IndyCar officiating just completely ripped up the bottom of the Indianapolis 500 starting grid. Just hours after the grueling, condensed Sunday qualifying sessions came to a close, the series dropped the hammer on two teams.
The official NTT INDYCAR SERIES account posted a breaking update announcing severe post-qualifying technical inspection penalties for the No. 4 entry of AJ Foyt Racing and the No. 24 entry of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.
The punishment is absolute. IndyCar confirmed that both cars had their qualifying results entirely disallowed. As a result, the No. 4 and the No. 24 have been re-ordered to the absolute rear of the field based strictly on entrant points.
For the Foyt team, this is an especially brutal blow. Rookie Caio Collet had shocked the paddock by hauling the No. 4 machine into the Fast 12 and securing a 10th-place start. DRR’s Jack Harvey had originally qualified 29th. Now, both drivers are facing a massive uphill battle from the last row on race day.
The Indy 500 “Pre-Qualifying” Confusion Explained
The harsh penalties immediately sparked confusion online regarding how a car even makes it onto the track if it is carrying illegal parts. Motorsport fan Bryan Friedrich voiced the question many were asking, tweeting, “How do they pass pre-qualy inspection but fail post-qualy inspection?”. He questioned whether the alterations were made somewhere in between the two inspection periods.
Motorsports technical expert Bozi Tatarevic quickly stepped in to clear up the confusion and outline the reality of IndyCar’s garage procedures. Tatarevic explained that there is a very specific list of items officials check during the pre-qualifying inspection. The key difference is the level of teardown. Before a car goes out to qualify, inspectors will not do anything invasive, such as removing tape to check nuts and bolts.
Those heavy, invasive teardowns are strictly reserved for post-qualifying inspection. Therefore, Tatarevic noted that catching an infraction like this after the cars have already run their laps is not actually unusual. With the grid now officially reset, both teams will have to completely overhaul their race day strategies to overcome the devastating demotion.