Andretti, Honda top qualifying
Penske shut out of pole contention
INDIANAPOLIS — Marco Andretti led a Honda rout on the first day of Indianapolis 500 qualifying — a session dominated by Andretti Autosport and Honda as Team Penske was shut out of pole contention.
Andretti posted a four-lap average of 231.351 mph to top the speed chart Saturday ahead of teammates Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe. The fastest nine advance to a Sunday shootout that determines the first three rows for the Indy 500.
The Andretti organization grabbed four of the slots and Honda drivers took eight of nine overall.
“Honda brought it this year,” Andretti said. “I was able to just go out and do my job and, man, when it all comes together, it is just beautiful.”
Hunter-Reay was second, Rossi third and Hinchcliffe fourth in the Andretti sweep.
It was a miserable effort for Chevrolet, which only placed 19-year-old rookie Rinus Veekay from Ed Carpenter Racing in the fast nine. The Chevy camp has struggled with straight speed since the Friday horsepower boost and all four of the flagship Team Penske entries will start deep in the field.
Josef Newgarden, the reigning series champion, was the highest-qualifying Penske driver at 13th. Will Power was 22nd, defending race winner Simon Pagenaud was 25th and threetime winner Helio Castroneves was 28th.
The race originally was scheduled for its traditional Memorial Day weekend date but pushed to Aug. 23 because of the pandemic.
The shootout for the pole will consist of the four Andretti drivers, Dixon, VeeKay, rookie Alex Palou of Dale Coyne Racing and Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Andretti likes his chances even as he initially worried his early speed wouldn’t hold. He’s winless in 14 previous attempts to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” and the famed Andretti family has just one win in the event, a 1969 Mario Andretti victory.
“The biggest hurdle when you come to Indy is speed,” Andretti said. “We had it. But then you start to wonder — is Chevy sandbagging? Is it too good to be true? Man, Honda brought it. We’ve got the speed down. We’ve just got to execute.”