So here I am, having just returned from a day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Bump day and qualifying day to be exact.
What started as a really great day ended on a rather bitter note.
I was more than excited to be back at the speedway, it’s one of my favorite places in the world.
I was very very very happy to be back at IMS.
Therefore I was more than content to spend my day sitting in stand E watching qualifying.
I was as happy as a clam until about the last two hours of qualifying.
At this point Conor Daly and Pippa Man were on the bubble and I was starting to get stressed.
I really wanted to see both of them in the race.
Conor has had a really tough year and qualifying for the race would be the win that he really needed.
And as for Pippa I’ve seen how hard she has worked for the last year so that she could run this race and she deserved to see her hard work pay off.
And then there was the lingering idea that James Hinchcliffe could get bumped out.
So when the last half hour of qualifying rolled around all hell broke loose.
I was stressed. And I don’t handle IndyCar stress well.
And nothing against Oriol Servia, but him finally getting the speed to put together a decent qualifying attempt really screwed things up for me.
So let’s just cut to the chase.
James Hinchclife did not qualify for the 2018 Indy 500.
Hinch, a fan favorite driver will not be racing in the Indy 500 on Sunday.
How did that happen?
Well, Conor Daly find found a bit of speed and made it in the field bumping out Hinch.
So Hinch went out to take another run, but felt a major vibration during the warm up lap and had to wave off the attempt.
So with 10 minutes left in qualifying we watched the #5 team scramble to fix the problem and then run to get back in line to end up behind Pippa, the other driver to have been bumped.
During this time we saw drivers such as Dixon, Rossi, and Marco Andretti take a second attempt to better there time.
Many people have been blaming these drivers for being “greedy” for taking a second attempt, claiming they took qualifying time away from Hinch.
But you can’t put blame on those drivers. Their goal was to get in the fast 9. After practice we all know how important it was for drivers to qualify in the front.
We thought Rossi may wave off the attempt if he wasn’t fast enough to make it into the fast 9, but he almost was, so he stayed out for all 4 laps.
The only driver that I am not so okay with their second qualifying attempt is Scott Dixon, his second attempt was pointless. He was already in the fast nine, yes he was on the bubble, but if he looked behind him he should have noticed that none of the drivers that could have made a second attempt would have the speed to bump him out.
Not saying this whole thing is Dixon’s fault, but I just wanted to put in my two cents.
We all sat there watching the minutes tick down.
And then while Hinch was still on pit lane the gun went off and qualifying was over.
And we all sat there in disbelief.
As did James Hinchcliffe.
My heart broke for him.
And for Pippa Mann.
I sat there was people booed her as she made her final attempt.
That was unfair and uncalled for.
It was under no circumstances her fault that Hicnh didn’t make it in.
She wanted in just as badly as Hinch, she was just trying to make it into the race.
This was not at all how I thought this day would play out.
I couldn’t quite decide who I thought would get bumped out pre qualifying, but one things for sure, I didn’t think it would be James Hinchcliffe.
I am absolutely gutted for him and Pippa.
But lets talk about something positive, okay?
Chevy dominated the fast nine with 7 out of the 9 cars.
And Team Penske and Ed Carpenter Racing dominated the fast nine with all of their entires making it into the shootout.
For Penske it’s defiantly a switch from last year.
And as for ECR, they keep coming back to Indy and they shine here every year.
I mean, Spencer Pigot, common. I am so extremely happy for the team.
So I am going to end this blog on that happy note because the rest of it was not so happy.
I’ll catch back up with ya’ll after pole day tomorrow.
xxkaitlyn
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