Beth Paretta explains why she is foregoing the 2023 Indy 500

In a matter of days, this year's 34th entry for the Indianapolis 500 will be announced, and Beth Paretta and Simona De Silvestro won't be part of it.

It wasn't for lack of trying.

Minutes ahead of Thursday's Indy 500 testing, Paretta took to Twitter to post a two-minute video to explain her team's second consecutive absence from the Greatest Spectacle in Racing after Paretta Autosport's debut in 2021 that helped deliver diversity to a sport sorely in need of it.

"Sometimes, all the pieces aren't quite right, and you have to make a tough decision -- the right decision, but a tough decision," Paretta said. "We know we have a lot of young women and young fans looking up to us, and we want to make sure we have the best opportunity possible."

75 minutes of stress: Paretta Autosport survives Last Chance Qualifying to make 500 field

Early in 2021, Paretta announced the creation of her IndyCar team built around De Silvestro, who had been absent from the series since the 2015 Indy 500. The team owner built what she called a "female-forward" program that formed a technical alliance with Team Penske to give Paretta Autosport engineering, management and crew support while also mentoring a handful of prospective IndyCar workers at a variety of positions who are women.

When it came to qualifying weekend, De Silvestro struggled -- as did all of Team Penske's lineup, which failed to qualify any cars higher than 17th. The Swiss driver found herself in Sunday's Last Chance Qualifier, along with Penske's Will Power. De Silvestro managed to snag the final spot in the 33-car field.

In the race, she spun on pitlane with around 30 laps to go and was forced to retire the car in 31st.

Beth Paretta on team's first 500: 'We accomplished a lot'

Last spring, after spending the offseason searching for another team to partner with and the $1 million-plus budget necessary to put a car on-track, Paretta ultimately decided it wasn't worth the effort if the program was going to be cobbled together last minute and, again, struggle to make the race. Instead, she formed a four-race partnership with Ed Carpenter Racing to run De Silvestro in ECR's partial-season entry with the team that had be preparing and running Ed Carpenter's oval runs that season.

Together, they managed a best-finish of 18th at Mid-Ohio. After the season, ECR team president Tim Broyles said the team was unlikely to forge any outside partnerships for 2023, and at preseason Content Days, Carpenter told reporters that no prospective partners met ECR's strict offseason deadline to consider such a deal.

Paretta worked quietly the last several months while searching for an opportunity to get back into the 500, with Thursday's video her first official comments. In recent months, it was understood some combination of Indy NXT team Abel Motorsports, AJ Foyt Racing, Paretta Autosport (with De Silvestro) and driver RC Enerson (with his father Neil, who owned a full IndyCar chassis and a spare tub) would likely make up at least a 34th entry, with the prospect of a 35th, to add more drama to qualifying weekend.

Though it's yet to be formally announced, it's understood Abel Motorsports will run a Chevy-powered car for Enerson in hopes of bumping its way into this May's field.

Bumping is back: Indy 500 gets 34th entry for 2023 field

Thursday, Paretta said there was even another option, separate from her Chevy-powered prospects, that she considered.

"I was approached by another team several months ago asking if we'd work with them. It wasn't a Chevy team, and it just wasn't a good fit for us," Paretta said. "I always want to make sure we have a competitive situation as we can put together, because we want to build and grow this team.

"We want to be a place where young women can see an example that motorsports is for them. We've seen a lot of progress in the paddock, and we're very proud of that. There's been a big surge of young people that have entered our sport or who are curious about positions other than being a driver, and that's great for our collective future and the health of the sport."

She ended her video making clear her gears are still turning in hopes of getting De Silvestro back on-track before long in a Paretta Autosport-powered Indy car.

"Stay tuned," she said. "You'll see us again, probably very soon."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy 500: Beth Paretta explains 'tough decision' to skip this May's race