Indy's other fast rookie: Jones just misses Fast 9

Ed Jones damn near pulled off the biggest upset of Saturday's action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

With exactly one oval-track start under his belt, the 22-year-old rookie from United Arab Emirates came within an eyelash of qualifying for Sunday's Fast 9 shootout. He posted an average speed of 229.717 mph to salvage what was a very tough day for Dale Coyne Racing.

Jones was sitting in the ninth and final transfer spot before J.R. Hildebrand pushed him out.

"The conditions changed at the end and the track got better but we did our best," said Jones.
But his engineer, the veteran Mike Cannon, couldn't heap enough praise of the 2016 Indy Lights champion.

"Ed is a very matter-of-fact guy who gets right to business but what a pleasant surprise," said Cannon. "He hasn't even scratched the paint on this car in testing or the races and he is doing a great job.

"If he doesn't know something, he asks you and he's a very serious kid but a great kid. It's been so much fun working with him."

Jones was sixth at Long Beach, 10th at St. Petersburg and 11th in his oval-track debut at Phoenix.

"It's hard to be a rookie anymore with limited test time but he's just doing an amazing job," continued Cannon. "He's got to learn how to deal with traffic at this place and it's going to be the longest race of his life but I like what I see."