Indianapolis 500 qualifying puts big names on the bubble

The first day of Indianapolis 500 has these major names on the brink of not making IndyCar’s biggest race. Find out who’s at risk for the 2019 Indy 500.

Wwhen the dust settled after Indy 500 Qualifying on Saturday, some huge names were not guaranteed places in IndyCar‘s most important race.

Only 30 confirmed spots were available for the cars with the fastest four-lap averages, and things were hectic at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Spencer Pigot of Ed Carpenter Racing surprised many as he topped the speed chart, followed by 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power of Team Penske.

Still, the real news was who could not be racing next weekend. Those who will have to participate in tomorrow’s Bump Day include the much talked-about Fernando Alonso, whose car struggled to get consistent speed. Alonso appeared to blow off the issue in his post-session TV interview; when asked how stressful Indy 500 qualifying was, he simply replied, “Not much.”

The highly anticipated McLaren entry is now in danger of not participating in one of the world’s biggest races, which is a far cry from last year when Alonso was considered a front-runner and he was rumored to potentially be running a full IndyCar season.

Also sitting on the bubble are James Hinchcliffe, who is at risk of not making it for another year after he had another nail-biting crash in his first qualifying attempt, as well as IndyCar Series full-time drivers Max Chilton and Patricio O’Ward, plus Kyle Kaiser and Sage Karam.

Only three of those six drivers will be eligible to compete next Sunday, based on the three fastest times they post tomorrow.

Hinchcliffe’s Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team may not have gotten the result that they wanted, but they deserve applause for being able to pull together a backup car on extremely short notice to post a qualifying time at all. Now it will be up to them to rebound and get themselves in the starting lineup.

Pippa Mann, after being bumped out in 2018, snagged the final safe spot on the grid. Zach Veach and Felix Rosenqvist were in 28th and 29th respectively.

Indy 500 qualifying concludes Sunday with both the Last Row Qualifying and Fast Nine Shootout, starting at noon ET and airing on NBC. Below is the qualifying order as it stands after Saturday’s opening round:

1 – Spencer Pigot
2 – Will Power
3 – Simon Pagenaud
4 – Josef Newgarden
5 – Colton Herta
6 – Ed Jones
7 – Ed Carpenter
8 – Alexander Rossi
9 – Sebastien Bourdais
10 – Marco Andretti
11 – Conor Daly
12 – Helio Castroneves
13 – Marcus Ericsson
14 – Takuma Sato
15 – James Davison
16 – Tony Kanaan
17 – Graham Rahal
18 – Scott Dixon
19 – Oriol servia
20 – Charlie Kimball
21 – JR Hildebrand
22 – Ryan Hunter-Reay
23 – Santino Ferrucci
24 – Matheus Leist
25 – Jack Harvey
26 – Jordan King
27 – Ben Hanley
28 – Zach Veach
29 – Felix Rosenqvist
30 – Pippa Mann

For complete coverage of the 2019 IndyCar season, follow the IndyCar category at FanSided.