IMSA is a big North American organization that runs sports-car races. If someone wins in IMSA, it usually means they’re good at endurance racing and handling different race situations.
The “Atlantic series” refers to a North American open-wheel feeder series that historically helped drivers develop before moving up to top-level IndyCar competition. Winning there indicates strong racecraft and progression through the ladder.
An “Indy car” is a special kind of race car used in IndyCar. It’s built for fast racing—especially on ovals—more like a track weapon than a normal car.
“Time charts” are the leaderboard of lap times from practice or qualifying. If you’re at the bottom, you were one of the slower cars in that session.
Term
open wheel racer
An “open wheel racer” is someone who drives race cars where the wheels are exposed. These cars behave differently than normal cars, so the driving style is specialized.
“Endurance” in racing means you have to keep performing for a long time. It’s not just about being fast for a few laps—it’s about lasting the whole race.
A “speedway” is a big oval race track built for high-speed racing. Races there are all about staying fast for a long time and keeping the tires under control.
“Charlotte” here means the big oval track in Charlotte, North Carolina. The race there is tough in a different way than Indianapolis, especially over long distances.
“Rehydrate” means drink fluids again after being in the car and sweating. In long races, staying hydrated helps you stay focused and avoid feeling worn out.
“Sebring” is a well-known endurance race track and event. It’s the kind of race where you have to last a long time and keep the car under control.
Concept
speed charts
A “speed chart” is a way to track how fast cars are going during practice or qualifying. If the numbers look strong, it suggests the car might stay fast during the race.
“Indianapolis” is the Indy 500 setting—an oval track where races are long and strategy matters. Rain and storms can change everything about whether teams can finish.
Live Fast Motorsports is a racing team. The discussion is basically about whether their entry can keep running strong long enough to finish the Indy 500.
Company
HMD
HMD is the racing operation involved with the entry. The point here is that the team’s preparation and ability to run competitive pace will decide how well the car does.
AJ Foyt is a prominent IndyCar/Indy 500 racing figure and his organization has a long history in American open-wheel racing. Here, the host mentions a technical partnership, implying shared engineering support that can help a new team reach competitive pace.
A “technical partnership” means one racing group helps another with know-how and engineering support. In a big race like the Indy 500, that can help the car be fast enough to compete.
“Up to pace” means the car is fast enough compared to the rest of the field. In a long race, that matters because you have to keep that speed for many laps.
Here, “the double” means trying to race in both the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500 in the same year. It’s hard because it’s two huge races back-to-back with different cars and setups.
“Short ovals” are smaller oval tracks. The car setup that feels good there doesn’t always work the same way on bigger oval tracks, because the driving conditions are different.
The “hybrid” in IndyCar refers to the series’ hybrid power system used to add energy recovery and deployment capability. The hosts connect it to testing changes—specifically how IndyCar adjusted turbocharger boost pressure—which can strongly affect lap times and car behavior.
An “open test” is like a preseason practice event where teams try different setups and learn what works. It’s where they can discover problems before the real race weekend.
A turbocharger can push more air into the engine. “Boost pressure” is how hard it’s pushing—more boost can mean more power, but it can also make the car behave differently and be tougher to drive.
Concept
turn one wall
A “turn one wall” means a crash into the track barrier at the first corner. On oval tracks, that area is hard on the car, so crashes there can cause serious damage.
Mileage limitations are rules that cap how much driving/testing teams are allowed to do. If a team only races the Indy 500, those limits can make it harder to get enough practice.
Dialing the boost means setting how hard the turbo pushes the engine. More boost can make the car faster, but it has to be tuned carefully so it doesn’t cause problems.
Trap speed is the car’s top speed measured at a specific spot on the track. If the car is faster there, it usually means it has strong acceleration and/or low aerodynamic drag.
Pole speed refers to the speed associated with the car that earns pole position—typically measured during qualifying. In this context, the hosts are talking about how fast the pole-winning car could be given track and weather conditions.
The pit lane is the area next to the track where the crew works on the car during the race. If you’re in the wrong spot or leave at the wrong time, it can cost you positions.
Pit road is the official name for the lane where cars slow down to pull into the pits. Crews can work on the car there, but drivers have to follow speed rules.
Racers have to guess how much gas they’ll burn during the race. If they guess wrong, they may have to slow down to save fuel or they might not have enough to finish, which hurts their result.
Fuel burn is just how fast the car uses gas while racing. If the car uses more fuel than expected, the team has to adjust strategy to avoid running out.
Abel Motorsports is a racing team. The host is saying this driver’s program is run by Abel Motorsports, with help from other people. In racing, who runs the team can affect how well the car is prepared.
The “IndieNext team” is another racing group helping with the car’s crew. The host is basically saying it’s not the same as being fully partnered with another team. More support usually means more help with getting the car dialed in.
Gearing is the way the car’s engine speed is matched to the wheels. Changing it can make the car feel quicker off the corner or allow higher top speed. Teams adjust it to help the car run the right speed at the right time during the race.
“Impact” here means the car hit something or got into a crash. Even if the car still runs, it can affect parts like alignment and suspension. The host is saying that after that kind of event, they didn’t see any obvious problems.
Overheating means the car is running too hot. That can hurt performance and potentially cause damage if it keeps happening. The host is saying one driver had that problem on day one, but it improved later.
A “last row shootout” is a special qualifying session for the cars that didn’t qualify well enough to lock in their starting spots. The fastest in that mini-session earns the remaining spots. It’s basically a do-or-die chance to get into the race.
Brand
Aero McLaren
This is talking about McLaren’s racing team/entry. They’re comparing which of their cars and drivers was fastest during the session.
How much fuel is in the car changes its weight. More fuel usually makes the car slower and harder to change speed quickly, so lap-time comparisons depend on fuel load.
Temperature changes how the car behaves—especially the tires and sometimes the engine. Teams have to adapt because grip and performance can shift when it’s colder.
“Push to pass” is a button/feature in IndyCar that gives a short burst of extra power. Drivers have to choose the right moment to use it so they can pass other cars.
They’re talking about a qualifying format change where drivers get more than one chance to set their starting position. That affects how teams plan their attempts on different days.
They say Saturday’s qualifying determines where most of the field starts—specifically positions 16 through 33. Drivers use that session to improve their grid spot before Sunday.
They’re talking about trying to get into the top 12. In IndyCar qualifying, that kind of cutoff usually determines who advances or locks in a better starting spot.
The “fast 12 shootout” is a special qualifying round for the quickest cars. They run again to decide who starts up front and who starts a few rows back.
Some teams don’t use the same engine for everything. They may save a fresh engine for the important parts of the weekend so it’s at its best when it matters most.
After hard runs, the engine can get very hot. Circling slowly helps move air through the cooling system so the engine can cool down before the next session.
Qualifying is how drivers earn their starting position for the Indy 500. It’s hard because the cars are so fast that even very small speed differences can decide who starts where.
“Bumping” is when someone goes faster later and knocks another driver out of the starting lineup. That means the earlier driver can lose their spot even after they thought they were done.
A “top 15 shootout” is basically a second qualifying round for the fastest drivers. They run again to decide the final starting order.
LIVE
What is up race fans? It's another edition of The Pit Straight. I'm Kyle Benjamin along with Alex
Ginz, Wyatt Watson, and my good buddy Chris Daherty. Chris, welcome to the show. Long time
listener, first time joiner. Glad to have you here. Chris and Wyatt have been at the Speedway
the last couple days. Alex, I know you're headed there this weekend. I will be watching things
from the command center here in Tennessee. Bit of news to start the racing day.
Catherine Legge announcing that she's going to run the double. Good for her.
Fantastic. Absolutely. It's fantastic that she's doing this. I mean, it was questioned at Watkins
Glen when she ran with live fast racing. Obviously got the HMD Motorsports, AJ Foyt collaborated
33rd entry to make a full field. And now it's turned into probably the most thrown together
double attempt I've seen in my life, but a double attempt. It's still a double attempt. And
much less the sixth one of all time. It's the first one, of course, by a woman. And Catherine Legge
has said in years past that this is something she wanted to accomplish in a racing career and seeing
her do this. I mean, even in an impromptu way is very impressive for that whole team all around.
And definitely something to be excited for for all Motorsport fans going into the Memorial Day weekend.
And great for her sponsor to ELF Cosmetics to have a presence in NASCAR. I know they
they really enjoyed their activation last year as Catherine's partner for the 500 that got them a
huge boost in all kinds of demographics. And so then now stepping into the NASCAR world,
that's going to be great for them and always wonderful to see another partner join the Motorsports
world. And I, you know, this is a feather in the cap for Catherine Legge. Imsa winner.
She's been racing cars forever. She's gotten NASCAR experience. And now she's doing something
that Danica Patrick never attempted. Guys who could have done it, Juan Pablo Montoya
never took a swing at it. AJ Almaninger had had an opportunity and didn't,
you know, didn't capitalize on it. It's cool. I love it.
It's, you know, a lot of people for we talk about Catherine's Indy car record and her NASCAR record
and people kind of shrug at her. Or in the worst case scenario, kind of are, you know, actively
dismissive or hostile toward the idea of her participating in these series. And it's easy for
it's easy to forget that, like you said, Kyle, she is a multi time Imsa winner. She was a multi
time winner in the Atlantic series back when that existed in the, in the split era. This is a
world class sports car racing driver that we're talking about here. And, you know, she was one
of the stronger cars. The last time she ran in 2024 throughout practice and qualifying before
before the race happened and came apart on it or the way it did. She's got a chance to set the
record straight in a big way here. Yeah. And the car has shown flashes of speed. I think it, you
know, it's hard for someone to step into an Indy car and try to get up to speed right away, but
through two days of practice, you know, she's she only ran here in 73 laps today, bottom of the
time charts, but, you know, no, no concerns about missing the race and knowing how good the AJ
Foyt program is. I don't think she'll have any trouble in the race. She's got excellent race
craft. It's not like it's her first 500 or anything. She's got a number of them under her
belt, accomplished open wheel racer. So now it's just, you know, now it's a question of endurance.
Is her, you know, is her Indy car going to last? Can she survive 500 miles at the speedway?
And then can she survive 600 miles in Charlotte? You know, Kyle Larson tried this,
he's tried this twice now and he didn't finish.
The biggest thing is going to be, I think the issue is going to be Charlotte. When you go from
Indianapolis to Charlotte, you have to have a period of time where you're going on the plane
and you have to rehydrate. I remember Tony Stewart talking about all the IVs he had to do.
Kurt Busch said the same thing back when he did the double back in 2014, which
like you forget, he did the double back in 2014 as well.
I do not know what her training regimen was because it's going to take a lot more, you know,
endurance to do this. I know, granted, she's done the Rolex 24. She's done seabring. She's done all
these different endurance races and all, but this many miles in a single day is more than what most
drivers do in like several days in a row. So, and you're doing it in two completely different
cars, set up completely different ways. I'm worried about making sure that she'll be fine,
like for the rest of like the first half of Charlotte, she'll be fine for the last little bit
is what is what I'm thinking about because like you said, this is something that was announced
today. It probably was in the works though for a while, but like I said, we don't know what her
training regimen was. So, I'm hoping that everything works out just fine. I'm wondering how, I'm
wondering if everything works well at Indianapolis, she completes the race, maybe down a couple of
laps because she was, she has been, you know, in the top half of the time, you know, speed charts and
could she do more laps than Kyle Larson did last year?
Or the year before. Well, he didn't even, in the 25, he didn't even turn a single lap.
The first year, 24, he didn't do a single lap in Charlotte, but yeah, because of the rain.
I think that's going to play a factor again though. Like I've seen the weather next week,
looks a lot more rainy here at the Speedway rather than what we've seen over the first week of
practice has been just absolutely ideal conditions to race the Indianapolis 500. We're getting
thunderstorms galore all week long and the last day of that round of like 50% chance of rain
comes on that Sunday. It's going to play a factor again, I think,
unfortunately when it comes to this attempt and it'll be hinging upon if the weather can hold for
the start of the Indianapolis 500 and we can get at least a full distance, at least the full
distance and if not half the distance. Everything we're saying here assumes that that number 78
live fast motorsports car is going to make it to the end of the 600. I mean, there's a real discrepancy
between the quality of the teams that she's doing this for. I'll say it. Yeah, and she's running it
and she's running with HMD who's doing their first ever attempt at the Indy 500 and I'll be it with
again, technical partnership with AJ Foyt and their cars are fast, but this is primarily an HMD
operation when it comes down to who we're talking about here and that's hinging upon that program
being up to pace and up to standards for the Indianapolis 500.
Well, it's not Lotus. I'll put my money down on it. It's not Lotus. You know, this is at
Jean-Elyse and Simone Di Silvestro in 2012 and they ran four laps and then were politely asked to
leave the track. Don't you put that evil on her, Kyle Benjamin. Don't you put that on us.
Just, you know, it's worth mentioning because Catherine was in that race driving the number
seven true car entry. Okay, so moving on from from Catherine Legge in the double, which is, you
know, it's one of those the beauty of the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500 is that historically
drivers, racers have shown up to run that race and we're getting that we are treated as race fans
to that experience again. Catherine showing up to run this and then she's going to run the Coke 600
as the good Lord intended. Biggest surprise so far and I have dogged him and their team here
repeatedly on this show because they've deserved it, but Graham Rahall p4 on the time charts with a
226 835. Now granted, his two teammates are, you know, 30th and 31st respectively to Kuma Sado
and Mick Schumacher. Bit more of a surprise for Sado, not so much for Schumacher, his first
experience at the Speedway, but, you know, Louis Foster in 16th. So Rahall Letterman Lanagan's kind
of got him spread out through the field. These are all toe laps that we're talking about,
but it is good to see Graham higher up on the speed chart. They have been very honest with
themselves and saying that they've had a lot of work to do, particularly on short ovals. Now,
not everything can transfer over to the larger ovals to super speedways, but there's one thing
I think that we should make absolutely abundantly clear when it comes to Rahall Letterman Lanagan
racing. At the open test last year, for ahead of the 500, the first one with the hybrid,
IndyCar increased the turbocharger boost pressure on the second day of running.
In that session to Kuma Sado set the fastest lap of the entire open test and then probably put it
in the turn one wall and the Rahall team had to rebuild an entirely new car. To Kuma then qualify
Second. Oh yeah, second. That's right. So I think that might have set some wheels in motion.
They might be, they might have got, I don't know if they got new cars. I cannot speak to that,
but I think that was a wake of call to the entire Rahall team that maybe what they had wasn't working.
They needed to do a complete overhaul. Maybe they got new cars. Maybe they simply stripped everything
down to set everything to aerodyne to get it fixed. I don't know. But what I can tell you is that
that in my opinion, should have been a wake of call if it wasn't. And I think we're seeing the,
might be seeing the fruits of that with Graham Rahall. He's gotten two podiums this year.
He's done very well this year and deserves his props for all of that.
Part of it's also their personnel changes of the off season. I think his really bore fruit for
this Rahall, Letterman, Lannigan team, but more specifically for Graham Rahall, like you said,
with the two podiums and the hell of a run on Phoenix. That was a big wake of call for me
and that team specifically. Nick Schumacher qualifying fourth for that race was also big.
You're, we're watching Rahall Armand Lannigan again, like with the toe laps, it's kind of hard to
gauge unless you see someone frequently topping that timesheet like an Alex Blow or like a Conner
Daily, who should be, I just talked to him before getting on this show, has never felt better about
any car he's ran on the Indianapolis 500 in that machine. But for the Rahall guys,
seeing Rahall kind of, it's one of those guys that's been doing consistently good toe laps.
That's another good stud to put on the jacket of the Rahall Armand Lannigan team.
We can't forget that Graham was on track to win this race in 2021.
Right. Yeah. He is good at the Speedway. When the car is good, he's good. I think he finished,
we finished in the top five in 2020. At least 2018, 2020. He's, I think it's 18. I don't know.
He was 10 to 18. He was 13 in 2011. He was on the front stretch with Will Power. I think
when Will won, he climbed over the wall and celebrated with Will. That's what I'm thinking of.
Yeah. He's always good there.
Always. So he knows, he's got the experience. I think he's got the credentials. He knows how
to race the track as long as his car is up under. That's the tough part with this team at the Speedway
over the past few years. And there's no bumping for him to really worry about this year.
I think that's really set that 15 team free from having to stress about that worry and
now focus on good race pace. That can maybe transition to hopefully good qualifying pace
for that team. We will see when it comes to fast Friday when we get there. But again,
it's just, it's good vibes all around so far, at least for the 15 team. I'd like to see a little
bit more out of Takuma Sado. But right now, with them being a IndyCar 500 only program,
they are a little bit, they're a little bit limited in how much practice they can do with the
mileage limitations. So once we get close to the five and I think they'll start showing their
hands a little more and see if Takuma has that same pace that we saw last season.
No, I never do. Even in the years, even like in 24 where Ray Hall struggled through qualifying
horribly again, that 75 car was never at risk. Yeah, there's another guy who knows exactly how
he knows how to get around that, that track. Speaking of, I want to talk about Connor daily
real quick. It's a tow speed, same with Polo. We got two cars over 228. The math on dialing the
boost is between eight and 10 miles per hour. If everything you get the right wind, the clouds are
cooperating. You could see 240.
241. For a trap speed, I would say yes. For an average speed, I think we're looking more around.
Okay, so it depends on temperature and cloud cover. I think if we get the right temperature
and cloud cover, we could see and assuming that the teams have really ironed out their
homework because we're on year two of the hybrids at Indianapolis. I think it's very possible we
could see 233, 234s for pole speed. If somehow like the temperatures really, really go down enough,
there might be 234 and a half close to 235 average, but the trap speeds are where you're
going to see the biggest numbers. As of right now, Connor daily has the fastest
modern era trap speed at Indianapolis at 243.7. We could get close.
I want to say three years ago. Okay. Yeah, when he had, when he led all those laps.
That was 2021 that he led all those laps. The 2023, he was in the Ed Carpenter racing.
Yeah. Yeah, 2021 because he was really competitive until he hit that wheel that flew off Ray Hall.
That was 2021. Yes. Yeah, that was when it was not. Yes, it was. It was Kyle Benjamin. Yes, it was.
That was the year that if my memory is correct, Sage Kerm and Will Power were both in the last
Rose shootout and Charlie Kimball and R.C. Enerson went home. Wait a minute, really? Yeah, 2021.
And if my memory is correct, Sage Kerm went from 31st to 10 ninth.
I mean, that's, whoa, that was a screamer. I got it. That was my post.
even better saying, yeah, this, that was all from like just memory.
Wow. So, wow, because I remember Sage was my police story. I went right to him on pit road.
Crazy. That's crazy story. Wow. It was 2020 when daily ran that. I'm thinking of the 47
that looked like the, the P 47 that had the USAF livery on it.
So the 2020 run in 2020. So in 2020, he ran the Bell X one livery and he crashed coming up at turn
four and then I'll ask you spun and avoidance. 2021 was the red nose on it and they, it was all
rubbered up from that tire. Yeah. Cause, cause Ray Hall was in control of the race and then they
didn't get, was it the left rear on the left rear? He wasn't even out of pit lane before it came off
and he spun up and hit the wall out of two. Yeah. It was going to the home up lane. Yeah.
Guys, it's hell getting old. I tell you, holy cow. That was, I can't believe that I could have sworn
that was 2024. No way back. Connor was with dry and run. No, he was with Cusick and 24 dry and
run bolt in Cusick. It was a partnership. Okay. He went from like 20, like he went from like this,
I want to say the 10th row, like 28th or 29th. I want to say it might have been 29th to 9th.
I'll get it right here. 29th to 10th. All right. And look, we all know what happened with RHR
into last year. The running theme here is that dry and run bolt is going to be fast.
They are because they don't, and we were thinking about this earlier today.
RHR's issue last year, they miscalculated their fuel, which when you're running,
you know, you've got a one-off team, math happens. But I also imagine they were probably pushing that
engine as far as it could possibly go, knowing that it wasn't going to have to do anything other
than 500 miles. And maybe their fuel burn was a little bit more than expected.
So speaking of RHR, I had two down for our biggest surprise after two days. One of them
was Jacob Abel, big rebound from last year where he didn't miss the show. The car has,
he's been fast. He was up the chart yesterday. He was up the chart today, you know, for a program
that is an Abel Motorsports kind of deal that they're doing themselves. It's being crewed by
their IndieNext team. You know, they've got some support, but that's not a true affiliated
program like it was last year. Good for Jacob. Yeah. And I talked to him after the session,
and he really feels good about this car. And it's shown competitive speed. There's only one
change they're looking for in that car. And that's just tweaking the gearing. And
he thinks if they get that, they're on pace with all these guys running that were running
today in the 227s, 226s, and he has a competitive car to run in the Indianapolis 500. I'm
optimistic, honestly, because it's gone off the ground on the right foot. We've seen him race,
impact, race by himself, and no glaring issues. There's been other issues with guys like
Dennis Auger in the first day of practice. Had a little overheating. He got over that today, but
we've seen nothing alarming coming out of that stable for, and again, being an Indie500 only team,
team that's returning since, what, 2023 when RC Anderson ran with them?
24.
Four. Yeah, that's right. It's interesting to see how this team is going.
No, 23.
Yeah, I'll go ahead.
Remember, 2023 was the year that Graham got bumped. Enerson actually made the field without
having to go to the last row shootout.
That's right.
And all the years all run together.
Harvey, that bumped them out.
It's all just one long nightmare at this point.
I've had to refresh my memory about that myself, so yeah, I get it.
I'm impressed by those guys, though.
Able Motorsports not hitting the panic button, but you know who should be at this point?
Aero McLaren.
Nolan Siegel is their fastest car right now.
I would disagree. I still think it's Pat O'Hore. That's the fastest.
They might have not been doing as much group running this day around.
I think Ryan Hunter Ray has pretty good pace when it comes down to it, and that obviously
didn't show today, but the day before was fine. There's still plenty of practice to go
around for Aero McLaren. I wouldn't go out and say that Siegel's their fastest
car in that four-car fleet right now. I mean, certainly not Christian Lundgaard with how he
is on Oval, so.
Based on today's time now, we don't know what they were trying.
Were they working on race pace? What were they doing?
But Siegel ran 83 laps, Lundgaard ran 55, award ran 61, and RHR ran 75.
Award was also top of the non-tosh charts, but we still don't know exactly how much
fuel he had on board and how much the colder temperatures helped him.
Because the colder temperatures helped everybody today. It was actually pretty cool with the
speedway today, but the one thing that shifted around was the wind.
So I'm not sure how much that actually really helped him.
I thought it was Kirkwood though, it was top of the no-toe times at a 2.32.
No-toe today is Pato.
Oh, wow, he's still at the end.
No, he was on top for a while. Kirkwood was on top yesterday.
Yeah, Kirkwood was on top. Oh, he's probably think I'm talking.
Kirkwood was yesterday. Overall, yeah, yesterday he was there.
That's right. That's right.
Well, yesterday, Pato was 12th fast.
Yeah, Kirkwood is top of the combined on-toe results, which I don't even know if they
in IndyCarve put those out last year. So, wow, that's actually what I knew.
That's a lot of data to go through. It's a lot of data, and there's no more to come.
Kyle, let me tell you, these two just suck every little bit of energy out of me.
Oh, I know, I know. Chris is penchant for being able to draw from the depths of his memory,
the most arcane in IndyCarve Facts. It's the best party trick I have ever seen.
I might have a story about that for the ending of this podcast.
Oh, God.
So, I mean, I guess we'll see how practice unfolds, but I think through two days,
having half your fleet outside the top 20,
she doesn't send the right message. It really doesn't.
Alex Palos still freaking looms, though. He was top yesterday after what he was in the garage,
all freaking practice session and gets out there.
And comes up and lays down a heater. Yeah.
Not even in ideal conditions. It was hot as the sun's earth in Indianapolis yesterday,
compared to how it was today. And he's right there behind Conrad Ailey in second,
like by six, almost like 5.400 of a mile per hour. It's still there.
The time difference between the two of them, if my memory is correct, was 93,000 of a second.
It's correct. That's correct as I'm looking at it.
Well, let's just hope that there are no local yellows in the 500.
All right. Or NASCAR is a caution system from a couple of years ago in order.
Don't want that from the brickyard.
Well, that covers all the topics I had written down.
I mean, should we predict who's going to get the poll, though? We got qualifying this weekend.
We do. We might as well go after that.
Oh, it's not going to be Robert's question. Come on. Cut. Cut.
Yeah, everything hurts.
It's going to be. I'm going to say, say David Malukas.
I'd lean Malukas. I, you know, I'd be willing to go Conrad Ailey. Historically,
Renus VK is going to be up. There was a stat of the, he has started inside the top six and five out
of the six in the 500s he started, which is. And last year was kind of was a wash from Dale
Corner racing. Yeah. So. I'm going to say, I like Kyle Collette a lot. He's,
Kyle Collette's my underdog watch, though. I'm going to say, but Collette's going to be my top
qualifying rookie. I like that. I'm with that.
Cause what you have, you have Schumacher, you have Collette or enable Jacob Able.
Yeah. It's Kyle Collette. He's, he's going to make the fast 12 at least. I'm willing to say that.
Is it the fast 12? Is it the fast six? Is it the fast 33?
Is it the final 15 and everyone?
That's, uh, yeah. So, you know, Indy car doing
their best to keep things confusing for everyone. By the way, we still don't understand how push
to pass works now. So in your brackets, neither, neither does well power apparently.
They're going to have the drivers come up onto a stage and pull numbers out of bottles of milk
like they did for the Budweiser shootout back in the day. There you go. Uh, if you are, you know,
just catching up with the, all the Indy car news of the week, because there is no bumping,
there is now an extra round of qualifying. Uh, send and, you know, correct me if I'm,
you know, when I misspeak here, cause I don't have all the details. Exactly. Alex, that's,
uh, everybody gets a qualifying run on Saturday, which will set positions 16 through 33.
Right? Yes. The other 15 cars get to then go out and qualify again on Sunday with the,
or is it the bottom three out of the top 15? So then go run to try to be in the top 12.
So the way that they have it is business in 16 through 33 done. They don't go out on track at
all on Sunday. Um, the top nine cars are locked into the fast 12 shootout positions 10 through 15
will qualify from slowest to fastest. 13 40 to 15 fastest will make up row five. The three cars
that are fastest of those six cars that go out will move into the fast 12 shootout. And then
the process just repeats from last year. So if you're ostensibly, if you end up in the bottom,
was it six or bottom five? Yeah. Bottom six, I guess at the top 50, whatever it is.
Top 15. Yeah. You could end up having to make three qualifying runs on Sunday. Yes. That's
correct. Yep. Wild, which is not great for an engine. Right. But they also just have quality
engines. So it's not going to hurt your race car necessarily. But if you have to go out and try
to get into the fast 12, you're not making the front row. It depends. It depends on what you
mentioned qualifying engines. So there are some teams that have a one engine for the entire month
program and some teams that have a two engines for the month program. So if you have a two engine
for the month program, you'll get a new engine installed right before car day.
That's insane. That's typically how it works. I just had to copy the screenshots from the
rule book because someone asked about it on Facebook and I was like, well,
instead of me just trying to describe it, here's what the rule book says.
Man, I know about it. Oh, and also after the fast 12 shootout,
that settles who's going to be in the top six and who's going to be in rows three and four for
position seven through 12. The top six will have an opportunity to circle around the speedway around
100 miles an hour just to get air flowing through the vents on the cars to get the engines cooled
down, which actually does help. It actually does help because as long as you're not pushing the
gas down really, really hard and you're just circulating around, you aren't able to actually
get enough air through the engine through the radiator section to cool it down a bit more.
They did that a lot in 23.
Look, gentlemen, I'm just happy we're all here together.
Right. You know, hey, there's qualifying. It's the greatest for laps in racing.
Hi, I said the thing. I would contend qualifying for the Indy 500 is the hardest thing to do in sports.
I mean, look, in 2023, when Harvey bumped Rahal out, what was the difference there?
71 thousandths of a mile an hour over the course of four laps? I mean, it is.
It's like 18 inches at the end of the day. Yeah.
18 inches over the course of 10 miles. Yeah.
Crazy. It's something. The headline's not exaggerating.
It is not. I think it's the hardest feat in professional sports.
And the razor, because the razor's edge is so thin, asks Sebastian Borday.
Oh, yeah. 2017.
There's not going to be the, what I'm going to miss the most though is there's not going to be
that emotion when we get to Sunday and there's with no bumping. That is,
that is something we're going to miss a lot. No, no, but we have a top 15 shootout that
that replaces bumping. Well, like it's made for TV. Let's be, let's be real.
Let's be careful. Let's be very careful here. There was plenty of emotion when Robert
Schwartzman won that poll last year. Yeah. There was plenty of motion when
Hinchcliffe wanted the year after he almost died in practice. I mean,
there'll be, it's, it is, it's the Indy 500 man. There'll be plenty of emotion.
There'll be emotion on the positive end there for sure. I'm just, I'm,
I'm looking on that other end and saying, man, just send the first time covering here.
That's, that is a bummer that we're missing out on that end of it. But yes, I'm very excited for the,
to see the elation from whoever, even what, even Alex Palo, when he won his poll,
lot of emotion from that poll that he got. Yeah. Cause they know how hard it is when he won. Yeah.
I'd say just as much as when he won the 500, he had that much emotion.
It is the hardest feet in sports. That's for sure. So, so our poll, we're kind of on agreement. It's
going to be one of these 33 drivers. Oh, thank you for that Kyle. I mean, yeah.
Yes. Catherine like has a chance, right? I, I don't, like I said, I'm, I'm rolling with
Malukas all the way here, I think he's, he was third and fastest in practice today too.
I think Pado's going to be one to put more on the line, especially after how last year's qualifying
was. And he's come so close to winning this race. I think the, I mean, I don't, there's only one
other driver in this field, I think, other than Pado that wants to win this race more than him.
But that driver, I don't think he's going to get the poll, but yeah, Pado's my pick for poll.
Okay. So we've got two from Malukas, one for Pado, Alex.
Oh, I still say Sado. I'll stick with it. Okay. So Sado, Malukas or Pado award. Well,
we will reconvene this time next week to preview the 500. We'll see who was right about this.
We'll discuss any other news that happens between now and then. But until then,
thank you all for watching. I'm Kyle. He's Alex, Chris and Wyatt, Chris and Wyatt are at the
Speedway. Alex will be there soon heading over next couple of days. I imagine. Get back here.
Wyatt is still at the Speedway. I'm still at the Speedway. We commend you for being there
and waving the front stretch flag, but you can check out all our coverage of everything happening
at the Speedway and the NASCAR All-Star Race at Dover this weekend.
Qualifying is going to be more interesting than that. And we'll just leave that comment kind of
all by itself. So until next Wednesday, you guys have a great one. Thanks for watching. We'll talk
to you next time. Thanks, Kyle. See ya.
About this episode
From Catherine Legge’s rare “double” attempt to Indy 500 qualifying math, the hosts connect endurance, weather, and hybrid-era development to what separates the front of the field. They weigh whether a Live Fast Motorsports entry can survive 500 miles, explain why Charlotte travel and rehydration matter, and break down how boost, wind, and fuel load distort lap-time comparisons. Qualifying gets framed as brutally tight—down to thousandths—especially with the new top-15 shootout format.
