Top Crews To Compete for Indy 500 Pit Stop Challenge Crown on Miller Lite Carb Day

Two days before they compete in the pits to help drivers try to win the 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil, nine of the Verizon IndyCar Series’ best pit crews will compete to decide which team can pull off the quickest pit stop.

The annual Indy 500 Pit Stop Challenge, from 1:45-3 p.m. on Miller Lite Carb Day, Friday, May 25, sees the pit crews duel in a head-to-head, drag race-style event with teams fighting to claim a winner’s prize of $50,000 out of a total purse of $100,000.

Teams are tasked with pulling off a standard pit stop – changing four tires and a simulated fuel hose connection – in the shortest amount of time. The winner is determined strictly based on the time that the car is stopped in the pit. Teams can be given time penalties for various infractions or mistakes made during the stop, such as a driver running over a hose or a wheel not being properly attached.

While Round 1, the quarterfinals and semifinals will consist of single-elimination pairings, the final round to determine the winner will be a best-of-three showdown. Lane choice for the first round of the final is selected by the fastest team from the semifinals. Lanes will be swapped for the second round, and the team that performs the quickest pit stop in the first two rounds will have lane choice in the winner-take-all third round.

Five teams have qualified for the Pit Stop Challenge based on their recorded pit stop times since the 101st Indianapolis 500 last May. Four additional entries come from Indy 500-only entrants or the next-highest ranked entrant of full-time series teams.

Last year, the Team Penske crew for Will Power’s No. 12 car beat the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ crew of James Hinchcliffe for the win. It was the record 17th Pit Stop Challenge victory for Team Penske, which has won the contest for three consecutive years since 2015.

Power is the top seed for this year’s Indy 500 Pit Stop Challenge. Two interesting first-round pairings match Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammates Robert Wickens and Hinchcliffe and Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Ed Jones in intra-team battles.

Visit IMS.com to purchase tickets for the 102nd Indianapolis 500 Presented by PennGrade Motor Oil on Sunday, May 28 and for more information on the complete Race Weekend schedule at IMS.

INDY 500 PIT STOP CHALLENGE PAIRINGS
(# is car number; number after name is seeding)

Round 1
#24 Sage Karam-9 (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing) vs. #1 Josef Newgarden-8 (Team Penske)

Quarterfinals

Winner of Round 1 vs. #12 Will Power-1 (Team Penske)

#6 Robert Wickens-6 (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports) vs. #5 James Hinchcliffe-3 (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports)

#27 Alexander Rossi-4 (Andretti Autosport) vs. #15 Graham Rahal-5 (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing)

#10 Ed Jones-7 (Chip Ganassi Racing) vs. #9 Scott Dixon-2 (Chip Ganassi Racing)