Good morning. it’s Qualifying Day.
Today’s revised schedule:
8 a.m. – IMS Gates Open
8:30-9 a.m. – Practice Group 1
9-9:30 a.m. – Practice Group 2
11 a.m. – PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying begins Peacock
TICKETS: General Admission tickets are $20 for Indy 500 qualifying days. Military personnel with a valid military ID are admitted free, and children 15 and under are also admitted free with a paying adult.
PUBLIC GATES OPEN (8 a.m.-6 p.m.): Gate 1, Gate 2, Gate 3, Gate 4, Gate 6S, Gate 7, Gate 7S, Gate 10 and Gate 10A.
PARKING: Free parking for Indianapolis 500 is located in Turn 3 and Lot 7 (North 40), in the South Carousel Lot for motorcycle parking, and Lot 7 (North 40) and Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum parking lot for ADA parking. Parking is $10 in Lot 2, Main Gate and Lot 3G, and $20 in Gate 1. ADA parking is $10 in Lot 2 and Lot 3, and $20 in Gate 1. Bicycle parking is located outside Gate 1, Gate 6 and Gate 9.
CASHLESS OPERATIONS: All IMS concession stands and merchandise locations are cashless this year. Tap-to-pay phone payments will be accepted, as will credit and debit transactions. Cash-to-Card machines, which convert paper money onto a temporary debit card, will be located throughout the facility. These funds can be spent inside the venue, outside the venue, online or anywhere in the world where Mastercard/Visa debit cards are accepted. Parking and gate locations will accept cash.
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106TH RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500
QUALIFICATION ORDER
DRIVER
1 #5 – Pato O’Ward
2 #21 – Rinus VeeKay
3 #77 – Callum Ilott
4 #7 – Felix Rosenqvist
5 #28 – Romain Grosjean
6 #48 – Jimmie Johnson
7 #29 – Devlin DeFrancesco
8 #11 – JR Hildebrand
9 #6 – Juan Pablo Montoya
10 #51 – Takuma Sato
11 #98 – Marco Andretti
12 #15 – Graham Rahal
13 #1 – Tony Kanaan
14 #18 – David Malukas
15 #23 – Santino Ferrucci
16 #26 – Colton Herta
17 #25 – Stefan Wilson
18 #9 – Scott Dixon
19 #10 – Alex Palou
20 #20 – Conor Daly
21 #06 – Helio Castroneves
22 #3 – Scott McLaughlin
23 #33 – Ed Carpenter
24 #27 – Alexander Rossi
25 #8 – Marcus Ericsson
26 #45 – Jack Harvey
27 #24 – Sage Karam
28 #2 – Josef Newgarden
29 #30 – Christian Lundgaard
30 #60 – Simon Pagenaud
31 #14 – Kyle Kirkwood
32 #12 – Will Power
33 #4 – Dalton Kellett
The latest update from my weather app shows a possible thunderstorm around 8 am, then dry until around 2 pm. The amount of track activity depends on when the rain stops and how long it takes for the track to dry. The expected high has lowered to 79 degrees today.
Qualifying will run until the regular ending time of 5:50 pm, weather permitting. To complete qualifying runs for 33 cars takes about three hours.
Yesterday’s warm and windy weather limited track action. The fast Twelve was wide open before Friday and it is still a tossup, especially for the last four or five spots.
Once qualifying gets underway, I look for quite a battle for the top twelve spots, who advance to tomorrow’s run for the pole. I hope there is enough time today for everyone to get a run. This qualifying has the potential to be quite intriging. Can Dale Coyne Racing get its first Indianapolis 500 pole? How will the qualifying draw affect some of the favorites? Who still hasn’t shown us what they really have?
I think the fight for pole is between the Coyne and Ganassi cars. Arrow McLaren SP drivers Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist may play a spoiler role. Rosenqvist has become a really good qualifier at all tracks. I will break down the field later this morning.
Check back for schedule and weather updates. I will be posting results often during qualifying.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 