Rahal Letterman drivers Scott Sharp and Jeff Simmons raised their game to reach a new level of speed during the first round of qualifying for this year's Indianapolis 500 but, despite running their best four-lap speeds of the week, both came up just short of locking up a spot in the race. source: crash.net Both drivers made vast improvements over their morning practice times during their first qualifying runs, but were bumped out late in the second hour of the session, leaving each to attempt a second four-lap run in the final hour of Pole Day qualifying. Again, however, they came up just short, forcing the teams to go again in Sunday's second round as the 500 flirts with a revised qualifying procedure. "It was a great effort by the guys," Sharp said after his four-lap average of 222.743mph left him a scant 0.045mph shy of knocking Michael Andretti out of the day's eleventh and final spot. "It was very close but, on the last lap, we slid just a little off of turn two and the exit speed was just a tick off - that's where I think we lost it. The attitude of the Rahal Letterman team was phenomenal though. Nobody gave up.'' ''They raised the level of commitment even higher - their determination was higher and professionalism was better than any team that I have ever been on. We put our best four laps out there in qualifying and that is what you want to do." Simmons made the biggest jump of the day on his first attempt, clocking in with a four-lap average of 222.687mph on a qualifying run that included his first 223mph lap of the month. His effort left him twelfth with one hour to go in the session but, with just eleven spots locked up on the first day, the team rolled the dice and sent the Ethanol car back out. Simmons responded with four straight laps over 222.1mph, but also came up just short. "We just didn't have the speed today, but we'll come back tomorrow and try and get it," Simmons sighed, "We made good progress this morning and now we know we can compete. The guys did a great job and made great choices on the car after the first practice." Sunday's format will see the field start over, with each car getting three attempts to grab spots 12-22 on the 33-car grid.
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