The first day of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 is in the books, and Team Penske has solidified its position as to be the team to beat so far.
The powerhouse team completely locked out the opening positions, with its three drivers setting the three best average speeds of the entire day.
Four-lap averages were the name of the game, and Will Power’s laps saw him average 233.758 MPH across his 10 miles of running.
Scott McLaughlin set the second fastest average speed, with Josef Newgarden setting speeds good enough for third on the charts.
All three drivers only completed a single run, as they comfortably locked themselves into Sunday’s Fast 12 shootout to decide the positions of the first four rows.
All four Arrow McLaren drivers also ended the day on a good note, having much better afternoon runs than the early part of the day.
For Larson in particular, his fast run was completed after he had to abandon his first attempt due to an error message on his dash.
After a semi-quick fix by the team, the NASCAR star went out to complete his first full run and impressively set a time that advanced him to the next round on Sunday.
Callum Ilott ended up being the lowest-qualified driver in the Arrow McLaren stable, and even he was in the top half of the field with a run good enough for the 15th position.
Ilott’s run was extra important after his first run was disallowed for an improper wheel offset setup, which the team summarily corrected before sending him back out.
After repairing most of the bodywork and the rear end on the #21 entry, the Ed Carpenter Racing crew was able to allow Rinus VeeKay to make a couple attempts later in the afternoon.
VeeKay’s early crash was firmly relegated to his memories as he ran a slow install lap followed by a legitimate run less than an hour later.
Then, with only one minute left on the clock, he dramatically put in a great run and boosted himself from 29th up to 11th and locked himself into the top 12 shootout on Sunday.
Positions 13-30 were locked in after Saturday’s runs, with the bulk of the field effectively earning a day off for their efforts.
The last driver to secure a position in the field was Pietro Fittipaldi, who earned the 30th position on the outside of the 10th row.
Below Fitipaldi at the back of the field were the drivers that have the most work to do overnight.
Those that set the four slowest lap times have had their times reset, and they will compete directly against one another on Sunday for the final three positions on the grid.
Marcus Ericsson, Katherine Legge, Nolan Siegel, and Graham Rahal all find themselves in the unenviable position of not knowing if they will be a part of the race next weekend.
Despite these drivers near the back making as many as five separate attempts, they were unable to find enough speed to get above the cut line.
For Rahal in particular, his predicament brings back bad memories from last year, when he was actually bumped out of the 500 purely on pace.
He made a few late attempts after a midday engine change, but still did not have enough pace to place himself anywhere but the back of the field.
One of these talented racers will be going home at the end of the weekend and will suffer the disappointment of not being able to compete in the Indy 500 after countless hours of preparation.
On Sunday, there is a short timeslot set aside for practice for those who need to complete more runs on the final day of the weekend.
The final row of the grid, and the one driver who will be going home, will be decided through a dedicated session in the afternoon.
Then positions 7-12 will be locked in via a single run, followed by the fastest six completing one more run for pole to the end of the day at 5:25 PM.
