IndyCar: Complete Washout of The Second Day of Qualifying
May 12, 2008
Ron McQueeney/IMS
With complete washout of the second day of qualifying, remaining driver and race team matchups now becomes a chess match that will play out over the course of the next six days.
The loss of qualifying has moved 11 qualifying spots in the grid to Saturday, combining qualifying for the remaining 22 spots in the 2008 Indy 500 field to just one six-hour afternoon. Final bumping will then take place Sunday.
But not all of the driver opportunities end on a positive note.
Rookie Jay Howard, who had already run the first three races of the 2008 IndyCar Series season for Roth Racing, woke up Saturday morning and found his Indianapolis 500 dream ride pulled right out from under him.
Due to the decreased track time, loss of a team engineer and Howard’s being at Indianapolis for the first time, team owner Marty Roth elected to go with John Andretti in the No. 24 Roth Racing Dallara/Honda.
Andretti is reportedly bringing sponsorship with him, which is always a major factor in securing a ride. Roth has indicated that Howard will be back in the seat for the June 1 Indy Racing League race at the Milwaukee Mile.
The IRL has confirmed that there are now a total of 37 cars at the Speedway that have passed inspection and one of those is the No. 77 Penske Racing entry, which does not have a driver listed, nor has been out of the garage on Gasoline Alley.
Even with a handful of “wild card” entries, Thursday’s and Friday’s practice sessions are expected to be the busiest of the month as all of the teams here to race will be after as much track time as they can get.
