I could also be wrong, but I think that during the race, they use 6th to save fuel. There's not a big difference in the 5th and 6th ratios.

I'm delighted to see Danica back. She is a tough cookie and is fearless. I have always kind of liked the way she wore her heart out on her sleeve. I thought she was reasonably talented and provided huge marketing potential for Indycar, an organization that has consistently had poor marketing efforts. I was sorry when she went to NASCAR, and I'm sorry to see her leaving racing, though she has had pretty amazing success in her parallel careers.

I'm amazed that there are still people out there that considered Danica Patrick a success. She won exactly one race in her entire career, and that one came with an asterisk. She got a lot of media attention and that's all she did.

I usually cannot stand ABC's broadcast of any car race. They don't dumb down broadcasts of the stick and ball sports to the same extent, so why must they tailor their presentation of racing events to complete idiots? If a potential viewer doesn't know much about car racing, he's probably not watching it...

I think it's fair to say Danica is a commercial/marketing success but not a racing success . Success in this case means race wins which is what a driver is paid to do . As Al Davis used to say " just win baby " and she hasn't . I would say her appeal has maybe opened the door a little further for other female drivers . As a long time race fan I want to see the best drivers in the best equipment go at it heads up . I could care less if the driver is male , female or a goat .

The grid
 

Indy 500 lineup

Number, Name, Team, Engine, Four Lap Average Speed

Row 1

20 Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet, 229.618

22 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske, Chevrolet, 228.761

13 Will Power, Team Penske, Chevrolet, 228.607

Row 2

1 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, Chevrolet, 228.405

18 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan, Honda, 228.142

21 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet, 228.107

Row 3

13 Danica Patrick, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet, 228.090

3 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, Chevrolet, 227.859

9 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi, Honda, 227.262

Row 4

14 Tony Kanaan, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet, 227.664

4 Matheus Leist, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet, 227.571

98 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport, Honda, 227.288

Row 5

19 Zachary Claman De Melo, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda, 226.999

28 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport, Honda, 226.788

23 Charlie Kimball, Carlin, Chevrolet, 226.657

Row 6

30 Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda, 226.557

32 Kyle Kaiser, Juncos Racing, Chevrolet, 226.398

6 Robert Wickens, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda, 226.296

Row 7

33 James Davison, AJ Foyt w/Byrd/Hollinger/Balardi, Chevrolet, 226.255

59 Max Chilton, Carlin, Chevrolet, 226.212

29 Carlos Munoz, Andretti Autosport, Honda, 226.048

Row 8

88 Gabby Chaves, Harding Racing, Chevrolet, 226.007

25 Stefan Wilson, Andretti Autosport, Honda, 225.863

24 Sage Karam, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Chevrolet, 225.823

Row 9

26 Zach Veach, Andretti Autosport, Honda, 225.748

64 Oriol Servia, Scuderia Corsa w/Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda, 225.699

66 JR Hildebrand, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Chevrolet, 225.418

Row 10

7 Jay Howard, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports/AFS Racing, Honda, 225.388

10 Ed Jones, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda, 225.362

15 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda, 225.327

Row 11

60 Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing with Schmidt Peterson, Honda, 225.254

27 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport, Honda, 224.935

17 Conor Daly, Dale Coyne dba Thom Burns Racing, Chevrolet, 224.429

It's hard to believe that Alexander Rossi is almost dead last...

^Apparently, he had tire pressure issues.

It's not where you start it's where you finish .

I'm actually paying attention to the Indy 500 for the first time in a LONG time.

I'm thinking I might go ahead and find some way to watch this year!! The Monaco/Indy race day on TV always used to be special. Maybe I'll try and rekindle the flame.

• Top 9 shootout? When did that happen? What, 2010? Sheesh......

• Ganassi, Letterman/Rahal and Andretti don't look great this year, but realistically, anything can happen. When did Target drop Ganassi? I thought they were joined at the hip!

• Is GoDaddy still a thing?

Well, no kidding. Let's just say that it certainly makes it a lot harder to do well, when you start at the ass end of the field. Nobody that started in the last two rows has ever won Indy. Ever.

Agree.

I know some don't think she's great and only got where she is because she is a girl, but I think she's done OK seeing as she is competing against racings elite drivers. There's been many guys who haven't done as well as she has and have been in the game just as long. 3rd row is respectable and she's had several top ten Indy finishes.
Haters going to hate, but overall I'd say she has been good for racing and brought in fans that would never been interested in racing.

I’m leaving for Indy on Wednesday. Anyone else going?

The car's new bodywork design this year had all the drivers guessing the set up. Some got it right and some didn't. Some got lucky and some didn't.

The new bodywork has fewer adjustment options, racer.com has an excellent article on the topic.

One advantage she has is being "required" to add weight to the car...an additional 70 pounds to be placed low and forward, giving an edge over heavier drivers really.

Really? I did not know that. I remember back in what I consider the heyday of CART, in the late 90s, when guys like al Unser Jr. and Paul Tracy were complaining about the little tiny euro drivers who weighed in at 125 lbs. They didn't ballast the cars then, and they weighed in at tech sans driver. What do they do now? Are the cars weighed with the driver at tech?

He nearly got bumped out, after holding down the 10th spot previously. It would have been a bummer had both he and Hinch gotten bumped out.

Have fun, astrochex! I went in 2016 and 2011, both great races. In 2016, we were in the short chute after T1, and I'll never forget when Rossi came by on the last lap, running on fumes, at "only" 180 mph. A few seconds later, the hounds closed in. It seemed certain they'd catch him, but they didn't. Awesome finish.

I love all kinds of racing, but Indy has always been magical to me. I clearly remember the 1967 race, when I was a wee lad, and the STP Turbine Car changed everything forever. . . or so we thought!

Zach Veach for the win then.