Matthew Little
Points Scorer
Marco Andretti nearly got bumped out of the 500 in the final minutes of Qualifying. With about 4 minutes to go, Alex Lloyd bumped Andretti off the bubble. James Jakes was next out on the track and if he had been near the qualifying pace, Marco would have been left in the pits, next in line. Jakes was very slow though and they flagged him in, allowing Andretti onto the circuit with just over 40 seconds to spare. Marco posted 4 laps of 224 MPH+ and comfortably qualified for the race. His times meant that his teammate Ryan Hunter Reay had been bumped out of the 500 though.
Scott Speed's miserable experiment at Indy ended early Sunday morning before he even got to take to the track for Qualifying. Called in to help setup the car, Patrick Carpentier crashed heavily and without a backup ride, Speed and Dragon Racing were out of the Indianapolis 500.
It's anybody's guess who might win this thing.
And it appears Andretti Autosport may have bought a way for Hunter-Reay to get back in the field..............
Speed Channel: IndyCar--Junquiera Out, Hunter-Reay In At Indy
According to Speed's Marshall Pruett, Andretti Autosport bought the #41 entry from A.J. Foyt Enterprises for Ryan Hunter-Reay so that RHR can race in Sunday's 500...........in turn, Bruno Junquiera lost his ride for this year's 500, the second time in the past three years that Junquiera has had a ride bought out from under him.
Along with that bit of news comes another bit of news from the above article............
Tom Anderson, Andretti’s team manager, was also reportedly let go this morning.
Is it just me or is there a bit of a meltdown going on over at Andretti Autosport?