INDIANAPOLIS — Two drivers who would have easily made it into the field if Sunday’s qualifications weren’t rained out are Graham Rahal and A.J. Foyt IV. Rahal was in the race before being bumped out in Saturday’s pole qualifications.
Foyt never got a chance to take his attempt after he spun his car exiting pit lane.
Now, both drivers will have to wait until next Saturday before having a chance to make the field.
“We’re going to focus this week, I would imagine, on race setup,” said Rahal, the 19-year-old son of 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal. “After yesterday, we feel pretty comfortable that we can solidly be in the field, so we’ll take a little wing out Saturday morning and go for it.
“I think we really need to focus on having a good race car here. Of course, qualifying is important, but the race is what it really comes down to. I feel pretty comfortable out there. Yesterday, in qualifying especially, the car was really good, and I was really happy with it. Obviously, we need to find a little more speed, but yeah, I’m perfectly fine with it.”
Foyt is the grandson of the first four-time Indy 500 winner, A.J. Foyt. He drives for Vision Racing.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t get to run today and get our car in the show,” said the younger Foyt. “Obviously, we could relax a little more this week if we were in there solidly, but now we’ll just have to wait until next weekend to get the car in. I would have loved to have qualified yesterday, today or even tomorrow, but we just have to deal with the rules and the schedule like everyone else and take care of it next weekend.
“For now, I just hope the weather clears up for Wednesday so we can get back on track and then again for next weekend when it’s time to qualify.”
Foyt said the team will focus on getting the race setup finalized in practice before switching back to a qualifying trim for next Saturday’s qualifications.