107th Indianapolis 500 Field Set
The 107th Indianapolis 500 will take place this Sunday, May 28, at the World Capital of Speed, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After four days of practice on the 2.5-mile oval and two days of qualifying to fill the 33 starting spots, one racer is heartbroken for his failure to make the field while 33 others are overjoyed to be in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, the largest single-day sporting event in the world.
This facility has changed the lives of many racers, for better or worse. The Indy 500 has the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It’s often said that the track decides who’s in, who’s out, and who can massage her four corners the best – and the worst.
The week of practice and qualifying was both safe and fast, with nary a wall smack and few mechanical issues. There were engine changes, of course, and gearbox adjustments that come with the territory. At the close of qualifying, the fastest car belonged to Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing, the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES titleholder – who won the GMR Grand Prix on Indy’s road course a week earlier – as he produced the fastest four-lap average pole speed in the history of this race at 234.217 mph. The prior record came last year with Palou’s teammate Scott Dixon.
(Arie Luyendyk’s all-time four-lap qualifying effort – 236.986 mph – came on the second day of qualifying and wasn’t eligible for pole position)
Palou’s pole position marked the third straight for Ganassi’s team, after Dixon’s two previous No. 1 qualifiers last year and the year before. it’s the team’s eighth pole position, second-most all time. Team Penske has earned 18 pole positions in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. The entire field of 33 broke the speed record as the fastest starting field in history, breaking last year’s record of 231.023 with the 2023 mark of 232.184.
Positions 13-30 were set on Saturday, with the fastest 12 getting two opportunities to earn pole position and the bottom four vying for the remaining three slots in Indy’s traditional field of 33 on Sunday. With Palou quickest, the No. 30 spot went to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s (RLLR) Katherine Legge, who became the fastest female qualifier in the race’s history; Simona de Silvestro was quickest before her in 2021, but the Briton’a four-lap average of 231.070 put her over the top.
Notably, all four Chip Ganassi Racing Honda-powered cars were among the fastest 12, with Palou, Dixon, 2022 Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson and two-time Indy 500 winner Tacoma Sato in play, as were the four-car Arrow McLaren Racing Chevy-powered cars of Felix Rosenqvist (fastest on Saturday), Pato O’Ward, Alexander Rossi and Tony Kanaan, making his final INDYCAR start. A.J. Foyt Racing’s renaissance at Indy showed both Santino Ferrucci and rookie Benjamin Pedersen in this sharp end of the grid with Chevy power, while Ed Carpenter’s Rinus VeeKay made the cut, along with Team Penske’s Will Power, the reigning INDYCAR champion, both of them running Chevrolets.
The bottom four were comprised of the balance of RLLR’s team: Graham Rahal, Christian Lundgaard and Jack Harvey, complemented by Dale Coyne Racing with RWR’s rookie driver Sting Ray Robb. While much of the emphasis on Sunday was toward the top 12, the drama unfolding during the hour-long last chance time trials for this four was electric. At the end, it was Jack Harvey who booted teammate Graham Rahal out of the show after making three attempts to qualify.
When the top 12 were whittled down to six, following a single attempt for each car, the Firestone Fast Six were Palou, VeeKay, Rosenqvist, Ferrucci, O’Ward and Dixon. The five were unsuccessful in attempting to outdo Palou and will line up as noted on the first and second rows of the 11-row field.
The true drama came on Monday, when the added boost for qualifying was removed. All teams had spent the late afternoon Sunday and into Monday getting their cars out of qualifying trim and into race mode, so that they could practice properly and spend the two hours readying for final Carb Day practice and the 200-lap Sunday spectacle.
For the first hour, practice was again safe, but chaos ensued about 2PM on Monday when a pack of cars checked up going into the first turn, just as Legge was leading a second group into the turn, notable for being one of the most critical in all of motorsports. Stefan Wilson, who had slotted Dreyer & Reinbold and Cusick Racing’s No. 24 Chevy entry 25th and on the inside of the ninth row, checked up in the first group while Legge, who was carrying race speed, didn’t realize the front group had slowed.
She plowed into Wilson and both of them were tossed into the wall, with Wilson hitting nose-first and Legge’s car imploding on the side. Wilson, who spends much of his year planning for this race, was taken by stretcher to the infield care center and later to hospital. Legge exited her stricken car unaided. Later on Monday, it was announced that Wilson suffered a fracture of the 12th thoracic vertebrae and was not cleared to compete on Sunday. His height likely exacerbated the issue.
With a car solidly in the field and the opportunity to compete a 24th time with the No. 24 Chevy, Dreyer & Reinbold’s Dennis Reinbold, together with partner Don Cusick, had quite a decision to make. There were drivers on the grounds who had the capability to race, but would have had to do a refresher course. Both JR Hildebrand and Charlie Kimball were on-site; there may have been others who came to the DRR/Cusick garages, as well.
The one driver who made some sense was Graham; Rahal, whose father Bobby failed to make this race exactly 30 years – to the day – removed from when his son couldn’t qualify for this 107th edition. Despite the fact that Rahal’s team is part of the Honda family and DRR/Cusick have been stalwart Chevy runners, a deal was made and, on Tuesday morning Graham Rahal was designated as driver of the No. 24 CareKeepers Chevrolet. Reinbold did note that there will be changes to the livery of both Rahal’s car and that of his new teammate, 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay.
This will be a tough role for Rahal, who will have to learn the nuances of the Chevrolet car and its engine in just an hour’s worth of Carb Day practice and during the 500-mile race on Sunday. As he noted, he’s used the same steering wheel the past 12 years (since he drove with Newman/Haas Racing) and will have to acclimatize himself to the changes, the knobs and buttons that are antithetical to what he’s always used, as he joins a team he worked with in 2010 as a substitute driver during the Iowa race, subbing for Mike Conway, who had been injured at Indianapolis earlier in the season.
“I feel bad for Stefan that he is hurt,” said Bobby Rahal, co-owner of RLLR. “He’s done a great job all month. I wish him the best and hope he has a speedy recovery. When Dennis called, we went to work to make this happen,” Rahal confirmed. “The most amazing thing is how all these different groups, out of respect for the sport and the Indy 500, agreed to agree and go forward, even though it may have been somewhat of a difficult decision. I’m thankful that Dennis asked Graham to join him and his team and appreciate the commitment and excitement.”
Racing in his 16th Indy 500 on Sunday, Rahal acknowledged, “It was a very tough weekend for me and the RLLR team. We tried everything and we just didn’t have the speed.” Referring to Wilson, “I wish him a quick recovery and I want to thank Dennis and Don for giving me this opportunity in the No. 24 car. I’m anxious to work with the team and prepare for the greatest race in the world, the Indianapolis 500.”
With the field now truly set, as of Tuesday morning, it’s time to note the volatility of this field. The fastest rookie, Pedersen of AJ Foyt Racing starts 11th, while his closest competitor – there are four rookies – Argentinian Agustin Canapino of Juncos Hollinger Racing is in 27th position. This says an awful lot about the abrupt turnaround of Foyt’s team and pair of drivers. Much of that is due to an attitude adjustment, as well as the team’s cornering of Michael Cannon as their technical director, coming to Foyt’s squad after working with Scott Dixon at Chip Ganassi Racing, and other successful teams prior to that.
Please also note that only Will Power of Team Penske has slotted into the top 12, while Scott McLaughlin starts 14th and two-time INDYCAR champion Josef Newgarden rolls off in 17th. Previous winners include Dixon, starting sixth, the entire third row of Alexander Rossi, Takuma Sato and Tony Kanaan, while the reigning victor,Erisson is 10th on the grid, inside row four. Hunter-Reay takes the green in 18th, while four-time victor Heliio Castroneves rolls off in 20th and his current teammate Simon Pagenaud, who ran the table at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2019 holds the 22nd starting slot.
So Alex Palou, the first Spaniard to earn pole position at Indy, now has two weeks’ worth of bragging rights through to the 12:45M Sunday start of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Will he be able to bring home the No. 10 home in front of the other 32? While 2023 is the first time this car number has earned pole position, it’s the third time, with Luyendyk earning Chip Ganassi’s first pole in 1993, again 30 years ago!