ANDERSON, Ind. — No family has a stronger connection to the Unified Group Services Little 500 than the Butler family from Florida.
The field of 33 cars will be led by Tyler Roahrig, seeking a third Little 500 victory, Davey Hamilton Jr. and rookie Colton Bettis.
Landon Butler, 16, became the fourth member off the family to compete at Anderson Speedway. The four members of the family have made 50 starts in the Little 500.
Landon’s effort hit a snag on Thursday when the team found water in the oil line.
After getting another powerplant from Aaron Pierce, Landon Butler bumped his way into the 33-car starting field on Friday.
“It’s so cool,” Butler said after his qualifying run. “Our family has so much history here with my grandfather, father and uncle.”
Butler was the first car out Friday and turned four laps in 45.831 seconds, locking into the starting field.
Stan Butler made 26 starts in the Little 500 from 1978 through 2014. His best effort was starting from the pole position in 1988 and driving to a second-place finish.
“I never expected three generations to be racing at Anderson,” Stan Butler said.
Shane Butler has made 13 races starting in 2005 with a best finish of eighth in 2016.
Keith Butler has started 10 Little 500 races with the first coming in 1992. His career best showing was fifth in 1998.
With a fast track several drivers withdrew their times to make another qualifying run including Garrett Sanders, who will start 16th, David Goodwill and Brady Allum.
It was a day of mixed emotions for Chris Jagger, who was bumped, made the field briefly before being knocked from the race by Jake McElfresh.
There was a driving change in the Hoffman Racing entry with Justin Grant suffering a shoulder injury and is being replaced by veteran driver Billy Wease.
Because of the driver change Wease will start 33rd in the field.
Nathan Bryd was bumped from the field and with a prior commitment was not able to attempt to remake the field.
Qualifying results for 77th running of the Unified Group Services Little 500 at Anderson Speedway. Fastest 15 drivers are locked into Saturday’s race.
The field:
1)Tyler Roahrig; 2) Davey Hamilton Jr.; 3) Colton Bettis; 4) Dakoda Armstrong; 5) Kyle O’Gara; 6) Emerson Axsom; 7) Kody Swanson: 8) Chris Neuenschwander; 9) Jackson Macenko; 10) Shane Hollingsworth; 11) Kyle Hamilton; 12) Jake Trainor; 13) Donnie Adams Jr.; 14) Bobby Santos III; 15) Taylor Ferns; 16) Garrett Sanders; 17) Jake McElfresh; 18) CJ Leary; 19) Brian Vaughn; 20) Anthony Nocella; 21) Derek Bischak; 22) Rylan Gray; 23) Landon Butler; 24) Justin Grant; 25) Justin Harper; 26) Brady Allum; 27) Tim Creech; 28) Logan Seavey; 29) Scotty Adema; 30) Ryan Newman; 31) Bryan Gossel; 32) David Goodwill; 33) Tony Main; 1A) Chris Jagger; 2A) Nathan Byrd
