INDIANAPOLIS — One of IndyCar’s all-time greats will lead the field to green at the Indianapolis 500. All eyes, though, will be one row behind Scott Dixon as Fernando Alonso makes his debut i…
INDIANAPOLIS — One of IndyCar’s all-time greats will lead the field to green at the Indianapolis 500.
All eyes, though, will be one row behind Scott Dixon as Fernando Alonso makes his debut in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Alonso has never raced on an oval before, never raced an Indy car and hasn’ t done a rolling start in 20 years — and that was in a go-kart.
So, yeah, Alonso lingered long after all the other competitors in the final driver meeting before Sunday’s race. The two-time Formula One champion peppered race director Brian Barnhart with questions for a solid 15 minutes before riding off through Gasoline Alley on his skateboard.
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Michael Andretti hoping his Indy 500 six-pack leads to victory lane He’s as ready as he can possibly be, and ranked fifth — the fastest rookie — on the speed chart during the final day of practice. Alonso has enjoyed every minute at Indy, but he’s not letting the hype around his quest to win racing’s version of the Triple Crown — he’s already won at Monaco in F1 and would like to someday run Le Mans — distract him from his mission.
“There is still no emotion. Until Monday, there are no emotions allowed to enter your mind, ” Alonso said. “The mind is so focused on the race. There is no space for the emotions right now.”
That’s the intensity it will take to win the 101st running of the Indy 500. Still, it is Dixon who should be the favorite to win.
The New Zealander had the fastest qualifying effort in 21 years to win the pole, and he’ d like to drink the victor’s milk for the second time. Dixon won this race in 2008, he’s a four-time series champion and ranks fourth on the career win list behind only A. J. Foyt, Mario and Michael Andretti.
“In my generation, he’s the best, ” said Tony Kanaan, the 2013 winner of the Indy 500 and Dixon’s teammate.
It doesn’ t hurt that Dixon this year is in a Honda, which has dominated the buildup to Sunday over rival Chevrolet. The Chevy camp — particularly Team Penske — has been dramatically overshadowed so far but finally showed better speed Friday. Three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, veteran of the Penske camp, was fastest on Carb Day.
“We keep working, digging, obviously finding a way, ” Castroneves said. “We’ re going to fight extremely hard out there and showing a little bit of speed certainly. We’ re going for the big one on Sunday.”
Team Penske has four of the top five drivers in the IndyCar standings, has won the last three races of the season and added two-time 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya to its lineup.
Still, a win by a Chevy driver might be considered an upset based on how strong Honda has been. Although reliability on the Honda engines has been spotty — James Hinchcliffe had a failure during Friday’s practice — the speed is there and Honda won last year with Alexander Rossi, a rookie who coasted across the finish line on fumes.
Rossi is part of the massive effort from Andretti Autosport, which expanded to six cars when it took on Alonso last month. Most teams might have flinched at taking on such a heavy workload for the biggest race of the year, but the Andretti camp did not back down.
“It has to make sense from a business standpoint, ” said Marco Andretti, son of the team owner and a driver eager to win his first Indy 500. “At first I was like, ‘Man, six cars?’ Then I found out who it was, and I was like, ‘Well, we have to do that.’ It’s a lot for the team. But it’s all good things, man. It’s good for the sport.”
There has certainly been a buzz around the Brickyard for Alonso, and worldwide television ratings should get a significant boost. IndyCar drivers are smart enough to understand that Alonso is good for all of them now.
With no clear favorite, questions about Honda’s reliability, Penske’s power and Alonso’s lack of experience in this race, there could be a surprise winner in a race Roger Penske believes could be even more exciting than last year’s historic 100th running.
Kanaan, a driver who had his heart broken repeatedly at Indy before his breakthrough victory four years ago, can’ t predict what might happen.
“The track is a she, first of all, and she picks the winner, ” Kanaan said. “I mean, look how many chances I had, not just me, but good drivers, led races. We can make a list of people who should have won this race, and then all of a sudden something happens.
————- INDIANAPOLIS 500 AT A GLANCE ————-
Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana
When: Broadcast coverage begins at around 8 a.m. PT on ABC (Ch. 7) . The National Anthem is at approximately 9 a.m. with engines scheduled to fire up at about 9: 15 a.m. The race is expected officially to begin at about 9: 19 a.m.
TV: ABC/7
Pole: Scott Dixon earned the pole position with a four-lap average of 232.164 mph, the fastest since Arie Luyendyk’s 236.986 mph in 1996.
Full field
1. Scott Dixon (9) , 232.164 mph
2. Ed Carpenter (20) 231.664 mph
3. Alexander Rossi (98) 231.487 mph
4. Takuma Sato (26) 231.365 mph
5. Fernando Alonso (29) 231.300 mph
6. J. R. Hildebrand (6) 230.889 mph
7. Tony Kanaan (7) 230.828 mph
8. Marco Andretti (27) 230.474 mph
9. Will Power (12) 230.200 mph
10. Ryan Hunter-Reay (10) 231.442 mph
11. Ed Jones (19) 230.578 mph
12. Oriol Servia (16) 230.309 mph
13. Mikhail Aleshin (7) 230.271 mph
14. Graham Rahal (15) 230.253 mph
15. Max Chilton (8) 230.068 mph
16. Charlie Kimball (83) 229.956 mph
17. James Hinchcliffe (5) 229.860 mph
18. Juan Pablo Montoya (22) 229.565 mph
19. Helio Castroneves (3) 229.515 mph
20. Jay Howard (77) 229.414 mph
21. Sage Karam (24) 229.380 mph
22. Josef Newgarden (2) 228.501 mph
23. Simon Pagenaud (1) 228.093 mph
24. Carlos Munoz (14) 227.921 mph
25. Gabby Chaves (88) 226.921 mph
26. Conor Daly (4) 226.439 mph
27. Jack Harvey (50) 225.
