Indy 500: The bizarre technicality that screwed Will Power

Will Power’s final qualifying speed from Saturday’s Indy 500 qualifying session was good enough for the top 30, but it didn’t count.

Headlining IndyCar‘s Saturday qualifying session for the 105th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the fact that Team Penske’s Will Power failed to lock himself into the 33-car field.

Power is one of five drivers set to compete in the Bump Day qualifying session on Sunday afternoon in an attempt to solidify one of the remaining three starting positions for next Sunday’s 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana on the 11th and final row.

A total of 30 drivers locked themselves into the race in Saturday’s session via their four-lap qualifying runs, with nine set to make additional runs at the pole position in Sunday afternoon’s Fast Nine Shootout.

After making their initial qualifying runs, drivers had the option to make as many additional runs as they wanted. They could opt not to waive their previous times, but doing so would not give them priority in line; that would go to the drivers who opted to withdraw their previous times.

And as the 5:50 p.m. ET gunshot neared, things got hectic in the fast lane.

Among those in the fast lane was Power, and the average speed of his final four-lap qualifying run was 229.228 miles per hour.

But 30th place qualifier Dalton Kellett of A.J. Foyt Enterprises is locked into the race with a four-lap average speed of 228.323 miles per hour.

So what gives?

Even Power himself needed a full explanation at the end of the session to understand fully why he will need to give it another shot tomorrow afternoon — and no, he wasn’t faking it out of frustration, either.

The reason for this is the fact that when a driver makes a qualifying run and does not end up inside the top 30 at the time of that run, the speed is effectively discounted.

More from IndyCar

• IndyCar: Two teams with no drivers confirmed for 2024
• IndyCar: Chip Ganassi Racing news hints Alex Palou announcement
• IndyCar: ‘Addition by subtraction’ could pay off in a big way
• Team Penske should make a bold driver signing for 2024
• IndyCar: 5 teams that still have open seats for 2024

Kellett was in 30th place with a four-lap average speed of 229.250 miles per hour when Power made his final run. So at that time, Power’s run was only good enough for 31st, and therefore was listed as “bumped” — not as 229.228 miles per hour.

When Kellett made his final qualifying attempt, he opted to wave his previous speed, but that did not promote Power to 30th place because of the fact that, per the rulebook, he still had no official speed — again, not 229.228 miles per hour.

So when Kellett, who was already inside the top 30, withdrew his time, there were naturally only 29 drivers with official times at that point.

Given how much time was left on the clock when he made his final run of the day, he technically could have gone for a Sunday drive around the Brickyard and qualified for the race.

He technically could have qualified with a four-lap average speed of 0.001 miles per hour, since the gun was going to go off.

Of course, IndyCar could have made him abandon his run, giving the final run of the day to Paretta Autosport’s Simona de Silvestro. But Kellett was quick enough so that did not happen.

More interestingly, he also wasn’t slow enough to prevent de Silvestro from making another attempt! Her #16 Chevrolet was sent out with only 10 or 11 seconds left before the gun went off.

Fortunately for Kellett, she wasn’t able to bump him for 30th place, however, and she is set to join Power in the shootout for the final row along with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Sage Karam, A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Charlie Kimball and Top Gun Racing’s RC Enerson.

Tune in to NBC Sports Network at 1:00 p.m. ET tomorrow afternoon for the live broadcast of the Bump Day qualifying session, and tune in to NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Fast Nine Shootout. NBC is then set to broadcast the 105th running of the Indy 500 live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 30.