Penske's advantage, Kyle Larson's challenge and mid-pack stars: Indianapolis 500 storylines
INDIANAPOLIS – The 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, and the qualifier in that clause is one of the most important storylines on motor sports’ biggest weekend: “scheduled for.”
An ominous forecast threatens to cause the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to delay, interrupt, shorten or postpone the race.
Besides the obvious implications for 350,000-ish fans and party animals intending to be on the grounds and millions stuck with a television gap between the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600, rain would throw a wrench into Kyle Larson’s quest to complete the 1,100-mile afternoon/evening doubleheader.
That said, there’s a lot more to the race – whenever it happens – than one rookie and Mother Nature.
Is this Team Penske’s race to lose?
Two-time IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden won from the 17th starting position last year. This time he’s on the outside of the front row, alongside his teammates, 2018 Indy winner Will Power in the middle and Scott McLaughlin on the pole.
Penske clearly made strides in qualifying, relative to the field, and Chevrolet showed its edge by locking up the top eight positions on the grid.
The questions are how much of that will translate to the race and how much of an advantage is the fact they’re not only starting up front but also together as Penske chases it’s record-extending 20th Indianapolis 500 victory.
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“I feel like we’re definitely in a spot where we feel like we really have a good, comfortable race car underneath me,” McLaughlin said.
“The drafts and everything these days, it’s a whole lot different to how it used to be in some ways, from watching races back. I think you control what you can control. I just race my race and hopefully the cards fall my way. Pretty focused on just executing right now.”
After qualifying 13th last weekend, Colton Herta in a Honda-powered car had the second-fastest lap behind Newgarden in the practice session Monday. ???
“I do feel competitive, and I feel good,” said Herta, whose starting position is third-best for Honda. “It still is very hard to pass kind of in the mid field and back of the field, and starting 13th, obviously we don’t need to make that many passes to get to the front, but it is going to be difficult.
“Luckily we have a lot of time, and we’re mid pack, so we don’t have to force the issue on anything early and really have to put ourselves in a vulnerable position. We’ll just take it slow, and hopefully we can kind of get up to the front and stay up there.”
If the Penske drivers control the race by swapping the lead among themselves early on, that’s fine with Pato O’Ward. He finished second in 2022 and crashed while battling for the lead with less than eight laps left last year.
“I think if anything it kind of opens your (strategy) options,” O’Ward said. “When you’re leading, your options are narrowed down quite a bit as I’ve experienced in the past few years.”
How about that Row 7?
Well behind the Penske trio in the lineup is a row that in many years could be the front.
Marco Andretti who started on the pole in 2020 and was the runner-up in his debut in 2006, will start 19th. Helio Castroneves, a four-time winner and three-time runner-up, will line up 20th. And to their outside is Scott Dixon. Although 2008 is the only Indy 500 on his resume, Dixon is the all-time lap leader at Indy and ranks second all-time in championships (six) and race wins (57) behind A.J. Foyt in the various iterations of Indy-car racing.
Among the three drivers they have 62 Indianapolis 500 starts.
“Look, the competition every year it’s becoming crazier,” said Castroneves, 49, who picked up his fourth win in 2021 with Meyer Shank Racing and is now a part-time driver, co-owner and mentor to his teammates. “We thought we did a good job over the winter. I guess the other ones did a better job over the winter. That’s why they end up a little ahead of us.
“But that doesn’t intimidate me at all. The good news, we have good experienced guys in the row. Interesting situation in front of us, we have inexperienced guys. But that’s what it is in the Indy 500. Always have ups and downs. It’s a long race.”
Andretti has a three-year head start on being an Indy-only entrant. Preparations for the 500 are long enough that shaking off the rust has never been an issue, but getting the car to handle well has been, particularly mid-corner. This year, he said, the car is as good as it’s been in at least five years.
“I really struggled here in the races, just drove so uncomfortable for 500 miles the last few years,” Andretti said. “Definitely (post-qualifying practice) Monday felt very, very comfortable. It was the most productive two hours I’ve had in a decade here.…
“Coming from the back, but the car feels good.”
Could A.J. Foyt win one more?
In addition to his four 500 victories as a driver, Foyt was the winning owner with Kenny Brack in 1999.
Overall, Foyt’s team hasn’t been particularly competitive – its most recent victory came in 2013 with Takuma Sato at Long Beach – but the 89-year-owner has always been all about the 500 and if there’s one place for him to shine it’s IMS.
Last year Santino Ferrucci led laps and finished third in the fabled No. 14 car. This year A.J. Foyt Enterprises has a technical alliance with Penske, although that’s more helpful at the road courses, Ferrucci said.
The point is, don’t sleep on Ferrucci. “Carb day” final practice was a bit of a thrash for Foyt and Ferrucci, but the 26-year-old has finished no worse than 10th in all five of his 500s.
What’s Kyle Larson’s challenge?
Larson is a throwback, willing to race just about anything anywhere. Instead of wheeling a sprint car on dirt in his spare time, the NASCAR Cup Series points leader and 2021 champion has spent a chunk of May tooling around at 230 mph on a smooth, flat oval.
“Yeah, you’re going faster, yes, the closing rate in the draft is bigger, but I feel like car balance and all that is fairly similar to what I’m used to,” said Larson, who’ll start fifth. “For so long I feel like I’ve heard that, oh, an Indy car is way different than a stock car and the way you drive it is totally opposite, but it’s really not.”
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If all goes smoothly, Larson will complete the 500, take a helicopter to the airport, fly to Concord, North Carolina, and then helicopter again to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600.
Tony Stewart is the only driver to complete the full 1,100 miles in one day, when he finished sixth at Indy and third at Charlotte in 2001. Robby Gordon did the double five times, Stewart twice and John Andretti and Kurt Busch once each.
“It’s been something I’ve looked forward to for close to two years probably at this point now,” Larson said. “Yeah, it’s just getting closer to go time, and have just enjoyed the experience and enjoyed working with Arrow McLaren. They’ve made the transition to Indy cars for a couple weeks pretty easy. Yeah, just had a good time and now look forward to the race.”
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A rain delay in Indy could be troublesome for Larson, as could security on the Charlotte end if the possible appearance of former President Donald Trump comes to fruition.
And for the rest of us, what if it rains?
The last race day to have any rain was 2017 and the last 500 shortened due to the weather was 2007.
The last time the race did not run to a checkered flag on its scheduled day was 1997. That one started on Monday, was stopped after 15 laps and then ran to conclusion on Tuesday.
Racing on Monday or Tuesday is a precedent nobody wants to fall back on. Except maybe Larson.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Penske, Kyle Larson, rain, Helio Castroneves top Indy 500 stories
