Indy 500 qualifying review weekend 1

Posted by Cincy Speed on 12. May 2009 09:24

Well race fans the first 2 days at Indy provided the excitement hype promised.  There is no race qualification process as exciting as Indy.  The Daytona 500 has it's pole day and the duel 150's that I think is great for NASCAR fans.  The short sprints provide excitement and drama throughout the Thursday before the Great American Race.  During the process however you are automatically in if you are in the top 35 owner points.  Indy is all based on how your team performs with car prep and how you run the 10 mile qualifying attempt.  The daily bump procedure provides the drama and the ability to gamble you attempt against a better time.

Day one, pole day had the big boys going for the pole.  AGR, Penske, and Chip Ganassi had horses to take the top spot.  Penske driver Ryan Briscoe went out early to test his car and came back with a 4 lap average of 224.31, he held the top spot for most of the day.  His teammate Helio Castroneves went out to collect a 223.949 average and waited to watch the day progress.  Prior winner Dario Franchitti split up the Penske boys for a while with his qualifying run that put him in the middle of row one.  As the day progresses at Indy the track changes.  Weather issues with wind and track temps can make the day faster or slower.  Seeing the changes coming all the top drivers suited up and got in line to see if there was an opportunity to know Briscoe of is perch.  Helio was the first to go and be successful in knocking of Ryan.  Helio's mark of 224.864 crushed his teammate’s time and the rush began. The final hour at pole day had a few slower cars of the day fighting for the 11th spot and the top speed entries trying to out perform the other.  Briscoe went out to bump the number 3 Penske machine off the pole and came of it being in the middle of row 1 moving Dario to the outside.  Rahal in the McDonalds sponsored machine increased his position over the final 60 mins.  Fan favorite Danica Patrick had her car in line to re run her qualifying attempt because she was being bumped down due to the shuffling of the people at the top but thought better of it and took the 10^th spot in the running order.  Paul Tracy, prior 500 2nd place finisher after a protest, put himself into the field in the last hour of the day but was bumped by Hideki Mutoh to qualify on day 2.   Alex Lloyd went out on the track and qualified his car as the final gun sounded the end of the day bumping Mutoh to a day 2 qualifier.

Day two ended the same as day one.  Scott Sharp bumped earlier but AJ Foyt the 4th goes out as the last attempt when the gun fired and bumped EJ Viso to fight for the final 11 spots.  Other Day 2 notables were Paul Tracy, Hideki Mutoh, and Sarah Fischer.  Fischer brought her own team to Indy this month with the Dollar General sponsored machine.  Sarah was a fan favorite in Indianapolis for a long time and has won the pole at Kentucky speedway.  John Andretti driving for the king, Richard Petty made the IMS facilities department work hard on Sunday after colliding with the safer barrier ten falling to the inside of the track.  During this event Graham Rahal spun himself to avoid the Petty entry and wrecked his backup car.  I guess McDonald's will have to pony up a few Big Macs to fix that one.

The weather cooperated over weekend 1.  Days 3 and 4 will fill the field and raise the average speed of the field during bump day.  Be ready on day 4 around 5 pm for some quality drama while the final cars try to bump their way into the field of 33.