Indy 500: The 3 drivers whose speeds didn’t fall every lap

By Asher Fair | Aug 16, 2020

Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing, IndyCar, Indy 500 (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

Tire falloff was one of the storylines surrounding qualifying for the 104th running of the Indy 500. Only three drivers did not have their speeds fall every single lap.

The opening day of Crown Royal Armed Forces Qualifying set row 4 through row 11 of the starting lineup for the 104th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway yesterday afternoon, and it determined the nine IndyCar drivers set to compete for the pole position in this afternoon’s Fast Nine Shootout.

Specifically due to the added weight of the Aeroscreen, tire wear was a huge storyline surrounding qualifying around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Brickyard oval in Speedway, Indiana, which was dominated by Andretti Autosport and Honda.

A total of 33 drivers qualified for next Sunday afternoon’s 200-lap race via four-lap qualifying runs around the track. While a number of drivers made multiple attempts, only one attempt counted for each driver and was deemed official.

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As a result, there were 99 occasions on which drivers could have improved upon their previous lap times. Only three drivers managed to do that, and they each only did that once.

Those three drivers all qualified in 20th place or worse, and they were led by Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey. He opened up with a lap at 230.593 miles per hour (39.0298 seconds) behind the wheel of his #60 Honda before backing that up with laps at 229.851 miles per hour (39.1558 seconds) and 229.367 miles per hour (39.2385 seconds). He improved from his third lap to his fourth lap, as his final lap was a lap at 229.639 miles per hour (39.1920 seconds).

The other two drivers who fell into this category were 32nd and 33rd place qualifiers J.R. Hildebrand of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and Ben Hanley of DragonSpeed.

Hildebrand’s run consisted of laps at 228.594 miles per hour (39.3711 seconds), 225.328 miles per hour (39.9418 seconds), 225.980 miles per hour (39.8265 seconds) and 225.494 miles per hour (39.9124 seconds), respectively.

Hanley’s run consisted of laps at 223.924 miles per hour (40.1922 seconds), 222.562 miles per hour (40.4381 seconds), 222.145 miles per hour (40.5140 seconds) and 223.046 miles per hour (40.3505 seconds), respectively.

Both Hildebrand and Hanley recorded better fourth laps than not only their third laps but their second laps as well, making them the only two drivers to be quicker two laps later at any point throughout the day.

Every single driver’s first lap was his quickest throughout the session.

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The Fast Nine Shootout for the pole position for the 104th running of the Indy 500 is set to air live on NBC beginning at 1:15 p.m. ET this afternoon. Will any of the nine drivers participating in this session improve from one of their four laps to the next at any point?