Carpenter wins second straight Indy pole

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Perfect weekends in Indianapolis are virtually nonexistent, but Ed Carpenter came pretty close.

Every time the Indianapolis native took the track during the qualifying stages, he set the quickest time.

His Fast Nine four-lap average of 231.067 mph earned him the pole for the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500.

“The team did a phenomenal job, just really blessed to have a lot of great people behind me on the team and partners of the team,” Carpenter said. “All their hard work and dedication is what makes a weekend like this worthwhile.”

Carpenter was the final driver to qualify, and each time Carpenter passed the start–finish line, his team would relay his lap times.

He knew exactly where he stood after each lap in relation to the provisional pole set by James Hinchcliffe.

As Carpenter turned laps, his times naturally slowed. He said he knew he would need a consistent fourth lap to edge Hinchcliffe’s time and capture the pole.

He credited a change in his gear strategy during his fourth lap for helping his car maintain speed and not scrub off as much time.

But at the end of the day, the numbers he had going through his head meant nothing. The only number that mattered was 231.067 mph, his final average speed — the pole-winning average speed.

“It’s hard to do math at 230,” Carpenter joked.

Carpenter’s speed bumped Hinchcliffe’s 230.839 mph average to second, and Will Power rounded out the front row with 230.697 mph.

Hinchcliffe’s second-place run came only a week after he suffered a concussion in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

The Andretti Autosport driver blamed small mistakes during his final lap for costing him the speed he needed to beat Carpenter for the pole.

As he went through Turn 3 on his final lap, Hinchcliffe said the rear end slipped out.

The time it took for him to correct the resulting oversteer made the difference on the stopwatch.

“At that downforce level, you don’t really have time for correction, and I had to crack the throttle,” Hinchcliffe said. “I knew that was it. I was screaming into my helmet through Turn 4 down the front straight. I just knew.”

Helio Castroneves will start in fourth, Simon Pagenaud in fifth and Marco Andretti in sixth. Carlos Munoz, Josef Newgarden and J.R. Hildebrand rounded out the first three rows.

But it was Carpenter who owned the weekend.

As he navigated through the final corners, he knew the pole would be his, and celebration kicked in.

“Going into three was when I started just making sure I nailed those last two corners,” Carpenter said. “And then coming down the front stretch, you really just kind of enjoy it, knowing you’re going to be on the pole.”