The 2017 ABC Supply 500 was the 14th round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season. The race was held on August 20 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Takuma Sato qualified on pole for the race, while Will Power managed to take victory despite being over a lap down at one point. Power became the first driver to earn back-to-back Pocono 500 wins.

United States 2017 ABC Supply 500
Race details
14th round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season
DateAugust 20, 2017
Official nameABC Supply 500
LocationPocono Raceway
CoursePermanent racing facility
2.5 mi / 4.0 km
Distance200 laps
500 mi / 800 km
Pole position
DriverTakuma Sato (Andretti Autosport)
Time40.9008 + 41.0518 = 1:21.9526
Fastest lap
DriverTony Kanaan (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Time41.2230 (on lap 182 of 200)
Podium
FirstWill Power (Team Penske)
SecondJosef Newgarden (Team Penske)
ThirdAlexander Rossi (Andretti Herta Autosport)

Qualifying

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Qualifying was held on Saturday, August 19. Despite being the last driver on track, Takuma Sato qualified on pole position with a two lap time of 1:21.9526 (219.639 mph), besting Simon Pagenaud, Charlie Kimball, Tony Kanaan, and Will Power. It was Sato's second pole of the season.

The session was marred by two major crashes. Hélio Castroneves crashed heavily in turn one during his qualifying attempt, relegating him to a 20th place start. Later in the session, Ryan Hunter-Reay crashed heavily in turn three, then made further contact with the inside wall on the front stretch. Accelerometers measured the impact with a lateral g-force of 138 g.[1] Hunter-Reay walked away from the incident but suffered hip and left knee injuries and was transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest in Allentown for examination. He suffered no broken bones and was cleared to drive the following day, but was forced to start in 21st due to his incident.[2]

Ed Carpenter made no attempt to qualifying after suffering damage to his car in a crash during the morning practice session.[3]

Race

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The race was held on Sunday, August 20. The start of the race saw Tony Kanaan launch into the lead with Alexander Rossi taking up second place behind. Takuma Sato, despite his pole start, began to quickly drop through the field. Several drivers who started farther back in the field, including Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, and Hélio Castroneves, began to work their way forward quickly in the opening laps as well. At the front of the field, the lead changed on lap 12, as Rossi managed to pass Kanaan. On lap 23, the first of the race's caution periods came out after Esteban Gutiérrez made contact with the turn 3 wall, causing parts of his rear wing to break off and land on the track. Gutiérrez would be forced to retire from the race from the damage sustained in the incident. During the caution, teams took the opportunity to make their first round of pit stops, with Rossi retaining the lead, but now with Will Power running second, Kanaan third, and Dixon fourth. During the stops, Max Chilton lost several laps after suffering from turbo-wastegate issues that required repair by his crew.

The restart came at lap 27, with Kanaan managing to sweep back into the lead while Power moved into second. Rossi struggled on the restart and by the end of two laps had fallen down to sixth place. On lap 30, the lead of the race changed hands again, as Dixon managed to move to the front of the field. By roughly 50 laps in, Dixon remained the leader, but the order behind continued to shuffle as Rossi moved up to second and James Hinchcliffe and Josef Newgarden moved into the top five. Green flag pit stops came around lap 55, but the top five remained largely unchanged. On lap 60, Rossi briefly took over the lead, before being re-passed by Dixon five laps later. Behind them, Power began to plummet down the order as the snap-adjuster on his front wing broke. Power eventually had to stop to have this fixed, placing him one lap down.

Up front, the battle for the lead became saw Hinchcliffe add his name to contention, as he, Dixon, and Rossi exchanged the lead several times over the next several laps. Another round of green flag pit stops came and went, but Hinchcliffe dropped well down the order after overshooting his pit stall. Replacing him in the battle for the lead was Ryan Hunter-Reay, despite his injuries sustained during qualifying. This battle continued to lap 116, when green flag pit stops came again. However, midway through the cycle, Sebastián Saavedra made contact with the turn two wall, bringing out another caution. Several drivers, including Newgarden and Castroneves, were caught out by the caution and forced to pit when everyone else had already stopped. After the stops, Hunter-Reay led Graham Rahal, Kanaan, Dixon, and Rossi. During the yellow flag, Power was able to get back onto the lead lap by not pitting during the caution.

Racing resumed on lap 122, with both Rahal and Kanaan passing Hunter-Reay, moving Rahal into the lead, the next lap, Kanaan took the lead. Behind them, the caution came again as Hinchcliffe and J. R. Hildebrand tangled in turn 1. During the caution, Power pitted again, partly to repair damage sustained while attempting to avoid the incident, and partly to top off on fuel. Kanaan and Rahal continued out front.

Racing resumed again on lap 132, with Rahal moving back around Kanaan for the lead. This began a battle between the two that saw them exchange the lead nearly every lap through lap 150. Rahal and Kanaan had 15 lead changes in 18 laps. Many of the leaders pitted at this point, putting Will Power into the lead. Even after his pit stop on lap 161, Power maintained his lead over the field. One more round of pit stops remained, which Power emerged back out in front, while Newgarden and Rossi became the closest pursuers. However, Rossi suffered a broken fuel-nob, forcing him to remain in full-savings mode while Power and Newgarden went on ahead. In the closing laps, Newgarden managed to catch up to Power an attempt to make a pass, but eventually ran out of time, allowing Power to take his second consecutive win at Pocono. Rossi managed to hold onto third place, while the top five was rounded up by Simon Pagenaud and Tony Kanaan. Scott Dixon, who led the most laps of the race, finished sixth.

Power's victory moved him up to 8th in all time American open-wheel victories, while also allowing him to remain in championship contention. Newgarden, however, managed to extend his lead over everyone else thanks to his second-place finish, extending his point's lead to 18 points.[4][5][6]

After the race, it was revealed that relations between Chip Ganassi Racing and its drivers had become heated after Max Chilton was parked by the team after completing only 129 laps of the race. While the car was three laps down, Chilton expressed extreme displeasure over the radio, saying, "[Whoever gave me] this instruction is brain dead. It's the first time I've had a decent car in a while. Why can't we learn, or are we a quitting team? Good riddance, [I] can't wait for next year."[7]

Results

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Key Meaning
R Rookie
W Past winner

Qualifying

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Pos No. Name Lap 1 Time Lap 2 Time Total Time Avg. Speed (mph)
1 26   Takuma Sato 40.9008 41.0518 1:21.9526 219.639
2 1   Simon Pagenaud 41.0308 41.0129 1:22.0437 219.395
3 83   Charlie Kimball 41.0235 41.0301 1:22.0536 219.369
4 10   Tony Kanaan 41.1149 41.0725 1:22.1874 219.012
5 12   Will Power W 41.0999 41.2093 1:22.3092 218.688
6 98   Alexander Rossi 41.3626 40.9712 1:22.3338 218.622
7 15   Graham Rahal 41.2368 41.2945 1:22.5313 218.099
8 88   Gabby Chaves 41.2375 41.3237 1:22.5612 218.020
9 9   Scott Dixon W 41.2721 41.3655 1:22.6376 217.819
10 8   Max Chilton 41.2114 41.4530 1:22.6644 217.748
11 19   Ed Jones R 41.4143 41.3197 1:22.7340 217.565
12 5   James Hinchcliffe 41.3224 41.4148 1:22.7372 217.556
13 18   Esteban Gutiérrez R 41.3359 41.5018 1:22.8377 217.292
14 2   Josef Newgarden 41.2537 41.6060 1:22.8597 217.235
15 7   Sebastián Saavedra 41.4527 41.5185 1:22.9712 216.943
16 27   Marco Andretti 41.3561 41.6693 1:23.0254 216.801
17 4   Conor Daly 41.6895 41.6576 1:23.3471 215.964
18 14   Carlos Muñoz 41.8369 41.8393 1:23.6762 215.115
19 21   J. R. Hildebrand 41.7134 42.0122 1:23.7256 214.988
20 3   Hélio Castroneves - - No Time No Speed
21 28   Ryan Hunter-Reay W - - No Time No Speed
22 20   Ed Carpenter - - No Time No Speed
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Source for individual laps:[8]

Race

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Pos No. Driver Team Engine Laps Time/Retired Pit Stops Grid Laps Led Pts.1
1 12   Will Power W Team Penske Chevrolet 200 2:43:16.6005 10 5 34 51
2 2   Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 200 +0.5268 7 14 4 41
3 98   Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Autosport Honda 200 +0.7112 6 6 44 36
4 1   Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Chevrolet 200 +0.8770 6 2 32
5 10   Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 200 +2.9056 6 4 32 31
6 9   Scott Dixon W Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 200 +3.3544 6 9 51 31
7 3   Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Chevrolet 200 +3.7273 6 20 26
8 28   Ryan Hunter-Reay W Andretti Autosport Honda 200 +4.0833 6 21 12 25
9 15   Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 200 +4.6884 6 7 9 23
10 14   Carlos Muñoz A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 200 +6.9330 7 18 20
11 27   Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Honda 200 +9.4607 7 16 9 20
12 20   Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 200 +10.4503 6 22 18
13 26   Takuma Sato Andretti Autosport Honda 200 +11.2388 6 1 18
14 4   Conor Daly A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 200 +19.8050 9 17 16
15 88   Gabby Chaves Harding Racing Chevrolet 200 +20.6790 8 8 15
16 83   Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 200 +24.4523 7 3 14
17 19   Ed Jones R Dale Coyne Racing Honda 200 +25.0689 6 11 13
18 8   Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 129 Mechanical 8 10 12
19 21   J. R. Hildebrand Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 124 Contact 4 19 2 12
20 5   James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 124 Contact 4 12 3 11
21 7   Sebastián Saavedra Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 114 Contact 3 15 9
22 18   Esteban Gutiérrez R Dale Coyne Racing Honda 23 Contact 1 13 8
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE
Notes

1 Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.

Source for time gaps:[9]

Championship standings

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included.

Broadcasting

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Saturday morning's one hour and fifteen minute practice session and the half hour final practice in the afternoon were both streamed live on the IndyCar YouTube channel.[10][11] The qualifying session was televised by NBCSN.

The race was broadcast on NBCSN. The booth announcers were Kevin Lee, Paul Tracy, and Townsend Bell. Pit reporters were Jon Beekhuis, Katie Hargitt, Anders Krohn, and Robin Miller.[12]

In the United States, the race got a 0.40 TV rating and 618,000 viewers. It was the most-watched IndyCar race on NBCSN in 2017.[13]

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network provided coverage of the event on radio. Mark Jaynes and Zach Veach were the announcers in the booth. Reporting from the turns were Nick Yeoman and Jake Query. From pit road were Dave Furst and Jim Murphy.

References

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  1. ^ "Day After Hard Crash, Ryan Hunter-Reay Finishes Eighth At Pocono". Autosport.com. August 20, 2017. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  2. ^ "Hunter-Reay cleared to drive in ABC Supply 500". IndyCar.com. Brickyard Trademarks, Inc. August 20, 2017. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  3. ^ Robinson, Mark (August 19, 2017). "Sato makes final daring run to win Pocono Raceway pole". IndyCar.com. Brickyard Trademarks, Inc. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  4. ^ Malsher, David (August 20, 2017). "Pocono IndyCar: Power scores stunning win from a lap down". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  5. ^ Robinson, Mark (August 20, 2017). "Power comes from lap down to win at Pocono". IndyCar.com. Brickyard Trademarks, Inc. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  6. ^ "Power makes a 'crazy day' work for him". Racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. August 20, 2017. Archived from the original on October 18, 2017. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  7. ^ Pruett, Marshall (August 28, 2017). "Ganassi explains reasoning behind parking drivers". Racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Archived from the original on October 18, 2017. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  8. ^ "Race Report: 2017 ABC Supply 500". theapexracing.co. TheApex.racing LLC. August 16, 2017. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  9. ^ "Indycar 2017 Pocono". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network.
  10. ^ Saturday Morning at Pocono Raceway
  11. ^ Saturday Afternoon at Pocono Raceway
  12. ^ 2017 ABC Supply 500
  13. ^ "'Weekend Sports TV Ratings'". Showbuzzdaily.


Previous race:
2017 Honda Indy 200
IndyCar Series
2017 season
Next race:
2017 Bommarito Automotive Group 500
Previous race:
2016 ABC Supply 500
ABC Supply 500 Next race:
2018 ABC Supply 500