Palou Sets Indy Record, Rahal Bumped
Photo by Chris Jones, Penske Entertainment
The thrill of victory.
The agony of defeat.
Both sides of that memorable phrase were on full display Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
And it was only qualifying weekend
The facts will read that Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou won the pole for next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge with a speed of 234.217, just 6 thousandths of a mile an hour faster than Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay. It’s the fastest four-lap pole winning run in the history of the Speedway and the second closest gap between the top two qualifiers.
But the facts don’t tell the whole story.
Having come up just short in a similar situation last year with teammate Scott Dixon, Palou knew he had to be aggressive this time around in order to beat VeeKay and Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist.
“Yeah, amazing. Amazing. Last year we were really close. It was really close last year. We lost it against Dixon, which he did an amazing four-lap run. This year we knew it was going to be even closer against these two guys. They were really fast all month.
“We went aggressive. It worked this time. Super proud. Been a good month of May so far.”Having won last weekend’s GMR Grand Prix on the Speedway’s road course, Palou, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES point leader, is clearly on a roll.
“Yeah, it's been amazing for the 10 car, honestly. This start of the season, especially the month of May, couldn't be better with the GMR Grand Prix and obviously the pole today. We knew we had a fast car since the beginning. We had to take advantage of that. Yeah, enjoying my time here. Last year, as I said, we were really close, learned how we could go be more aggressive if we were in that position again, and lucky if we were in that position again today, we took it.”
Palou’s run set off an emotional celebration, not only by Palou himself, but also by all of his team members.
“I don't know, we just live. We know that this time doesn't come very often. We celebrated last week because it was a big win, and today we were the best on track, so we had to celebrate.
“We couldn't celebrate last year, and we don't know if we're going to be able to celebrate next week.
“Yeah, when there's chances like that, especially nowadays in INDYCAR, you have to celebrate. You could see on everybody, it was not just me, that I lost my voice, which maybe it was too much, but I'm Spanish, so…
“You could see on every mechanic, every engineer, even Julian, my engineer, that -- he's really quiet -- when we win, he's normally like yeah, that was a good race, good job. But he was super excited today. It means a lot. It's a big deal. It's the pole for the Indy 500.
“It's not the win for the race, but it's as best we could do today.”
Photo by Chris Owens, Penske Entertainment
The pole was the just the second in the 2021 INDYCAR champion’s career, and his first on an oval.
“I knew that it meant -- it doesn't mean more than a win or a win doesn't mean more than this. I think they're very separate. This place is so special. We've been here for more than two weeks, working on this race car for more than a year. As soon as we finished Indy 500 last year, they started working on Indy 500 2023.
“There's so much effort that goes into this, not only from myself, the engineering team, the mechanics, everybody back at the shop, that it means a lot.
“It's different, as I said. It doesn't feel better or worse than a win, it just feels different, and as I said, I think we couldn't do a better job until today, so that's why we celebrated that way.”
Jack Harvey embraces a team member after qualifying for the 107th Indianapolis 500. Photo by Chris Jones, Penske Entertainment
But for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Jack Harvey, there was no celebrating qualifying for his seventh Indy 500 start as time expired. What should have been a joyful moment, wasn’t, as in order to make the field, Harvey had to bump teammate Graham Rahal out of it.
“We had done two attempts. Neither of them seemed to be enough to get it done, and actually on the final one, I said to the guys, do you even think we can do this. The car is hot, engine is hot, and they said, yeah, you've got to try; it's the Indy 500.
“In that moment just tried to forget about everything else for a moment.
“It's not a good feeling, to be honest with you. It's not a moment necessarily for celebration. As a team we're going to be starting 30th, 31st and 33rd, and I hated it today, felt like we were in the Hunger Games with our own team.
“But of the four people driving, three of them are in. I know it's not great odds and it's not a great feeling. To be honest, it's unbelievable relief. I've got to be honest with you. It's actually quite hard to process it.
“There's a lot of emotions. Like massively grateful to be in the race, massively sad that we bumped out a teammate because I know what that means for the entire team.
“I was just looking -- I didn't really get to see any of the pole shootout for the Fast Six, but when I look at the speed that they can do, we're comfortably five miles an hour off. There's an enormous amount of work to try and do, in truth, and hopefully we've got here to try and figure it out. For anyone who thinks we're jumping up and down celebrating, there's a little bit mistaken today.”
“I hated it today, felt like we were in the Hunger Games with our own team.”
Afterwards, Harvey and Rahal embraced on pit road in what was a difficult moment for them both.
“Yeah, obviously you have a professional side and you have a personal side, and I think professionally Graham is one of the most underrated drivers on the grid. I think he never really gets the respect he deserves. He's a fantastic team player. He's a great guy.
“On the personal side, Graham is a very close friend of mine. The guy texts when I've got issues or I want his advice or want to pick his brain on something. Not fun, essentially not only knocking out a team car but one of your mates at the same breath
“Obviously me and him chatted about it. We kind of felt like it would be me or him that gets knocked out, and obviously everyone knows it's not personal. He wants to be in the race, I want to be in the race, and the tradition of this place is tradition for a reason.
“Bump Day is notorious, and as soon as there's 34 cars -- maybe these guys are confident, but I don't think anyone is confident as soon as there's a car that you know is not going home.
It's a tough day, mate. I said to Graham, I'm sorry, I'm not sorry. What do you say to someone in that moment? I want to be in the race. I want to be in the 107th running of the Indy 500. I want to do it for me, for my family, my friends. I want to do it for the mechanics on the team, for everybody on the team, for all of the sponsors that we have on the No. 30 car, especially for people ready this weekend.
“I hate what it means for the 15 car and for Graham and all his crew because at the end of the day we are one united effort, and we know there's a lot of work ahead, but I just said to him, I just wanted to do the best four laps I could. I'm sorry it's bumped you out.”
Graham Rahal Enders what could’ve been. Photo by Chris Jones, Penske Entertainment
For Rahal, it was the biggest disappointment of his career, missing the field by 7 thousandths of a mile an hour, and coming thirty years after his father suffered the same fate when he failed to qualify for the ’93 race.
“You've got to be positive. You've got to be humble and gracious in victory and defeat. I just knew from the start that we were in trouble.
“It's a tough day.
“The last few days I've said that we're in trouble. Ultimately, I don't why but that run was just really slow. We had a part failure during the run but you've got to finish it and unfortunately, rules are written that you can't fix that part which was a key component, a weight jacker, which is a key component of our cars. You can't fix that part without withdrawing your time so we had to sit there and wait.
“There was nothing we could do. When you miss it by .01 I can guarantee you there's at least that and being able to utilize the driver tools in the car. At the end of the day, it is what it is. I'm proud of these guys. I think everybody has tried exceptionally hard the last couple of days. We came up short.
“This place, you have to earn it. It's not handed out. It's not given. It's not a guarantee. We came up short. I appreciate all of the support. I think people have known the struggle we were in the last few days. The outpouring of support from the other drivers too, we really appreciate it.”
Given the impossible situation they were put in, Harvey agreed the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing handled the situation with as much class as could be expected.
“It's a fantastic group of people. People don't realize how much hard work goes into this. We're certainly not at the factory just being complacent, being blase about any of this. This is an enormous amount of effort that we put in to try and make it good, and clearly it hasn't come into fruition yet, but I think -- don't anybody think this isn't through lack of trying.
They built a brand new shop in Zionsville. That is the commitment of the team. I think in our press conference on Friday, Bobby said, it doesn't make us a better team, but it lets you know the desire of the team.
“Today is about as humbling a moment as I've had at a racetrack. I don't want to do this dance again, and neither do the team. There's a lot of responsibility for all of us here. Just everybody please remember that we're trying. We might not be trying the best way, but not one person in our team is happy with our performance, from the very top to the very bottom.
“We're going to work as hard as we can. We've just got to find the grit and the determination to make it happen. But it's a great group, and I'm excited that we're going to be in the race, albeit last. We'll do our best now.”
The thrill of victory.
The agony of defeat.
It wasn’t just a phrase to open a TV show. Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it was real.