100th Indy 500 Qualifying Day 1

Technically, the first day of qualifying for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 yesterday didn't mean much.  There were no points given out, no money paid, and with only 33 cars trying to fill a field of 33 there was no concern over not being able to make the show.

However, there was the opportunity to make the Fast Nine and have a shot at qualifying on the pole for the Indy 500 next Sunday, and that made it entertaining.

 

 

It was great to be able to watch all of practice or qualifying on the Indycar site or on ESPN3 on our computer and then on ABC and ESPN News.  Sure, we had to switch around a lot, but it was as close as we could get to being there. 

There was rain which switched up the whole schedule and although the teams didn't get as much practice time, they did extend qualifying for an extra hour till 7pm.  That led to cooler temperatures, a faster track and lots of drama of who would get in the Fast Nine. 

With just a few minutes left Marco Andretti bumped out his teammate, Ryan Hunter Reay, who immediately went out and qualified second fastest for the day and bumped Marco back to tenth.  Then, with a second left Mikhail Aleshin got on track as the gun ending qualifying went off, and in his fourth run of the day he was 8th fastest, That bumped another Andretti Autosport car, driven by rookie Alexander Rossi out of the Fast Nine. 

Wow!

 

And the best story of the day, James Hinchcliffe topping the charts with a four lap average of 230.946!

 

 

Going for the Pole

for the 100 Running of the Indianapolis 500

(it would be the first Indy 500 pole for 8 of the 9 drivers. 

Helio will be going for his 5th)

 

1.  James Hinchcliffe - A great story if he wins the pole after nearly losing his life practicing for the Indy 500 last year.

2.  Ryan Hunter Reay - The 2014 winner would look good on the pole this year.

3.  Will Power - With 43 career Indycar poles it's hard to believe he has never won the pole for the 500.

4.  Helio Castroneves - Would be great to see him go for his 4th Indy 500 win starting from his 5th pole.

5.  Townsend Bell - Indy 500 only driver, how super if he could win the pole.

6.  Josef Newgarden -  In his fifth Indy 500 it would be fantastic to see our family's favorite drive sit on pole.

7.  Mikhail Aleshin - Arguably the most exciting qualifier yesterday sliding his car through the corners it'll be great to see what he can do going for the pole.

8.  Carlos Munoz - the youngest driver going for the pole, has been exciting at Indy since finishing second his rookie year in 2013

9.  Simon Pagenaud - Has won the last 2 poles this season, will he continue his win streak.