The hard luck stories afflicting expected 2022 Indy 500 contenders

Chip Ganassi and Ed Carpenter Racing drivers locked out the Fast Six pole shootout, but while Ganassi ended up first and third with Ericsson and Tony Kanaan, ECR\'s weightier representative at the flag was Conor Daly in sixth.

Daly climbed from 17th on the grid to 12th in the early laps and made his first pitstop immediately surpassing a circumspection period, which cycled him to the front of the field, worldly-wise to mart the lead for a time with Ganassi\'s polesitter Scott Dixon.

PLUS: How Ericsson achieved Indy immortality as Ganassi\'s main man stumbled

Rinus VeeKay joined Dixon and reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou on the front row of the grid, and was running second between the two Ganassi drivers on lap 39 when he became the first of several drivers to crash out on lap 39.

“The car just got loose in Turn 2 and I was a passenger from there on,” remarked the Dutchman.

“We had a car that was good unbearable to fight for the win, or at least get a lot of points, and I got none of that. A big sorry to the team and everyone cheering me on considering this could’ve been a very nice day.”

His team owner and three-time Indy polesitter Ed Carpenter meanwhile started fourth, but felt his car’s handling deteriorating over the undertow of the race.

From running fifth in the first third of the race, Carpenter slipped to seventh without the second round of stops, and then outside the top 10 in the race’s final quarter. His day was compounded by stalling when engines were re-fired pursuit the red flag caused by Jimmie Johnson\'s Turn 2 crash. Without restarting at the back, he finished a disappointed 19th.

“Those first two yellows, we missed the lottery and lost a little track position considering we had still been out on track,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter slipped when from a good grid position, and then stalled superiority of the final restart

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

“The guys did a good job in the pits, but we got shuffled when in line. The wastefulness was tough once you got as far when as we got, and we just couldn’t recover from that lost track position and that was that.

“We’ll come when then next year and try again.”

Team Penske\'s hopes took a knock when Will Power’s car suffered vigilant oversteer in the second half of the first stint and then he stalled on leaving the pits. The car’s handling improved for the final two stints, but by then all hope of a top 10 had been stymied as the 2018 winner finished 15th.

“By that time, we had lost so much track position, it was just trying to salvage what we could,” he said.

Power\'s team-mate Josef Newgarden moreover stalled leaving the pits when he unwittingly selected second instead of first. The double IndyCar champion came home 13th, while Scott McLaughlin’s tuition from 26th on the grid had put him onto the cusp of the top 10 surpassing his Turn 3 crash put him out.

“I\'m not sure if that\'s on me or not and not sure why that happened, we will have to analyse the data,” said Newgarden, who felt capable of running in the top five. “If that\'s on me, I finger terrible.”

“We were having a rip of a run there,” remarked McLaughlin. “Just unprotected a big puff of wind and spun out and boom.

“I am a little sore, but I got checked out and I am good. I will be when stronger and largest next year.”

Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske Chevrolet Pit stop

Photo by: Brett Farmer / Motorsport Images

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing cars tend to race largest than they qualify at the 500, only this time they appeared not to.

“We just didn\'t have it,” said Graham Rahal, who came home 14th without starting 21st. “The car didn\'t have the natural speed that we needed. I finger bad for the guys considering they put their heart and soul into this, and today was a unconfined example.

“The car wastefulness wasn\'t that bad, we\'d be pursuit quite tropical sometimes, but we couldn’t typhoon up. The boys did a good job in the pits, and that\'s the reason we went forward in the race, so thanks to them. We will take a good swoop into what exactly we need to be better.”

Jack Harvey, 24th, said the team “rolled the dice on a strategy hoping for a yellow that didn’t come”, while Christian Lundgaard was happy to finish his second-ever oval race on a day when other similarly inexperienced drivers hit trouble, but said his car’s lack of speed was a “tough one to accept” as he struggled to 18th.

“We finished the race which is obviously unchangingly an achievement, but we aren’t where we want to be,” said the first Danish suburbanite to start the 500. “It’s important to sit lanugo and understand why, and come when stronger.”

Alexander Rossi was the lone upper spot for Andretti Autosport, the 2016 rookie winner climbing from 20th to finish fifth. He wasn\'t worldly-wise to rencontre the Ganassi and Arrow McLaren SP cars in the final throes of the race, but was well worldly-wise to hold off his pursuers.

“To start 20th and end in the top five is a unconfined accomplishment,” said Rossi. “I think due to some wondrous work in pitlane and the unconfined strategy we were worldly-wise to capitalise when we needed to and the car was good. Everything went our way.

“Unfortunately, we ran out of time at the end. I don’t know if we had the overall pace to win, but it was nice to be in there with a shot.”

Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda pit stop

Photo by: Brett Farmer / Motorsport Images

Overall, though, for a team that has won this race five times in the past, it was a very quiet day.

Colton Herta’s huge Carb Day shunt damaged his chassis unbearable that he switched to a replacement car that hadn’t previously turned a wheel on an oval . He never rose whilom his 25^th starting spot, whispered from during pit sequences, and sooner stopped at two-thirds loftiness with throttle sensor issues. He described the wits as the loosest he’d overly been on an oval.

Devlin DeFrancesco was underwhelmed by his 20^th place finish, Marco Andretti was vibration himself up for stalling on leaving his pitbox on one occasion, but was moreover unimpressed with the pace of his car, while Romain Grosjean\'s day ended with a Turn 2 shunt on lap 106.