Indy 500 Track Report – Pole Day

Disappointment ran deep in the AJ Foyt Racing garages this evening as both cars were bumped out of the top 24 starters for the Indianapolis 500. The troubles began this morning when the No. 41 ECat/ABC Supply car did not pass pre-qualifying tech inspection (height discrepancy) and was sent to the back of the qualifying line which meant they had to qualify in the hotter part of the day. The team fixed the minor infraction and Cunningham went out to qualify after teammate Mike Conway put the No. 14 ABC Supply Honda solidly in the race with a 223.1 four lap average speed.

Cunningham waved off after not getting up to 220mph in the first two laps of his run despite running over 225 mph in the morning practice. After getting Cunningham’s feedback, they took the No. 41 car back to the garage to add more downforce and change gearing. Word then came back that the No. 14 failed the post-qualifying inspection (2 lbs. underweight).   Both teams made adjustments on the cars and re-qualified only to be bumped out in the closing minutes of Segment 1 which ended at 4 p.m.

Segment 2, or the final 90 minutes of qualifying  from 4:30 – 6 p.m., was reserved for those who had qualified in the top nine in Segment 1 (eight of which were Chevrolet-powered cars). Ryan Briscoe won the pole with James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay qualifying on the front row. Fourth through sixth were Marco Andretti, Will Power and Helio Castroneves.  Rookie Josef Newgarden qualified seventh (with Honda power) and was followed by Tony Kanaan and E.J. Viso.

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Indy 500 Track Report - May 18 "Fast Friday"

Fast Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was just that as the engines were given an increase in boost pressure which resulted in 40-50 additional horsepower and higher speeds. Chevy-powered cars claimed eight of the top 10 slots with Marco Andretti posting the fastest speed of 227.5mph. Mike Conway was 20th overall with a top speed of 224.3 mph in the No. 14 ABC Supply Honda. Driving the ECat/ABC Supply Honda, Wade Cunningham set his quickest lap of 222.8 mph in the beginning of the day's session.

Drivers will have a another chance to dial in their cars with 90 minutes of practice starting at 8 a.m. Pole Day qualifying begins at 11 a.m. The fastest 24 cars will be locked in by 4 p.m.  with positions 10-24 set at that time. From 4:30 to 6 p.m. those drivers who qualified in the top nine will have a chance to qualify for the pole or improve their position. On Sunday's Bump Day, positions 25 - 33 will be determined.

Mike Conway: “We’re as prepared as we can be. We got a few runs in today with as low downforce as we could get and the ABC Supply  car feels pretty good but we’re looking for just a little bit more speed. We wanted another mile an hour to be looking really good. Just have to try and polish the car as much as we can tonight and hope the speed comes in the morning  but right now we’re not quite as happy as we want to be. Have to go through the pit data tonight and see if there’s anything we can find there and come out stronger tomorrow.”

Wade Cunningham: “Unfortunately not. We went out this morning in the ECat/ABC Supply car and we were relatively happy in terms of times to the other guys with similar downforce level and we rolled back to the pad in the middle of the session with the goal to go back out later with low downforce level. Unfortunately there’s something going on mechanically with the car and I wasn’t able to complete a run after we went back out. So now there’s a big old question mark about where we’re going to be in our performance and where we’re going to slot in the field. After each day of positive momentum, it’s disappointing to roll into Pole Day tomorrow having probably our worst test so far. The first thing we have to do is set the car down and find out what’s going on mechanically. Until we know where the car is, we can’t really determine what’s wrong. We have a couple hours of practice tomorrow and then we can go out and make a couple of attempts so all is not lost; it’s just not the ideal situation.”