Indianapolis, Ind. (24 May 2024) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) has three cars in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, marking the first time MSR has ever started three cars in an NTT INDYCAR SERIES race since first entering the series in 2017.
But if today’s final Carb Day practice showed anything, it is that MSR is nowhere near content with just qualifying for the 108th running of the Memorial Day classic, it came to be a contender at the end of 200 laps.
Drivers Helio Castroneves (No. 06 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian Cleveland-Cliffs Honda), Tom Blomqvist (No. 66 AutoNation / Arctic Wolf Honda) and Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda) showed speed and consistency in Friday’s final practice for Sunday’s 500-mile race, with all three drivers finishing in the top eight in today’s two-hour session.
The oldest and most-seasoned driver on the squad showed the way today for MSR as Castroneves prepared for his 24th Indy 500 start by posting the second-best time of the day with a best lap at 226.939mph. Castroneves also ran just over half the race distance he will run Sunday, making 103 orbits of the 2.5-mile circuit.
Rookie Blomqvist ended his day by taking the fifth spot on the speed sheets after 62 laps, stopping the clocks at 225.450mph as he preps for his Indianapolis 500 debut. Rosenqvist also had a solid day, logging 89 laps as his top effort of 225.310mph put him eighth on the day’s
chart.
Rosenqvist will start on the outside of Row 3 on Sunday while Castroneves starts 20th with Blomqvist set to take the green flag from the 25th spot.
NBC and Peacock will air the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 live Sunday with pre-race coverage beginning at 11 a.m. ET. SiriusXM will also host live INDYCAR Radio coverage on XM Ch.
218.
Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:
Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda) – “I think we’re in the window, we ended practice pretty happy. The track went hotter and hotter every run, so it’s like every change you did it got worse. It’s tough condition to set the car up in, so I think we’ll just go back to the set up that we had – which we did in the end and we were pretty happy with it.”
Helio Castroneves (No. 06 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian Cleveland-Cliffs Honda) – “Great carburetion day. The Cliffs machine and Sirius XM car looks really, really strong. The 06 boys did an amazing job putting it together and the pit stops, some of the guys flew in this morning they’re like, flawless, looking very, very strong. But at the end of the day, we just got to start it and middle and in the end, we got to make sure that we read the race and go to that number five.”
Tom Blomqvist (No. 66 AutoNation / Arctic Wolf Honda) – “This whole thing is pretty intense. Every lap I do, every session I do I feel more and more confident and understand what I need and how things change. I feel pretty good out there, we’re happy where we’re at.”
