Rain brings early end to Indy 500 Pit Stop Challenge

The annual Oscar Mayer Indy 500 Pit Stop Challenge, has been canceled, due to persistent rain interrupting the competition before the end of the first round.

Round 1 opened with Alex Palou’s No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing crew up against their counterparts on the No. 31 Arrow McLaren crew of Ryan Hunter-Reay. Palou gave his crew the best possible chance with a superior drag from standstill, but there was fumble on the right-rear, and it was Hunter-Reay’s crew through to the quarter-finals.

Next up was defending Pit Stop Challenge winners, Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 Penske crew facing Scott Dixon’s Ganassi No. 9ers, and the Penske crew delivered, ensuring Ganassi was uncharacteristically out of the competition at the first round.

David Malukas (Penske No. 12) took on Marcus Ericsson’s Andretti Global No. 28 crew next, and it was the latter who prevailed, after a superior getaway by the Swede gave him an edge that his crew actually extended.

Juncos Hollinger’s pit crew from Juncos Hollinger Racing tackled Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean next, and it was an easy win for JHR. Pato O’Ward’s triumph over Will Power was even easier, as the 2018 Indy 500 winner stalled.

But as Dennis Hauger’s Dale Coyne Racing squad was about to match up against Mick Schumacher’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan crew, rainspots became heavier and soaked the pitlane “drag strip.” Cold tires on a wet surface with cars running side by side and rain-soaked pit boxes created a potentially dangerous situation, so IndyCar’s tech guru Kevin Blanch called off the competition.