By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Though an underdog story dazzled pit road Saturday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — being Kyle Kaiser of Juncos Racing — it was one of the “Big Three” who grabbed the pole for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500.
That was Team Penske and driver Simon Pagenaud, who scored his first career pole position for the 500 after ripping a four-lap session at an average of 229.992 mph.
“I can’t take this for myself. This is truly what Team Penske does,” Pagenaud said. “They give us the best equipment. Quite frankly I’m at the very, very end of it all, so I’m just very honored to drive this 22 Chevy. Honestly was [an] incredible today.”
Coming off a victory in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis last weekend, Pagenaud is looking for his first win int he 500 next Sunday. Team owner Roger Penske has 17 wins in the race and hopes to see Pagenaud make it 18.
“When you look at Simon’s run today, it was amazing to see the consistency over 230,” Penske said. “It looked like [Roger] Mears was qualifying there back in the old days.”
With three cars in the Fast Nine on Sunday, Penske knows next weekend has the potential to make it another Penske day.
“I think when we had to execute, there was certainly one guy that was going to get on the pole, and that was Simon,” he said of his drivers. “All month they’ve been on the ball, and of course the momentum coming off the road course win, you’ve got to think about that, too.”
The run beat second place Ed Carpenter by just 0.103 mph. The owner/driver was followed by his teammates Spencer Pigot and Ed Jones, who each tied or surpassed their career-best starting spots in IndyCar.
For Pigot, leading Saturday’s opening qualifying day gave the American a boost of momentum heading into Pole Day.
“Starting front row in the Indy 500 is a real honor,” Pigot said. “I wouldn’t say I was doing the rain dance all day. I think as racecar drivers we love driving Indy cars at the limit, and you definitely get a chance to do that here in qualifying. Any chance we get to put four laps of qualifying together here is exciting in the car.”
For Carpenter, though he came up just short of a fourth career 500 pole, he is thrilled to see the team continue to bring fast cars to the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
However, as a local Indiana native, he wants more than just good starting spots.
“I’m really maintaining focus on figuring out a way to win this race,” Carpenter said. “That’s the most important thing to me. I don’t want people to think all I come to do here is qualify because that’s definitely not the focus. And that’s why I’m so proud of the team. The speed comes from the work the team does and the preparation, especially to have all of our cars so close.”