After the conclusion of the first day of Indianapolis 500 qualifying, Team Penske confirmed what they had suspected through most of the Month of May: they simply didn’t have the pace to fight for pole.
After nearly seven hours of qualifying by 34 teams, Will Power was the team’s highest placed qualifier in 12th.
He just barely made the cut into Sunday’s fight for pole and still technically has a chance to take the top spot, but his other two team-mates were forced to settle for positions near the middle of the field.
READ MORE: Indianapolis 500 Qualifying Day 1 Report
An incredible amount of work has been put in behind the scenes over the past couple years to try to get more competitive qualifying pace out of their Chevy-powered entries.
The historic team has struggled to get a grasp of the Indianapolis oval in all regards the past couple years, and has redoubled efforts into figuring out where they are lacking.
Josef Newgarden explained after the race his crew still does not quite understand where they are losing out to the competition.
“I think there’s no doubt that [McLaren has] done a tremendous job,” said Newgarden. “They’ve just excelled. We fell short today.
“There’s no hiding it. We did not do a good enough job. I can’t speak highly enough about Chevrolet. I think they’ve been tremendous this whole season, particularly tremendous today.
“We seem to be able to figure out most situations, but for whatever reason this cruel mistress, she’s just tricking us. I don’t understand how so. I think all of us don’t fully understand it.
“You don’t stop working. I think for us, we’ve just got to continue to put in the work and not have an ego about it. We weren’t good enough, let’s figure out why.
“Indy is not easy. This is not an easy place to just succeed. I don’t care how many Indy 500s you have, what team you are, there are no guarantees when you show up here.
“I feel terrible for our team because I’m front and center of being able to witness the amount of effort that has gone into this place. It is just not from a shortage of effort. We’re obviously just missing something else.
“I don’t know how we’re missing it. We’ve worked hard, all of us collectively. We’ve tried to have no ego about it. It’s just not enough.”
Newgarden has been a part of Team Penske since 2017, and has not made it a secret that his lack of an Indy 500 win is the biggest thing missing from his resume.
Team Penske has 18 Indy 500 wins over the last 50 years, and it has practically become expected that any of their drivers will be able to compete for a win on any given weekend. Let alone at the biggest race of the year.
The two-time champion was outwardly disappointed in his 17th place qualifying result, and seemed to have doubts that he would be able to be in the fight for the win this year.
Only time will tell if his fears will come true again, and the 107th running of the Indy 500 takes place Sunday, May 18 at noon Eastern Time.
