Even if a team has extra stuff, IndyCar doesn’t let them just jump into a whole backup car after a wreck. They have to use parts they can reuse from the damaged car.
The “tub” is the main hard structural part of the IndyCar that everything else mounts to. If it’s badly damaged, the team has to move usable parts onto a replacement tub.
At the Indy 500, qualifying determines where you start. If you crash after qualifying, you don’t necessarily have to start at the back because there’s still time to get the car ready.
Before a driver can race, they have to go through IndyCar’s clearance steps. The host calls one of those steps “rookie orientation,” which is basically getting up to speed and getting approved.
If someone else has to drive instead of the original qualifier, that substitute driver usually has to start at the back. The car’s qualified number doesn’t change, but the driver does.
Term
car number stays in its position
Sometimes the car’s number keeps its qualifying spot, but the person driving it doesn’t. That’s why a substitute driver can be sent to the back even if the number was qualified higher.
Term
violation
A “violation” means the car didn’t meet the rules during inspection. When that happens, the team can get a penalty—like starting further back.
Juncos is the IndyCar racing team. If the host suspects something is wrong “at Juncos,” they mean the problem could be related to how the team assembled or set up the car.
Concept
one engine
The Indy 500 limits how many engines a team can use. If you only get one engine for the race, then the car’s performance can depend a lot on how good that one engine is.
Carb Day is the last practice before the Indy 500. It got its name from the old days when teams adjusted carburetors on Friday so the car would be set up for the race.
Fuel injection is a modern way of getting fuel into the engine using controlled valves and sensors. It reduces the need for the kind of manual tuning that carburetors required.
Race pace is how quickly a car can run consistently over longer stints during the race, not just in short qualifying bursts. Practice sessions are used to dial in race pace, and if Carb Day is disrupted, teams may have less time to find their optimal long-run setup.
When someone says a team was “in the dirt,” they usually mean they were not running very fast in practice. The host is saying those slower practice times might still reveal who’s actually preparing well for the race.
LIVE
Indycar Dad: You have IndyCar questions. I have IndyCar answers. This is the IndyCar News in five minutes, Indy 500 qualifying edition. And I'm IndyCar Dad. So the first question on everybody's mind is what's going on with Alexander Rossi and Patjo?
They both wrecked their cars in practice today. So what happens next? ⁓ The first thing I want to talk about is I hear people talking about them putting together their spare car or jumping in the spare car.
But spare cars are not allowed in IndyCar. They are allowed to have a bunch of spare parts, but they don't have a spare car. So what is going to happen now is the teams are going to have to decide which parts on the old car can be used and which parts cannot be used.
And most importantly, the tub, which is the main structural component of the car. ⁓ If they can reuse that, then they will just take broken parts off the tub and put new parts back on. If the tub is tubbed, what they call tubbed, meaning ruined, in which case Alexander Rossi's car is most certainly tubbed.
And I've heard Pato's car is tubbed. So what they will have to do is they have to figure out which parts off of that car are worthwhile for keeping. And then they will have to move all of those parts, essentially disassembling the whole car and reassembling it on a new tub.
So it's a mess. Also, they don't have a Pato's tub. Like, Padro doesn't have a spare tub. McLaren has a spare tub. So all of the body work and everything like that has to be reskinned and it's a giant, giant mess.
So these teams are in for a lot of work. They have a few days, but they're in for a lot of work. So, okay, second question is, do they start at the back since they crashed their cars, which in some races they would, but no, not at the Indy 500.
At the Indy 500, there's so much practice after qualifying. that if you do crash your car, you still maintain your starting position. So that's good. All right. I just heard that Alexander Rossi underwent some surgery on his finger and on his ankle and that they have the full intent of having him participate on Sunday at the race.
⁓ If he were to not participate, could they get a different driver in his seat? And the answer is that would be quite difficult. There are some drivers out there that only have to go through a refresher, meaning that driven an IndyCar in the last year, like Calum Eilat, Robert Schwartzman, Lena Slunkwist, and even Devlin D'Francisco, and even Marco Andretti drove an IndyCar last year.
So they would have to do some laps and sessions to prove that they can get up to speed. Hunter McElroy is the official reserve driver for ECR, but he's never been in the 500, so he would have to do one more step, which is a rookie orientation.
Is it possible? Eh, possible. But if there were any rain or anything like that on the final remaining practice day, carb day on Friday, it would be really risky. ⁓ so that that's that. So there's some risks there.
So would a substitute driver, the fourth question is what a substitute driver start upfront where Alexander Rossi qualified in second. And the answer to that is no substitute drivers go to the back. car number stays in its position, but drivers end up in the back.
So if. Alexander Rossi didn't make it, which sounds like he's going to make it. ⁓ a substitute driver would start at the back. So I hope that answers those questions. All right. I try to do my best.
I've read the entire rule book. So I try, if you come to me with questions, I can usually answer them for you. ⁓ the next thing was talk about qualifying, man. It was great. I went down there. I drove five hours to get there.
I drove five hours to get back. I left at 5 a.m. and I got home at 1230 in the morning. So. But I had a great time. love qualifying weekend and I couldn't make it on Saturday. And when they squished it all into Sunday, I was thrilled.
So let's talk about what's worth talking about. The top 10 is always worth talking about. Alex Blow on pole. You know, I like Alex, but I don't like seeing him dominate. Alexander Rossi second. That was a great run.
David Malukis third. You know, he's doing great in the Penske. Froh was in fourth, which you would think I'd be so excited about. But actually he was first place in the first session when there were 33 cars, first place in the second session when there were 12 cars, and then they kept making him start last.
Like when he was first place in the 33, he had to start last in the 12, fast 12. That's a big disadvantage, and he was first anyway. Then they had to start sixth in the top and the fast six. So anyway, finished fourth, so on the process.
But great result. Santino Ferrucci in fifth is a great result. AJ Foyt Racing always does well at the 500 and to see Santino qualifying fifth is amazing. Pado's in sixth, the rest of the McLaren's are trash, but Pado got it up to sixth.
Kiffin Simpson in seventh, a great result for him. ⁓ beat Scott Dixon who drew the number one straw. And Kiffin was kind of ⁓ ran much later in the session. So good run for Kiff. Connor Daly has been fast all month.
Eighth is okay. I would think from his results earlier in the month that he might do a little better than that. Scott McLaughlin in a Penske last year was on the pole. year is ninth. Tenth, my favorite qualifier of the year is Kyle Collette.
Rookie, you know, never driven at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and he's driving for AJ and he tenth place. The only thing is they found a violation in his car. So he's going to the back and Scott Dixon will be in tenth.
⁓ Interesting top for sure. So let's look at the bottom 10 and I'll go back from last because that's always interesting as well. Stingray Rob had a horrible run. Like his car hasn't been super slow, but his run was not right.
The car was not right. He was lifting all the way off the gas in a couple of the corners and it just looked like a handful. So I don't know if they didn't assemble it right or something's going over on with the car at Juncos, but I don't think anyone in the field could have driven that car.
any faster than 33rd place. It wasn't even close. Jacob Abel has been faster than 32nd most of the month. He didn't get a great draw. He drew 32nd, which the later you draw, the worse. ⁓ So, but he finished 32nd.
Dennis Hauger, Dale Coins cars have not been fast and Dennis was not that fast. Graham Rahal, the Rahal cars have struggled in the last few years and Graham has as well. He's 30th, Jack Harvey is 29th qualifier, but he'll end up at the back for a technical violation.
Connor and Jack are on the same team. Jack's car's been slower all month. You know, they only get one engine when you're doing just the 500. Maybe you got a good one, maybe Connor got a good one and Jack got a bad one, who knows?
Mick Schumacher's in 28th. I was really hoping it'd do well this season, but it's not really appearing to catch on to this very well, you know? And Catherine Legg in 27th. Now Catherine Legg started, she ran last in the field of 33, so she had the worst draw and really had an excuse to qualify last.
Her car hasn't been on track as much as some of the other cars, but she hammered down and she put a 27th, so that's pretty good. Kyle Kirkwood is 26th. Who knows something's going on in that car. It's not right.
I'm sure they're looking for some speed. 25th, Romain Grosjean, another Dale coin car is not doing well. And 24th is Joseph Newgarden. You know, he's one of the guys that I would have picked to win the race and he's starting 24th.
So that's not all that great. So, all right. So that's qualifying. Let's talk about what's next. Well, practice didn't go so well today. It got cut off because of the crash. And the next practice is the last practice called Carb Day.
It's on Friday. ⁓ It's called Carb Day, by the way, because back in the day, was when you set your carburetors, because the weather was most likely going to be the same between Friday and Sunday. So everybody set their carburetors, their carbs, on Friday, hoping the weather would be similar.
⁓ There was a lot of adjusting of carburetors back in the day. They didn't have fuel injection and computers. So. Carb day is the best chance to tune the car for the race, except the current weather report shows really heavy rain on Friday.
So we'll see. No carb day would be interesting because the teams have not had a ton of time to work on race pace, but we'll see. Some of the teams have, of course. If there is no carb day and I were you and trying to like win some money on the betting sites, I would go back and look at last like Tuesday and Wednesday's practice times.
and see how which team was doing well, which team was in the dirt. So that might give you some help because that's usually when they were working on race pace. ⁓ So that's good for the week. I'm not going to do winners and losers.
I think I already kind of covered it and I will do one more podcast probably before the 500. I'll be at the track on carb day. I'll be in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday watching the parade. And of course I'll be at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
If you see me. Please say hi. A lot of people have been saying hi to me and it really warms my heart. And I do love to meet new people that are IndyCar fans. I want to know who your driver is. I just want to know where you're from and that type of thing.
It's just something I really enjoy. I created this account to make more friends when I go to the IndyCar races and that means you. So if you see me at the track, say hi, I'm friendly. Thanks. This is IndyCar News in a lot more than five minutes, but I thought it was an important one.
Thanks for watching. You'll find me on all the major podcast networks, YouTube, and all that. Have a great one. See you at the races.
About this episode
After Indy 500 practice crashes, the hosts explain how IndyCar handles recovery—spare cars aren’t allowed, and the tub (the car’s main structural component) is what teams must address. They also cover how starting positions work when substitute drivers are involved and how technical violations during qualifying can send a driver to the back. The discussion then moves to qualifying outcomes, including Jack Harvey’s penalty, and why Carb Day practice matters for race tuning—especially with heavy rain in the forecast.
The conversation covers the impact of car wrecks on Indy 500 qualifying, the analysis of qualifying results, and the upcoming practice and race day preparation. It provides insights into the challenges faced by teams, the top and bottom 10 qualifiers, and the significance of the upcoming practice day.
Takeaways
Spare car rules and rebuilding wrecked cars pose challenges for Indy 500 teams.
Qualifying results reveal both advantages and disadvantages for drivers and teams.
Weather may impact race preparation, highlighting the importance of upcoming practice sessions.
