Jack Harvey looks to make his 8th Indianapolis 500 start. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Persistent rain throughout opening day practice for the 107th Indianapolis 500 has put a damper on seeing cars on the track. As a result, no on-track activity commenced on Tuesday despite being minutes away from drivers running installation laps past 2 p.m. ET.
However, the stories outside of the action during media bullpen was certainly buzzing. Without a doubt, each competitor eyes the Borg-Warner Trophy, but how a driver goes about their approach to win this cherished prize during the Month of May vary.
For Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Jack Harvey, he hopes his eighth Indy 500 start is his best one yet. With a ninth place finish in 2020 being his lone Indy 500 top-10, Harvey heads into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with confidence.
In fact, the entire RLL organization feels this way following all three entries qualifying inside the top-10 in last weekend’s GMR Grand Prix with Harvey qualifying fourth. Despite not being able to reach the podium, Harvey feels team morale is at an all-time high as they’ll look for an even stronger effort going forward as confidence comes a long way at IMS.
“I think it’s huge. For a team, they did a fantastic job,” said Harvey. “If you broke the weekend down to the five times we were on track, four of five were very good at the GP. It certainly looked that way for the entire team. I think the race, don’t think any of us were as happy as we really wanted to. Our race unraveled a bit more than I would’ve liked. I felt like we have shown a lot of promise through the weekend.
“But in terms of confidence that it gave the entire team, that was huge and you can see it. The atmosphere within the team going into the garages, going into engineering, it’s massive. I think so much of this entire month comes down to confidence. It’s confidence in our setups when we go out on track. Confidence in some of the corrections we need.
“Whether it’s for weather or wind and how do you build that? It takes time. It takes good resource and it takes some good things happening consistently. And that’s what I feel like we are just starting to rebuild again.”
Harvey and Simon Pagenaud battling for position during the GMR Grand Prix. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
As qualifying looms this weekend for competitors to make the Indy 500, even if one car goes home after Sunday’s Last Row Shootout, no driver hopes to be a part of that pressure filled situation before the Indianapolis 500 Harvey is aware of such stakes, but a situation like that is always a part of racing. All 17 rounds of the INDYCAR championship trail has its own characteristic where pressure is applied.
Therefore, Harvey looks for optimism any which way possible.
“It’s pretty much the pressure every weekend for everybody is going out and trying to make the race. That’s gonna be number one,” said Harvey. “Then number two, just try and have a successful race as we can and someone’s gonna win the race. We’re always gonna be optimistic that if it happens to be our day, we are in position to capitalize on any opportunity that presents itself.”
Since competing in his first 500 in 2017, Harvey has not worried about whether as he has adapted into the world of relaxation during inconvenient circumstances. Instead, there are some expectations that have reset as this year’s running marks his second 500 piloting a RLL Honda, even if the number this year is the No. 30 instead of No. 45 like a year ago.
“Last year, the expectation was high for obvious reasons. Then at that point, there was some bits we didn’t know yet and the results weren’t we wanted coming into this season. I think there was a fresh approach from everybody. Maybe an expectation reset, not in a negative way, but just more of a realistic way,” said Harvey. “Then at that it was like, ‘Let’s just rebuild from the foundation levels up.’ And that’s what I think we’ve been able to do well.
“I think that’s why we’ve been able to get the confidence for everybody going again is accepting where we are and not honestly just trying to work through it, which I think we have been doing pretty well. Compared to last year, I think going into this 500 maybe a little bit more where we think our speed is, but time’s gonna tell the next few days.”
Over the next three days, Harvey and 33 others will log laps around the 2.5-mile oval leading up to qualifying weekend. Live coverage of all three practice sessions begin at noon ET on Peacock.
