Castroneves seeks historic fifth Indianapolis 500 victory

INDIANAPOLIS » Helio Castroneves lost his first battle for position in the parking lot of Global Preparatory Academy, a dual language school located less than 10 minutes from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

He’d been to the school before, knew he was supposed to park in an alley around back and knew he’d lead passenger Romain Grosjean through a cafeteria door into their appearance. But the carpool line was jammed, so Castroneves slowed his bronze Acura through the school parking lot to wind his way past the traffic.

A speeding hatchback suddenly flashed past Castroneves on his outside and darted into the empty parking spot ahead of him.

“Somebody’s in a hurry,” Castroneves chuckled. “Passing only counts on Sunday.”

He will have to pass a lot of cars this Sunday when Castroneves attempts to become the first five-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. The Brazilian joined A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and mentor Rick Mears as the only four-time winners of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” last May in a raucous surprise that produced one of the most enthusiastic fence-climbing celebrations in race history.

It took 30 years between Mears’ fourth Indy 500 win for Castroneves to join the club. Mears wants him to stick around for a bit.

“I said, ‘You’d better be very careful what you wish for here. If you win that fifth, we’re going to kick you out of the club and you’re going to be all by yourself. Nobody to hang out with.

So be careful,’” Mears said.

Sorry, pal: Castroneves has every intention to race for his fifth Borg-Warner this weekend. It will be his 22nd start in the Indy 500, more than any other driver in the field, and that experience proved invaluable last year as Castroneves predicted traffic patterns to use the wake from lapped cars to hold off Alex Palou for the win.

FORT WORTH, TEXAS » Scottie Scheffler did something last weekend that he rarely does, watching a golf tournament at home after missing a cut. The world’s No. 1 player is back on the course, and tied atop a crowded leaderboard at Colonial.

Scheffler was among eight players who shot 4-under 66 on Thursday in the Charles Schwab Classic. But he was the only in that group without a bogey, rebounding from his missed cut at the PGA Championship.

Cam Davis, Beau Hossler, Chris Kirk, Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson, Nick Taylor and Harold Varner III also shot 66s. Seven others were a shot back.

“The course is playing harder than it does in a typical year here. Yeah, I felt like I did a really good job of managing myself around the golf course,” Scheffler said. “Anytime you make no bogeys, it’s going to be a good round.”

Those who teed off in the morning wave — including Scheffler, Reed, Simpson and Varner — started with virtually no wind and cooler conditions. The wind picking up later in their rounds and gusted to 20 mph throughout the afternoon.

Defending Colonial champion Jason Kokrak and Jordan Spieth, the 2016 winner who last year became a third-time runnerup, shot 69.

Many players wore ribbons pinned to their caps to show support for the community of Uvalde, Texas — about 350 miles south of the course — after 19 students and two teachers were killed in a shooting at an elementary school Tuesday.

Reed birdied all four par 3s at Colonial, including a 64-foot blast from the greenside bunker into the cup at the 237-yard fourth hole. His only bogey came on his last hole, after missing the fairway on the 400-yard dogleg right ninth hole.

In his previous 11 starts the past four months, Reed missed four cuts and finished no better than 26th. He has slipped to 38th in the World Golf Ranking — he was ninth when at Colonial last year.

“It feels good to get a number out of it,” Reed said about his 66. “Honestly, I feel like there’s been too many days that I’ve done a lot of things really well, just the number hasn’t really reflected it. But the great thing about a season is it’s a season. You have a lot of time left.”

Varner had four bogeys, countering those with six birdies and an eagle at the 634-yard 11th hole, when he had a 330-yard drive and a 305-yard approach to the green for a 5-foot putt. That came after a chip-in birdie from 55 feet at 10, and a 10foot birdie putt at 12.

Bolstered by his eagle make from 95 yards out on the 12th, Taylor was at 5 under and still a stroke ahead in the lead until his bogey at No. 18.

Scheffler part of crowded Colonial leaderboard after cut