INDIANAPOLIS — From an all-Penske front row to 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson’s rookie quest, to the second-most experienced row starting near the back, there are seemingly 500 miles worth of storylines in Sunday’s 108th Indianapolis 500.
For just the second time in the history of the race, the same team has swept the front row for the Indy 500. Both times, it has been Team Penske.
Scott McLaughlin starts on the pole with a four-lap average of 234.220 miles per hour in the No. 3 Pennzoil Chevrolet, 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power starts in the middle with a four-lap average of 233.917 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet. Last year’s winner, Josef Newgarden, qualified outside row one with a four-lap average of 233.808 mph in the No. 2 Pennzoil Chevrolet.
The only other time that has happened at the Indy 500 was 1988 with Rick Mears on the pole, Danny Sullivan in the middle and Al Unser on the outside of the front row.
Each driver has an excellent chance of giving team owner and IMS owner Roger Penske a record-extending 20th Indianapolis 500 win.
“As long as we don’t take each other out, the boss is happy,” McLaughlin said. “That’s the main thing.”
Keeping it clean while racing each other hard is very important on this three-car team. It’s what is expected at Team Penske.
“It really is nerve-wracking for the higher ups like Roger and Tim (Cindric, Team Penske president) to watch all three cars battle for a win. Tim has said it to me before. What can you do?
“You just hate to see an incident, but that he understands it’s such a big event that it really is every man for themselves.”
Newgarden is attempting to become the first driver to score back-to-back Indianapolis 500 wins since Helio Castroneves was the winner in 2001 and 2002.
“The car is fantastic,” Newgarden said. “This has been a pleasurable month so far, for the whole team. You can see every individual on this team has been really proud of the effort, as they should be.
“What they achieved on the weekend is not easy to do, to make the cars as quick as they are. This didn’t appear overnight. Everybody that has been here the last four years knows we’ve not had speed in the cars. We’ve been chipping away. Last year was a big step. We got close, but we were still off. I think this year we really turned the page.
“I’m proud for the team. Everybody is happy and excited. For me, it’s the opportunity to be here, to be in the race. It’s a big deal to run the Indy 500. Excited to see what we can do on Sunday.”
Back in 1988, there was a major advantage to starting on the front row because of the style of racing when several teams could dominate. But the Indianapolis 500 of recent decades is much more competitive throughout the field because of the design, horsepower and tires.
“I think you control what you can control,” McLaughlin said. “I just race my race and hopefully the cards fall my way.
“I’m pretty focused on just executing right now.”
The Larson Double
Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, has been a major focus of attention as he attempts to become the first driver to compete in the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 500 NASCAR Cup Series race on the same day since Kurt Busch in 2014.
Larson has been very impressive for Arrow McLaren/Hendrick Motorsports and starts fifth, the middle of row two. Larson qualified with a four-lap average of 232.846 mph in the No. 17 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet.
Larson’s attempt is being billed as the “Hendrick 1100.”
“I love craziness,” Larson said Saturday morning. “It doesn’t get crazier than running in the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.”
The Veteran Row
Looking for one of the most historic rows in Indy 500 history? Consider row seven, with Marco Andretti on the inside in the No. 98 Honda for Andretti Global, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves in the middle for Meyer-Shank Racing and 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon on the outside.
Row seven has 62 starts, five wins, 10 Indy 500 poles, 11,694 laps and 1,135 laps led.
That’s more starts than any other row in Indy 500 history since the row one in 1991. That lineup included Rick Mears on the pole, A.J. Foyt in the middle and Mario Andretti on the outside of the front row.
At that time, those drivers accounted for 72 previous Indy 500 starts, 9,246 laps, 1,414 laps led, eight wins and 13 Indy 500 poles.
Mears would go on that day to become the third four-time Indy 500 winner.
“Hopefully the row doesn’t take each other out,” Dixon quipped. “That would be interesting.
“The starting position is one thing. I think the way we look at it, even after last year the first stint, our tire issue, we were 28th or somethingand ended up to getting back to the top five towards the last stint.
“Anything is possible in this race.
“I think people always have issues. I think for us with where we’re starting as a group, you need to have no more issues from the outside part of what happened in qualifying.
“Yeah, hopefully we all move forward. Maybe this row will be fighting it out for the win.”
If Castroneves wins, he will become the first five-time Indy 500 winner. But he has a long way to get to the front from 20th.
“We thought we did a good job over the winter,” Castroneves said. “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.
“I feel very, very good. I understand what I need to do. Hopefully all three of us will go to the front.”
Over their careers, Castroneves has 23 Indy 500 starts, 4,398 laps completed, 326 laps led, four Indy 500 wins and four Indy 500 poles.
Dixon has 21 career Indy 500 starts, 3,896 laps completed, 665 laps led, 2008 Indy 500 victory and five Indy 500 Poles.
Andretti has 18 career starts, 3,400 laps completed, 144 laps led and one Indy 500 Pole.
Compare that with row one in 1991.
Mears started on the pole and had 14 starts, 2,068 laps completed, 399 laps led, three wins at that time and six poles. He would win his fourth Indy 500 that day.
Foyt had 33 starts, four wins, four poles, 4,626 laps and 556 laps led
Andretti had 25 Indy 500 starts, one win, three poles, 2,552 laps and 459 laps led.
Add it all up and it was 72 starts, 9,246 laps completed, 1,414 laps led, eight wins and 13 poles.
Palou A Sleeper
But the driver that may be lurking in the background ready to make his big move is two-time IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou.
He started 14th in the middle of row five but may be the coolest driver on the grid. He won the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on May 11.
He started on the Indy 500 Pole last year and was a leading contender for the victory until he was involved in a collision with Rinus VeeKay leaving pit lane on lap 107.
That dropped Palou back to 28th, but he was able to race his way back to a fourth-place finish at the checkered flag.
“Big difference, obviously, to last year,” Palou said of his qualification effort. “We don’t know if we lost or if we didn’t really gain or everybody improved a lot. Obviously, we lost some speed if you look at the qualifying speeds, we had last year and this year. We lost a little bit.
“On race trim, it doesn’t feel as different.
“We thought we did all the work we had to do to try and be a little bit better than last year, but maybe with the small changes that IndyCar had with the gear boxes, the housing and all that stuff, that just didn’t help us at all.
“Last year we were super comfortable on race, and I would say it was easy to pass. Otherwise dropping to 28th or something on lap 100. We were able to make passes and finish in the top 5.
“I think this year, we still are able to pass, but it’s not as easy. You need to work a lot more. You need to wait a lot more. So yeah, we’re struggling a little bit more. That doesn’t mean that we’re completely off, and especially at this race.
“We have some work to do.”
Palou may have some work to do, but plenty of time to get there in Sunday’s 108th Indianapolis 500.