Meyer Shank Racing Qualifies for the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis, Ind. (18 May 2019) – Jack Harvey qualified his No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda IndyCar 25^th for the 2019 Indianapolis 500 during the first day of official NTT IndyCar qualifying on Saturday. The qualifying result marks Meyer Shank Racing’s third successful qualifying effort for the team in the 500-mile event.

The two-day qualifying format saw positions 10-33 locked in on Saturday, with Sunday set to feature two sessions to determine the Fast 9 as well as the final row.

As one of the hottest days at the speedway so far this month setups changed as temperatures rose for the six hour and 50-minute qualifying window.

Rolling off 12^th in the qualifying order, Harvey went out for his four lap qualifying attempt. The Brit’s first lap brought the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM machine to its fastest speed of the session with a 228.566 mph. The next two laps fell slightly with a 227.929 mph on Lap 2 and a 227.618 mph on Lap 3. The final lap saw Harvey make a quick save after the car made a swift slide at the exit of Turn 2, saving the car from making contact with the outside wall and maintaining throttle to finish off the lap. After getting through cleanly he finished the session with a four lap average of 227.695 mph.

Clear skies and blazing sunshine scorched the track for the afternoon hours, bringing the track temperature to 125+ degrees. The Meyer Shank Racing team was on standby for a second qualifying attempt as Harvey was positioned in the 23^rd place range at the 3 o’clock hour.

The final 45-minutes saw Harvey sit first in qualifying line 2 – set for drivers looking to make an additional qualifying attempt but not risk losing their previous time – but was overridden by several drivers cycling through qualifying line 1.

Harvey was unfortunately unable to make a second attempt at qualifying and improve his time, but his initial effort was strong enough to lock him into 25^th position for the 103^rd running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday May 26^th.

“The wind changed from what we were expecting, and I had too many moments coming out of turn two,” Harvey said of his qualifying run. “I haven’t been that loose throughout practice so coming into qualifications and having oversteer on the turn exit is not a great feeling. It wasn’t the run that I thought we were going to have. The first lap was good, but I couldn’t stay flat on the second which caused us to lose too much. We had more pace that we were not able to show. We picked up a lot of front grip out of nowhere and I had a very close save. So it’s good to be in the race after a less than perfect day. We made it. We are in and we can still race from where we are starting from.”

The Indianapolis 500 will be broadcast live on NBC starting at 11:00am ET on Sunday May 26^th. SiriusXM will also have live race coverage on SiriusXM channel 82.