Rinus VeeKay edges Coyne Racing teammate Jacob Abel for final spot in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 lineup

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Rinus van Kalmthout of the Netherlands goes by Rinus VeeKay as a racer, presumably because it sounds faster.

Sunday, in last-chance qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, he was barely faster than rookie Jacob Abel, his teammate at Plainfield-based Dale Coyne Racing, and will start last in the field of 33 on Sunday. Abel will watch from the pits.

“I feel relief, but not real happiness,” VeeKay said after his second four-lap average of 226.913 mph held up. Abel ran 226.394 mph after VeeKay’s original speed of 227.740, which he withdrew in the hope of going faster, bumped Abel’s 227.112. “It was one of the two that was going to go out. Jacob’s not just a teammate, but a good friend. I feel bad for him.

“It’s good to make the field, but this is very much the definition of bittersweet.”

For Abel, a 24-year-old from Louisville, and the 100th driver to take the wheel in a Coyne car, it was just bitter.

“I thought we had a chance there at the end,” Abel said. “We were happy all week. Something happened overnight, Friday to Saturday. It’s been a tough season so far. I keep getting knocked out, over and over.

“I thought this was going to be my first Indy 500. Hopefully that day will come sooner rather than later.”

Coyne, in Indy car racing for 42 years, let each driver and crew set their strategy for the four-for-three spots qualifier, which also saw Marco Andretti and Marcus Armstrong edge their way into the field.

“There was no set (team) strategy,” Coyne said.

It was the second year running that two of Coyne’s drivers were chasing speed to make racing’s biggest showcase, and only one made it.

VeeKay has three top-nine finishes this season, including a fourth at Barber earlier this month, but the 500 is the first oval race of the year.

Saturday’s qualifying session decided the 13th through 30th spots, when neither VeeKay nor Abel were able to find the speed to lock in a place in the 500. VeeKay, a splendid qualifier who had never started lower than seventh running for Ed Carpenter’s team, had a fast average of 229.519 mph, which would seem fleet enough, but proved only 32nd fastest on a breezy day. Abel, the rookie, was the slowest of the 34 entries at 226.483 mph, well off the pace.

Meanwhile, Chicago’s David Malukas, who once drove for Coyne but now wheels a car for A.J. Foyt, will start seventh. He was a surprising seventh in Saturday’s session, which advanced him to the 12 who got a shot at the pole, then ran seventh again Sunday, missing a shot at the pole by six-hundredths of a second.

It was a black Sunday for Team Penske.

In the morning, Scott McLaughlin walked away from a violent crash in Turn 2 that so damaged his car the team opted to just take the 12th qualifying spot and rebuild the chassis for next Sunday’s 500. Just before qualifying, teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden, the two-time defending champion, were withdrawn. Newgarden’s car had failed IndyCar’s technical inspection because of a seam violation on the rear attenuator. Power’s car had passed but was built the same way, so boss Tim Cindric withdrew both cars.

That left all three Penske cars on the fourth row and opened the gate for rookie Robert Shwartzman to win the pole, beating veteran Takuma Sato.

Marcus Armstrong was shaken but uninjured after a crash in Saturday morning’s practice that flipped his Dallara upside down in Turn 1. The car was repaired and he was able to take a pair of qualifying runs in the late afternoon, neither of which was at the necessary speed.

Colton Herta had an equally rough Saturday, crashing hard in Turn 1 on the first lap of his qualifying run. His chassis flipped upside down but protected him, and he walked away from the accident. Four hours later, after a herculean thrash by his crew on his backup car, he was back on the track and qualified 26th.

“It sucks,” Herta said. “We wanted to get into the top 12. But credit to the guys. The only thing we transferred over (to the backup car) was our engine. They kept us in the show.”

Alex Palou was atop Saturday’s speed chart with a four-lap average of 233.043 mph, followed by McLaughlin (233.013) and Newgarden (233.004).