Rinus VeeKay overcomes early crash with final flourish to make Indianapolis 500 pole shootout
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Rinus VeeKay changed his fortunes with one late, daring Indianapolis 500 qualifying run Saturday.
It could change the trajectory of his entire season.
The 23-year-old Dutch driver overcame an early crash that forced crew members to scramble to repair the No. 21 Chevrolet and then jumped from 29th to 11th on the second-to-last run of the day to make his fifth straight pole shootout with a four-lap average of 232.419 mph. He bumped Colton Herta out of the 12th and final spot in the shootout as his mother prayed while watching.
“Wow, wow, just incredible,” VeeKay said after his fourth and final qualifying attempt of the day. “Wow! What a job. I’ll be driving tomorrow.”
For most of Saturday, it appeared VeeKay’s four-year run of making the shootout was over.
His car wiggled going through the third turn on his first qualifying run, then spun up the track into the wall coming out of the turn, skidded between the third and fourth turns and hit the Turn 4 wall before coming to rest in the front straightaway. He limped to the medical truck but was checked, released and cleared to drive at the infield medical center.