Abel Finds New Fire After Indy 500 Setback

For Jacob Abel, returning to the racetrack in Detroit carries more weight than the typical bounce-back from a race weekend gone wrong.

It’s a return not just to competition, but to direction — a chance to finally begin a rookie NTT IndyCar Series campaign that has, to this point, struggled to find its footing.

The 24-year-old Louisville native was forced to watch from the sidelines during the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 after failing to qualify in the Last Chance session. His final attempt in the No. 51 Miller High Life Honda came up short at 226.394 mph, eliminating him from the field by a slim margin while his Dale Coyne Racing teammate, Rinus VeeKay, held on to the final grid spot at 226.913 mph.

“It was tough. It was a really weird thing,” Abel said of the experience. “But yeah, it’s behind me for sure.”

Still, it was a jarring halt to what was supposed to be a defining moment in a dream career path. Abel spent much of the lead-up to the month of May preparing specifically for his Indianapolis 500 debut by studying in traffic, honing car balance and familiarizing himself with the rhythm of oval racing in the top tier.

Ahead of qualifying weekend, there was no reason to doubt Abel’s readiness for Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s world-class stage. But by the time he lined up for the final qualifying runs, something had gone awry with the car’s pace.

“We were happy all week long. The No. 51 Miller High Life car was fast,” Abel told INDYCAR after the attempt. “It just seemed like something happened overnight Friday to Saturday, and we just immediately lost speed.”

That loss didn’t just end his month. It forced reflection — and led to a reckoning within the team.

Dale Coyne Racing responded with a sweeping engineering overhaul, bringing back two veterans to lead its technical reset: Michael Cannon, now engineering VeeKay’s No. 18 Honda, and Mike Culliver, tasked with guiding Abel’s No. 51 entry. The changes, announced just three days before Detroit, were welcomed inside the team, but perhaps nowhere more emphatically than in Abel’s corner.

“I’ve worked with Mike in the past and believe he’s the perfect fit for everything we’re aiming to achieve moving forward,” Abel said in the team’s press release. “I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running in Detroit and beyond.”

The familiarity helps. As Abel pointed out in Friday’s media availability prior to the start of the race weekend in Detroit, even limited prior collaboration with Culliver breaks down communication barriers in what is already a high-pressure learning environment.

“We all kind of have a no-BS attitude out there,” he said. “It definitely helps that we have worked together — it kind of breaks those boundaries down and helps us hit the ground running.”

That dynamic is critical, because while results have been hard to come by — mechanical issues and conservative race management have stunted early-season momentum — Abel is deep in the process of learning what it takes to be a complete IndyCar driver. From pit lane timing to energy deployment and tire conservation to situational awareness on narrow street circuits, his rookie year has required an education by fire, and the results sheets don’t tell the full story.

“There’s really no expectations right now,” Abel admitted. “Part of me feels like my IndyCar season hasn’t even started yet. We really haven’t had a race result at all yet, which is super unfortunate.”

Yet, Detroit may mark a turning point — not just for Abel, but for the team around him. In his words, the atmosphere at Dale Coyne Racing has shifted. There’s urgency now, and a sense of collective determination to put Indianapolis behind them and move forward as a cohesive unit.

Abel repeatedly pointed to a renewed motivation, driven not only by internal changes but by the sting of falling short on the sport’s biggest stage.

“At Indy … we kind of hit an all-time low,” he said. “Fighting against one another to even just make the race is a place that no team wants to be.”

That low has sparked something more than frustration. It created focus. From team owner Dale Coyne to the engineers in the timing stand, there is now a concerted effort to give both drivers a better foundation to build on.

According to Abel, that starts with being stronger “off the truck” — a reference to arriving at each racetrack with a more refined, competitive baseline setup, something Culliver and Cannon bring through their recent and relevant experience.

And while Abel knows the climb ahead is steep, especially amid a rookie campaign still searching for its first issue-free weekend, his goal in Detroit is clear: execute. Run all the laps, get the pit stops right, finish the race, and build from there.

“I’ve never been more excited to get back into a race car than I have for this week,” he said. “It’s a fresh start.”

The results may not come overnight. But for Abel, this isn’t just a return to racing — it’s a return to the reasons he’s chasing this path in the first place. With renewed belief, a trusted voice on the engineering stand and a fire sparked by failure, Jacob Abel’s rookie season might finally be ready to begin.