IndyCar – Live Blog Pole Day End of Day

Welcome to Pole Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Going to bring you the live blog again today after a one day absence. We will have group times updated and will also update the blog if a member pulls their time in an attempt to reach the top nine. Doug is on the grounds today and will be taking stunning shots of the cars as always as we try and decide pole position for the 96th running of the Indianapolis 500.

12:22 – So we are at the 11th car to qualify with Graham Rahal. Big news items thus far is the blown engine for Savaadra and the heavy crash for Bryan Clauson. The Sarah Fisher Hartman driver was the first real accident of the month. Will Power currently sits on provisional pole position, but Ryan Hunter-Reay really thinks his car will have the power to knock Will off the top spot during the shootout. The weather is very warm and there is not much of a breeze on the track at the moment.

13:32 – 24th car is now qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. James Hinchcliffe currently sits P1. Tony Kanaan had his time removed after the last update for not having enough ballast. Tough break for TK who seems to never have any luck out there. Your top nine at this moment are: 27, 12, 28, 3, 2, 26, 67, 5, 98. Thankfully we have had no crashes since Clauson’s accident. Speaking of that accident, Sarah Fisher indicated the team will try and repair the damaged car as opposed to preparing the backup.

14:40 – We are back to practice conditions here at the speedway. Just informed that Mike Conway’s time was disallowed for being under weight. Dixon has made a couple runs since we opened up for practice. Katherine Legge has also been out a couple times as well. Simon de Silvestro indicated on Twitter that her HVM team will not bring their Lotus powered machine out today. Shootout contenders as it stands now: 27, 12, 28, 3, 2, 11, 26, 67, 5.

15:23 – After a short practice break, there are a number of cars setting times. Townsend Bell pulled his time as he was on the bubble. The move paid off as he was able to go faster. Katherine Legge just had a run waived off. That was her first attempt today. A host of cars are being rolled out to the pits as they look at making a last move into the top 9 or a move into the top 24.

18:00 – There it is….Ryan Briscoe has captured the pole position for the 96th running of the Indianapolis 500. A smoking 4 lap average of 226.484. Andretti Autosport was close but could not get over the Penske Power. James Hinchcliffe was very close but hurt himself on his final warmup lap pushing too hard. Ryan Hunter-Reay would make a final attempt but could not hold on for the average. That is all from the speedway today. Tomorrow is bump day and there will be little to no bumping. Entries are still welcome to make a run, but it is unlikely we will have any last second entries or any cars getting bumped out of the show.

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