(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
It’s that time of year again as "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" and NASCAR’s 600-mile endurance race kicks off the summer on Memorial Day weekend. This is every race fans favorite day as families cook out and enjoy a full day of racing action.
The Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 are two of the biggest gems in auto racing. Every driver wants to win at Indy since it’s the biggest race of the year for the IRL and on the NASCAR side, drivers want to win at Charlotte because the Coca-Cola 600 ranks among the top four most important races of the year.
Sunday will begin with the start of the Indianapolis 500 and conclude with the finish of the Coca-Cola 600 later that evening. This year will mark the 100th year of racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway so the incentive to win the Indy 500 is even greater.
The starting grid for the Indy 500 was set last weekend and was filled with drama as time was running out for drivers which included the likes of John Andretti and former Indy 500 winner trying to bump their way into the field.
Bump Day was filled with drama as veteran driver John Andretti made his third and final qualifying attempt of the day with just under ten minutes remaining in the session. Andretti finally put together four solid laps well over 221 mph, which was more than enough needed to make it into the field.
After it was announced that Andretti had made it into the field the crowd went wild with cheers and applause. John Andretti is an Indianapolis native so he has plenty of support from the fans and he is the nephew of former Indy 500 winner Mario Andretti who won the race in 1969.
After Andretti bumped his way into the field it unfortunately left one driver out of the field in Ryan Hunter Reay who finished sixth in last years Indy 500.
Fortunately for Hunter Reay there was just over two minutes remaining in the qualifying session so he quickly made his way back onto the track in a final attempt to qualify his way back into the starting grid.
It all came down to the final lap on the front stretch as Hunter Reay bumped Alex Tagliani from the starting field by three one hundredths of a second.
The Starting Grid for the Indianapolis 500:
Row One: Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, Dario Franchitti
Row Two: Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan
Row Three: Mario Moraes, Marco Andretti, Will Power
Row Four: Danica Patrick, Alex Lloyd, Raphael Matos
Row Five: Paul Tracy, Vitor Meira, Justin Wilson
Row Six: Hideki Mutoh, Ed Carpenter, Dan Wheldon
Row Seven: AJ Foyt IV, Scott Sharp, Sarah Fisher
Row Eight: Davey Hamilton, Robert Doornbos, Townsend Bell
Row Nine: Oriol Servia, Tomas Scheckter, Mike Conway
Row 10: John Andretti, EJ Viso, Bruno Junqueira
Row 11: Milka Duno, Nelson Philippe, Ryan Hunter Reay
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