No worries for Kurt Busch: Takes back-up car to top of speed charts in Saturday’s Sprint Cup practice in Texas

By Apr 5, 2014, 12:28 PM EDT
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Kurt Busch is NASCAR’s version of Mad magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman. When Busch wrecked his primary race car in Friday’s practice at Texas Motor Speedway, the 2004 Sprint Cup champ had confidence in his back-up car and his team.

And just like Neuman (no, not Ryan Newman, Busch’s former teammate) infamously says, “What, me worry?”, Busch didn’t worry at all, waiting until the final minute before recording the fastest speed in Saturday’s final pre-qualifying practice.

Busch absolutely nailed it perfectly, saving the best for the last of his 18 practice laps, speeding around the 1.5-mile TMS layout at 194.630 mph. It’s obvious Busch is still riding a wave of momentum he gained in winning last Sunday at Martinsville, as he seeks back-to-back wins in Sunday’s Duck Commander 500 at TMS.

Busch, who has one previous win at TMS (fall 2009), knocked Ford driver Carl Edwards (194.616) off the top of the heap. Kevin Harvick was third-fastest (194.328), Greg Biffle was fourth (194.014) and Aric Almirola was fifth (193.979).

Austin Dillon is battling flu-like symptoms, prompting younger brother Ty to take a handful of laps just in case he’s needed to step in during Saturday’s qualifying or Sunday’s race.

In 28 initial laps, Austin Dillon had recorded a weak best-effort of just 186.220 mph. But after Ty went out to shake down the car, Austin found a second wind, climbed back in his No. 3 Richard Childress Chevrolet and pumped out a much more respectable effort of 192.623 mph, good for 23rd on the speed charts.

Unlike Friday’s practice session, when David Ragan tore up the front end and undercarriage of his Ford when he slid into the infield grass, and Kurt Busch’s wreck, there were no incidents in Saturday’s practice.

Tony Stewart’s team had to repair damage to the front end of his car caused when debris from Busch’s Friday wreck punctured the headlight bezel area. But Stewart was none the worst for wear in Saturday’s practice, clicking off the ninth-fastest lap of the field (193.840).

Also of note, current Sprint Cup points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. was only 25th fastest (192.596). And like Friday, JJ Yeley failed to crack 180 mph, once again recording the session’s slowest speed at 179.045 mph.

A field of 47 cars took practice laps and are preparing for Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session, which will force four of those cars to fall short of the 43-car field for Sunday’s race.

Here’s the results from Saturday’s final pre-qualifying practice for the Sprint Cup Series:

1 Kurt Busch 194.630 mph

2 Carl Edwards 194.616

3 Kevin Harvick 194.328

4 Greg Biffle 194.014

5 Aric Almirola 193.979

6 Paul Menard 193.924

7 Jimmie Johnson 193.875

8 Trevor Bayne 193.854

9 Tony Stewart 193.840

10 Jamie McMurray 193.521

 

11 Matt Kenseth 193.500

12 Ryan Newman 193.396

13 Martin Truex Jr. 193.237

14 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 193.181

15 Jeff Gordon 193.126

16 Marcos Ambrose 193.050

17 Joey Logano 193.016

18 Alex Bowman 192.836

19 Michael McDowell 192.809

20 Kyle Larson 192.740

 

21 Brian Vickers 192.678

22 Danica Patrick 192.664

23 Austin Dillon 192.623

24 Casey Mears 192.616

25 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 192.596

26 Justin Allgaier 192.321

27 Brad Keselowski 192.280

28 Clint Bowyer 192.184

29 Denny Hamlin 192.157

30 Kyle Busch 191.925

 

31 Michael Annett 191.171

32 Kasey Kahne 191.164

33 AJ Allmendinger 190.975

34 Parker Kligerman 189.887

35 David Stremme 189.560

36 David Reutimann 189.500

37 Ryan Truex 189.474

38 Cole Whitt 189.367

39 Travis Kvapil 188.607

40 Josh Wise 188.357

 

41 Dave Blaney 188.107

42 Landon Cassill 187.787

43 Joe Nemechek 186.955

44 Reed Sorenson 185.790

45 David Gilliland 185.408

46 David Ragan 184.508

47 JJ Yeley 179.045

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Winner Josef Newgarden earns $3.666 million from a record Indy 500 purse of $17 million

By May 29, 2023, 6:01 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33.  Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports