Rain Postpones Indy 500 Qualifying

Pole-day qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for today after being postponed Saturday because of rain.

It was the second straight year that the opening round of time trials was washed out.

Drivers were scheduled to compete for the 1-through-11 starting positions Saturday, and the 12-through-22 spots today. But all 22 positions will be up for grabs today, weather permitting.

The rest of the 33-car grid will be determined next weekend. The 90th running of the race is May 28.

“It’s frustrating, boring and pretty nerve-racking because you want to get it over with,” said Michael Andretti, who is temporarily ending his retirement as a driver to compete in the race one more time.

Persistent rain has interrupted practice at 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the last several days, and the National Weather Service predicted occasional showers again today with temperatures in the low 50s.

If rain prevents 22 cars from qualifying today, track officials said they would decide during the day whether to continue qualifying Monday or wait until next weekend.

“It’s been crazy, this waiting, this rain,” said Tony Kanaan, who won the pole last year for the Andretti Green Racing team with a speed of 227.566 mph.

Teammate Dario Franchitti said the lack of practice time has been frustrating. “It’s been a difficult week just trying to find the speed necessary for qualifying,” with the rain precluding “those extra laps of practice to make those final tweaks,” he said.