The hard luck stories afflicting expected 2022 Indy 500 contenders

Chip Ganassi and Ed Carpenter Racing drivers locked out the Fast Six pole shootout, but while Ganassi ended up first and third with Ericsson and Tony Kanaan, ECR's best representative at the flag was Conor Daly in sixth.

Daly climbed from 17th on the grid to 12th in the early laps and made his first pitstop immediately before a caution period, which cycled him to the front of the field, able to exchange the lead for a time with Ganassi's polesitter Scott Dixon.

PLUS: How Ericsson achieved Indy immortality as Ganassi's main man stumbled

Rinus VeeKay joined Dixon and reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou on the front row of the grid, and was running second between the two Ganassi drivers on lap 39 when he became the first of several drivers to crash out on lap 39.

“The car just got loose in Turn 2 and I was a passenger from there on,” remarked the Dutchman.

“We had a car that was good enough to fight for the win, or at least get a lot of points, and I got none of that. A big sorry to the team and everyone cheering me on because this could’ve been a very nice day.”

His team owner and three-time Indy polesitter Ed Carpenter meanwhile started fourth, but felt his car’s handling deteriorating over the course of the race.

From running fifth in the first third of the race, Carpenter slipped to seventh after the second round of stops, and then outside the top 10 in the race’s final quarter. His day was compounded by stalling when engines were re-fired following the red flag caused by Jimmie Johnson's Turn 2 crash. After restarting at the back, he finished a disappointed 19th.

“Those first two yellows, we missed the lottery and lost a little track position because we had still been out on track,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter slipped