car commitments has wrested the third McLaren back from Theo Pourchaire’s sticky hands. Time passing as it does, this is actually Ilott’s third Indy 500. He brought his Juncos car to 12th place last time, which was a considerable achievement but he can surely do better with a McLaren, even if it’s on loan.
Row 6: Marcus Armstrong ®, Ed Carpenter, Kyffin Simpson ®
Rookies ahoy! These are the proper rookies, not the extremely decorated and prepared ones you see starting in the grid’s upper reaches. They could be forgiven for feeling some satisfaction at outqualifying their Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon, except 1) they’ll be in horrible filthy dirty air from lap 1 and 2) Dixon will probably do something clever with his pitstops and materialize inside the top 5 at lap 120. Such is Indycar. Mediating between the two of them is Ed Carpenter, son-in-law of former Indycar supremo Tony George and the only driver/owner in the field, or at any rate the only driver/owner with his full name on the entry (sorry “Marco”). Ed is not going to be fighting for wins like he was 10 years ago, but does it matter? It probably does, to him.
Row 7: Marco Andretti, Helio Castroneves (4W), Scott Dixon (W)
There’s no getting around it, this is a disappointing and difficult place to start the race. The baby-faced Marco Andretti, like former teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay now an Indy-only sort of guy, heads up the row, with four-time winner Helio Castroneves (not yet 50! I think) in the middle racing for Meyer Shank. Scott Dixon completes the row although he doesn’t quite complete a pretty lousy qualifying performance from the Ganassi team (there is one more of Chip’s cars still to come). Here’s a fact for you: of all the drivers from the 2006 race who are starting in this one, 75% of them are on row 7. Who’s the other? It’s not P. J. Chesson.
Row 8: Agustin Canapino, Sting Ray Robb, Christian Rasmussen ®
Two beloved Indycharacters and Christian Rasmussen, who I know nothing about, comprise row 8. How often do you see an Argentinian race at Indy? How often do you see an Argentinian race at Indy for an Argentinian team owner? How often do you see an Argentinian racing at Indy for an Argentinian team owner crash twice in the same corner with 9 laps to go? All those things happened last year. Hopefully a quieter and more successful outing for Indycar’s other former touring car driver. Foyt sophomore Sting Ray Robb has qualified a long way behind Santino Ferrucci, but as is well known what he lacks in outright pace he makes up for in godliness. If you want to know how a devout evangelical Christian ended up being called Sting Ray, I can’t help you, but I’m sure it’s an interesting story. Christian Rasmussen, who surely has a more appropriate name than Sting Ray, starts his first Indy 500 from 28th, and if it wasn’t for the deflector shield and, er, seat belts, could probably see his boss two rows ahead of him if he craned his neck a little.
Row 9: Tom Blomqvist ®, Romain Grosjean, Linus Lundqvist ®
Felix! Thou shouldst be qualifying at this hour. Row 9 is a row of many Qvists but the Royal (Swedish?) Flush is interrupted by Romain Grosjean, who is driving the second Juncos car and is not called Grosjeanqvist. Frivolous wordplay aside (what else do I have?), this is truly the row of the damned, where the slowest MSR car, the slowest Juncos and the slowest Ganassi are all reposed. Still, the two Qvists have an outside chance at Rookie of the Year honours, especially if the rain comes and Larson is bundled off to Charlotte to drive in the 600-mile race (is it still 600 miles? is it still sponsored by Coke?) at Charlotte.
Row 10: Christian Lundgaard, Conor Daly, Pietro Fittipaldi
What is Christian Lundgaard doing here? I can’t answer this question. Fun fact: Lundgaard’s starting position at Indy is greater than the sum of all his other qualifying positions this season. That said, he has still outqualified two (2) other Rahal drivers. Dreyer and Reinbold’s Conor Daly and the afore-alluded-to Pietro Fittipaldi make up row 10, and are probably in the “happy to be here” contingent, although I wouldn’t dream of saying that to their faces.
Row 11: Katherine Legge, Marcus Ericsson (W), Graham Rahal
Hoo boy! You guys (and woman) were lucky to make it. Actually your only rival for entry to the big race, Nolan Siegel, crashed in the attempt so you all passed the first test, which is not crashing while attempting to qualify. Owing to the aforementioned Siegel smash, veteran journeywoman(?) Katherine Legge is Dale Coyne’s sole representative taking part in the race. Coyne has never won the Indy 500 and 2024 is destined not to be his year either. As for Graham, he’s been here before. More of a surprise is Andretti’s Marcus Ericsson leading from behind in 32nd place. The former Sauber driver won in 2022 and nearly doubled up in 2023, which is to say he’s been in contention for almost every Indy 500 in living memory. His engineers will be racking their brains, returning to their drawing boards, and whatever other cliches they resort to in times like these.
OK! That’s enough. We’ve had Carb Day, we’ve had the pit stop contest, the flowers of Hoosierania are probably on their second cases of beer by now and won’t sober up till Monday. There’s not really much to do except to speak meaninglessly until Sunday afternoon. I aim to do this. Enjoy the weekend!
