It started with three drivers - Buddy Lazier, Bruno Junqueria and Stanton Barrett - on the outside of the grid looking for a way in, and several drivers at the back end of the field feeling very nervous.

Before the afternoon was over eleven drivers would be caught up in the action. The day would start with Nelson Philippe & Milka Duno - both already in the field - withdrawing their times from yesterday & requalifying in the hopes that they could post a faster time, making their positions more secure. The gamble paid off for both drivers, & inspired EJ Viso, Mike Conway, Tomas Scheckter & Ryan Hunter-Reay to do likewise. It worked for the first three of them as well: More on Hunter-Reay's day in a bit.

Bruno Junqueria was the first of the as-yet-to-qualify drivers to take his shot. After only fifteen practice laps in the car (he was just signed up on Saturday), the 2002 Indy polesitter put togeather a solid four lap average of over 221 mph, making the grid & bumping John Andretti in the process.  

Lazier & Barrett were not as fortunate. Both make only one attempt: in each case, the run was aborted after the 1st lap speed/time proved to be well short of the neccessary mark. As a result, Team 3G & Indy 500 "one-off" squad Hemelgarn Racing, a staple in the month of May for over fifteen years, will be watching from the stands on Sunday.

Meanwhile, John Andretti & his team were pulling out all of the stops in an effort to requalify. After his first two attempts failed to be fast enough, the team dailed the Dallara's rear wing back so far that it was actually sitting at an angle of negative four degrees! The gambit worked, & Andretti bumped Ryan Hunter-Reay to claim a spot. 

With time running out Ryan Hunter Reay would make his second attempt of the day (his first was his  withdraw-&-requalify, which worked until it became the slowest time still standing & he was bumped by Andretti). Ryan's four lap average of 220.597 was good enough to get him back in - and knocked the then-slowest car of Alex Tagliani out without enough time remaining for "Tags" to make an attempt to get back in.

So, here is the starting grid for the 93rd Indianapolis 500, which will start at noon ET/4pm GMt on Sunday, May 24th:

http://www.indy500.com/grid

The only track time that the drivers will get between now & then will be on Carboration Day, this upcomming Friday. There will also be the Firestone Indy Lights Series Freedom 100 race on that day.

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