Ed Carpenter Racing Has A Mixed Day At Indy

• The 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 is now complete, running the full distance on a day where weather was almost certain to play a factor. The 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval not only remained dry over the course of 200 laps, but the race even finished under the hot sunshine. Ed Carpenter added to his tally of solid finishes at IMS today, bringing home a sixth place in his 16th Indianapolis 500 start. Despite facing adversity throughout the race, Ed Jones and Spencer Pigot stayed the course over the full 500 miles to finish 13th and 14th, respectively.

• Carpenter qualified 2nd for today’s race, the fifth time in the last seven years he has started from the front row. His No. 20 Preferred Freezer Services Chevrolet was strong as he only fell out of the Top 5 during pit stop sequences. For the final restart of the race on Lap 186, he was sitting comfortably in 3rd position. However, Carpenter struggled with the balance of the car in the closing laps and fell three positions to finish 6th. The 38-year-old’s three best finishes in the Indianapolis 500 are now 2nd, 5th and 6th.

• Alongside Carpenter on the front row was Pigot, who qualified an NTT IndyCar Series career-best third. He maintained his position in the Top 10 for the first half of the race. Battling understeer after his third pit stop, Pigot slid back to 14th. When the race was red flagged on Lap 178, Pigot found himself at the front of the field as he had not yet made his final stop. The No. 21 Autogeek Chevrolet led the Indianapolis 500 for three laps before being forced to take service in a closed pit lane for a splash of fuel. As a penalty, he was ordered to take the ensuing restart from the back of the field. The 25-year-old still managed to pick up two positions on the restart to finish in the 14th position.

• Just one row behind Carpenter and Pigot was Jones, who tied his career-best qualifying effort to start 4th. As Carpenter drives the No. 20 on the oval events. Jones shifted over to the No. 63 Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa Chevrolet for the Indianapolis 500 as ECR expanded to three cars. The 24-year-old, too, stayed inside the Top 10 until his second pit stop, when an issue with a tire change dropped him back to 17th. On his last scheduled stop, Jones was given a drive-through penalty for a pit lane speed violation. After the red flag ended and the yellow flag was lifted with less than 15 laps to go, Jones ducked into the pit lane for a top off on fuel and fresh tires. He was able to make up four positions on the closing laps to finish 13th.

• Carpenter, in his 17th year of NTT IndyCar Series competition, will be back in the No. 20 next for the DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 8. Pigot and Jones will race in next weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix doubleheader, featuring two full-length races on Saturday, June 1 and Sunday, June 2. Both races will be shown live on NBC with coverage beginning at 3 p.m. each day.

“First of all, thank you to Ed Carpenter Racing and Scuderia Corsa. Fortunately, we had the good weather, so that was nice since up to today we weren’t sure about that. We struggled a bit with some issues at the start and restarts. That really hurts you a lot when those are the biggest times to overtake and you’re unable to do anything. At that point, it sets you back and makes it harder to recover. We were still running inside the top 10, but we had a problem at the second pit stop and that put us back. Once you get further back in the pack it gets harder and harder to move forward. It’s a bit of a disappointing day from where we started. Hopefully, we will be back next year and be a little stronger.”