Indy 500 Qualifying

Now that the two-day qualifying experiment is complete, it's time to step back and reflect. Feedback for this year's qualifying was largely positive, from both drivers and fans. Personally, I think I echo the thoughts of many IndyCar fans who thought qualifying was good, but needed something extra. Let's weigh the pros and cons of qualifying this year.

Pros
The most notable benefit of having qualifying spread over two days, culminating in Pole Day on Sunday, was the television ratings. Saturday earned a 0.8-0.9 rating, which is comparable to what IndyCar receives for a race. Mark Miles had to be grinning from ear to ear upon seeing the ratings for Sunday, however, which earned a 1.2 rating. Anything over 1.0 is considered a huge success for qualifying. Evidently IndyCar piqued enough interest on Saturday that viewers wanted to see who would emerge as the polesitter. Sunday also had no competition from NASCAR, and with Kurt Busch's attempt to do the double this year, I'm sure some NASCAR fans who watched Saturday night's All-Star Race tuned in to see how he would do. Attendance was poor on Saturday, but that may have been due to the rainy, cold weather conditions. Sunday's attendance looked great, and certainly better than last year. So on sheer numbers alone, IndyCar has to consider this year's experiment a success.

Saturday featured some great drama, as teams scrambled to finish in the Fast Nine. This led to some teams using the "fast lane," which threw out any previous speeds and started from scratch. To me, allowing cars to make multiple qualifying attempts has always been one of the Indy 500's strengths. We've had that kind of drama for the last few years, despite what some fans say. The first full qualifying day that I watched was when Ryan Briscoe won the pole in 2012. I remember being on the edge of my seat as teams kept making runs to try and dethrone him. I thought to myself, who needs bumping? That was good enough for me. And that same suspense took place this year, as drivers on small teams like Josef Newgarden, Ed Carpenter, and J.R. Hildebrand found their way into the Fast Nine, beating out big fish like Chip Ganassi Racing.

The race for the pole went down to the wire...literally. As James Hinchcliffe nervously looked on, it appeared that Ed Carpenter's first couple of laps wouldn't be enough for the pole position. But suddenly the tides turned, and Ed won the pole for the second year in a row with an average speed of 231.067, the fastest time since 2003. Not only that, but it was interesting to see which drivers gained speed from Saturday (Montoya more than anyone), and which ones lost speed (Ryan Hunter-Reay, really?). Carpenter was also a hometown favorite, so it was great to hear the collective cheer from the crowd as he was awarded the pole.

Cons
Both days left me feeling a little empty, but Sunday left me feeling emptier than Saturday. Qualifying was over by 3pm, which felt too soon. I felt like one run for the pole wasn't enough. One run for positions 10-33 makes some sense, so I can support that. I was left wanting more, which is probably because in years past we have gotten more. The shootout for the pole can be highly enjoyable and thrilling, and I just didn't feel like it was this year. I would've liked to see more.

Saturday's conclusion felt a little ho-hum, but I suppose that was to be expected considering there was no bumping. Future years might create more drama, but Saturday certainly did not lack action. Cars were constantly on track so there was always something to watch. Unfortunately there weren't that many fans present to watch.

The points awarded for qualifying definitely needs to change. Carpenter earned 42 points for winning the pole, which is almost as many as a race winner receives. That just seems ridiculous. Will Power commented that he didn't even know so many points could be earned from qualifying for this race. For a championship, the emphasis should be on winning races--as many of them as possible on all types of tracks.

At first, the qualifying procedure was quite confusing. And I imagine it would have been even more confusing had there been more than 33 cars fighting for spots. But I quickly caught on after watching it on TV. It really isn't that much different from what I've seen in the past, except that it was spread over two days instead of just one. Perhaps the ratings number would have been higher on Saturday if people weren't so confused. Saturday, to me, was more exciting than Sunday. I will say that the Indy 500 qualifying process is far less confusing than NASCAR's supposed All-Star Race. I still don't understand how all that works, or why it's even called an "All-Star" race. But that's a rant for another day!

All in all, I think we need to give the qualifying experiment a few more years to really assess it. For now, it works. Maybe because the ratings numbers were higher than expected (or maybe because Kurt Busch adds some increased intrigue), but I have seen far more promotion for this year's Indy 500 than I ever have before. During last night's NBA game, ESPN cameras showed both Carpenter and Helio Castroneves in the crowd, leading the announcers to talk more about IndyCar. Ads for both the Indy 500 and the Verizon IndyCar Series ran multiple times during the game, and they continue to be aired during other programming. Not only are we seeing more television advertising, but yesterday's Media Day was a promotion extravaganza that I had the pleasure of witnessing in person. More on that to follow later this week. I really feel like IndyCar is growing and moving in a positive direction. It's exciting to watch.