{"id":440198,"date":"2026-05-13T20:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T20:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/440198\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T20:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T20:35:13","slug":"inside-line-what-are-you-watching-in-indy-practice-qualifying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/440198\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Line: What Are You Watching in Indy Practice, Qualifying?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s question: What’s the storyline you’re watching this week in Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge practice and PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying?<\/p>\n

\"Will<\/p>\n

Curt Cavin: I would love to see Will Power (photo, above) win the pole. It\u2019s incomprehensible that the driver with the best qualifier in INDYCAR SERIES history \u2013 he has won 71 poles — has never won a pole for this event. Indy\u2019s 2018 race winner has started on the front row here five times, most recently in 2024 when he took the green flag from the second position. More important is how Power competes in the race because he hasn\u2019t had much to celebrate in recent years, producing an average finish of 20.3 over the past six races. His move to Andretti Global was the most celebrated move of the offseason, and it\u2019s been slow going so far, evident by a last-place start in last weekend\u2019s Sonsio Grand Prix. This two-time series champion and Indy winner deserves much better, and I\u2019m here for it.<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/p>\n

Eric Smith: I\u2019m curious if Scott Dixon (photo, above) can tie Rick Mears for the most Indianapolis 500 poles. Mears has six; Dixon has five. It\u2019s no secret qualifying has been an Achilles\u2019 heel for Dixon lately, as his only three NTT INDYCAR SERIES poles since 2017 have all come in the \u201c500\u201d (2017, 2021, 2022). This season, he started 16th, 15th, 20th and 13th before Long Beach. But after making a change to the data and information displayed on his steering wheel, he\u2019s qualified sixth and eighth in the last two races. Could that translate into a strong Indy 500 qualifying run? Dixon owns a 5.8 average starting position in the \u201c500\u201d since 2020, including three front-row starts and a fourth-place starting spot last year. The outlier was a 21st-place qualifying effort in 2024, though he still climbed to finish third. No driver has led more laps at Indianapolis than Dixon\u2019s 677. Why not add another accomplishment to his already legendary r\u00e9sum\u00e9?<\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/p>\n

Arni Sribhen: As we head into the weekend, I\u2019ll be watching to see if the \u201cLittle Team That Might,\u201d aka Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, can keep up its rapid pace at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Since the Open Test at the end of April, both Jack Harvey (photo, above) and Conor Daly have been found near the top of the timesheets and the no-tow report. But sometimes, when the boost gets turned up on Fast Friday, the pace goes away. I\u2019ll be curious to see if the speed that DRR has shown so far continues into the weekend and possible a chance for the pole.<\/p>\n

\"Kyle<\/p>\n

Paul Kelly: I\u2019m watching Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global (photo, above). It\u2019s no secret the Indianapolis 500 has not been his best event, as he has just one top-10 result in four starts \u2013 seventh in 2024. Qualifying has been even more of a struggle, as his best starting spot is 11th, also in 2024. Kirkwood\u2019s gap to series leader Alex Palou grew to 27 points after the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday. I\u2019m not saying the \u201c500\u201d is Kirkwood\u2019s last stand, as there still are 11 races left this season after Indy. But Palou is yet again showing few, if any, weaknesses, and a bumper crop of points is available in PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying this weekend. The pole winner earns 12 points, descending by one point per position to one point for the 12th starting spot. You have to figure Palou, fastest on Opening Day of practice, will grab a solid haul of points Sunday to add to his total after the race. Kirkwood needs to keep pace with the Spaniard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today\u2019s question: What’s the storyline you’re watching this week in Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge practice and PPG…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-440198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}