Indy 500: How close were the Fast Nine on Saturday?

The nine drivers who qualified for the Fast Nine Shootout for the 104th running of the Indy 500 were separated by only a few yards over their 10-mile runs.

Nine drivers secured their positions in Sunday afternoon’s Fast Nine Shootout for the 104th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the opening day of Crown Royal Armed Forces Qualifying on Saturday.

Those drivers were led by Andretti Herta Autosport’s Marco Andretti, who recorded the top four-lap average speed of 231.351 miles per hour around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Brickyard oval in Speedway, Indiana behind the wheel of his #98 Honda.

On the opposite end of the list of drivers who locked themselves into the Fast Nine was Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato in ninth place. He recorded a four-lap average speed of 230.792 miles per hour behind the wheel of his #98 Honda.

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Just how close were these top nine drivers?

Every single tenth of a mile per hour was crucial on every lap on Saturday. It was clear early on in many runs whether or not that qualifier would have a chance to move up the speed chart, despite the fact that these speed differences equate to only fractional differences in distances — even over 10-mile runs. Let’s take a look at just how fractional these differences are.

The difference between Andretti’s four-lap average speed and Sato’s was just 0.559 miles per hour. Andretti completed his run in 155.6078 seconds while Sato took 155.9844 seconds to complete his, a difference of only 0.3766 seconds over the course of an entire 10-mile run.

How does that translate to actual positioning?

Over the course of 10 miles, there are 633,600 inches. Andretti’s average pace was 4071.7753 inches per second while Sato’s was 4061.9447.

So by the time Andretti had completed his run, Sato had completed 632,070.2716 inches, which is 1,529.7284 shy of the full 10-mile distance.

That comes out to only 127.4774 feet (42.4925 yards) over an entire 10-mile run, shorter than the pass from Patrick Mahomes to Tyreek Hill that marked the turning point in Super Bowl LIV for the Kansas City Chiefs (44 yards).

Take a look at how close the other Fast Nine Shootout qualifiers were from Andretti on Saturday.

Rank – Driver – MPH Speed (Yardage Difference)
1st – Marco Andretti – 231.351 (0)
2nd – Ryan Hunter-Reay – 231.330 (-1.5720)
3rd – Alexander Rossi – 231.268 (-6.3316)
4th – James Hinchcliffe – 231.195 (-11.8454)
5th – Scott Dixon – 231.155 (-14.8946)
6th – Rinus VeeKay – 231.114 (-18.0330)
7th – Alex Palou – 231.034 (-24.1148)
8th – Graham Rahal – 230.822 (-40.2072)
9th – Takuma Sato – 230.792 (-42.4925)

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Tune in to NBC at 1:15 p.m. ET this afternoon for the live broadcast of the Fast Nine Shootout from Indianapolis Motor Speedway to see who will take the pole position and how who will qualify where throughout the rest of the front three rows for the 104th running of the Indy 500.