Harvey set for fourth career Indianapolis 500 start next Sunday, August 23 (NBC, 1:00pm ET)
Indianapolis, Ind. (15 August 2020) – Entering their fourth Indianapolis 500 together, Meyer Shank Racing and Jack Harvey once again took on the high intensity qualifying run-through on Saturday. Harvey put the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda Indy Car on the seventh row in 20th for next Sunday’s 500 mile race.
For the first time since his debut Indianapolis 500 in 2017 there were exactly 33 entries, leaving Harvey with a guaranteed spot into the 104th running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Despite that locked in position, the team still entered the session with the goal of converting a promising week of pace into a strong grid position.
The team had a favorable qualifying order draw with Harvey set to go out fifth on Saturday. Hoping to take advantage of the cooler track and ambient temperatures before the noon hour, the first run of the day would prove to be most crucial.
Harvey’s first qualifying four lap average came to a 229.861 mph. The average placed Harvey outside the top ten, and the team went to work on the No. 60 Honda in hopes of bringing the car back out for an improvement on its second attempt.
First in line to make a second run at qualifying, Harvey went out and posted and average speed of 229.757 mph, leaving the team to stick with the first round average. That average placed Harvey 20th in the order for the Indianapolis 500 next Sunday, August 23rd.
“Today was a bit disappointing for us,” said Harvey. “We had a great draw and somehow we weren’t able to maximize getting to go out so early on in the session. With the temperatures just getting hotter as the day went on, nailing that first run was so important. And not nailing that run was a product of a difficult day. I went into today thinking we had the pace to be between eighth and thirteenth so it was a bit of a disappointing result for us today.”
The 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 is set for next Sunday, August 23rd. NBC will provide live coverage starting at 1:00pm ET with additional IndyCar Radio coverage on SiriusXM Ch. 205.