Chip Ganassi entered more cars than any other team owner for the 108th Indianapolis 500.
Although there were no expectations for the winner of the last three Indy 500 poles to place all five Ganassi cars in the Fast 12 group that will run for pole on Sunday, nobody predicted the Honda-powered team would miss the Fast 12 altogether.
The last time it happened was 2019, and before that, it was 2013 and 1990. In light of Scott Dixon’s poles in 2021 and 2022 and Alex Palou’s in 2023, having at least one of them in the Fast 12 seemed like a foregone conclusion, but Palou was bumped out late on Saturday by Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Ryan Hunter-Reay.
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When day one of qualifying was over, Palou was the top Ganassi representative in 14th, followed by rookie Marcus Armstrong in 16th, rookie Kyffin Simpson in 18th, Dixon in 21st, and rookie Linus Lundqvist in 27th. Among the quintet, the 21st-place starting position for Dixon represents his worst in the New Zealander’s 22-year career at the Speedway. His previous 21 starts were all inside the top 20.
“It’s been tough, as everybody…was expecting us to be up front; we always also wanted to be up front,” Palou told RACER. “The team is coming from three poles in a row here at the 500. We wanted to be there; we wanted to fight. Unfortunately, we’re missing speed — still don’t know where, but that’s the truth. Today, it’s just a hard day.”