Carpenter takes Indy 500 pole; Patrick 7th
INDIANAPOLIS — Ed Carpenter and Danica Patrick got exactly what they needed in qualifying Sunday. Now comes the hard part: Finding a way to victory lane next weekend.
After crashing Roger Penske’s front-row party by claiming his third Indianapolis 500 pole and watching his Ed Carpenter Racing teammate, Patrick, qualify seventh for the final start of her career, Carpenter turned his attention to hosting a bigger family celebration at the track his stepfather’s family owns.
“We’ve been in this position before and ran a good race. I thought we had a chance to win (when we won our) first pole, we didn’t really have the right game plan,” Carpenter said. “I feel like we’ve learned a lot. I feel like I’ve gotten better since 2014. We’ve got a great package with Chevrolet and ECR and hopefully we’ll be able to be in the mix (next) Sunday.”
Carpenter has largely taken a backseat to other prominent story lines this month:
⏩ Penske’s team earned its 200th career win at the Indy Grand Prix last week and was in position to claim the top three spots Sunday.
⏩ Patrick has drawn plenty of attention as she gears up for the final stop on her two-race farewell tour.
⏩ Helio Castroneves had the fastest car in qualifying Saturday and looked like he might break a tie for second by claiming his fifth career Indy pole. Instead, he’ll chase a record-tying fourth 500 win from the No. 8 starting spot.
⏩ The return of Bump Day left two popular drivers, James Hinchcliffe and Pippa Mann, searching for ways to get back into the field. There was no immediate indication whether either had a pathway back though one door closed when IndyCar president of competition and operations Jay Frye told the Associated Press the traditional 33-car field would not be expanded.
But Carpenter’s surprisingly quick four-lap qualifying run was all the rage Sunday.
He was the only driver to top 230 mph, the only one to turn four successive laps over 229 and the only one who beat Penske’s drivers. Carpenter’s average of 229.618 topped Simon Pagenaud’s 228.761 and Will Power’s 228.607.
Penske also took fourth place with Josef Newgarden.
Carpenter has five career starts from the first three rows but hasn’t finished higher than 10th.
Patrick enjoyed her final qualifying day on the 2.5-mile oval.
The first female to lead at Indy hasn’t competed in an IndyCar since 2011. But she looked relaxed on the first run of the pole
shootout and posted a number, 228.090, that looked like it might put her in the top three.
It’s the fourth time Patrick has qualified in the top nine; she finished fourth, eighth and 22nd the previous three times.
“How about Ed? That’s awesome. He deserves it,” Patrick said after watching her teammate’s run.
Takuma Sato, last year’s champion and the first Japanese winner at Indy, will start 16th from the inside of Row 6, after going 226.557.
Nevada City’s Alexander Rossi, the 2016 winner, lost speed dramatically on each of his final two laps and wound up 32nd at 224.035.
Sausalito’s JR Hildebrand (225.418) will start 27th in his eighth Indy 500.