Graham Rahal in, out of Indy lineup 3 times

INDIANAPOLIS — Like a yo-yo on a string, Graham Rahal was in the Indianapolis 500, then out, then in, then out again, then in … well, you get the picture.

The 19-year-old son of former Indy winner Bobby Rahal has the distinction of being the only driver ever bumped from the lineup three times on the first day of qualifying. And the crazy thing about Indy’s new format is that he can still get a spot as high as 12th in the starting lineup for the May 25 race.

“I feel pretty comfortable that we can solidly be in the field, so we’ll take a little wing out Saturday morning and go for it,” Rahal said.

The top 11 spots were determined the first day of qualifying on Saturday, but rain Sunday washed out the second day, leaving next weekend as the final opportunity for Rahal and some two dozen other drivers to make the 33-car field. The track was closed Monday and Tuesday, and practice is scheduled to resume Wednesday.

“We’re going to focus this week, I would imagine, on race setup,” Rahal said, confident he’ll be in the lineup somewhere. “I think we really need to focus on having a good race car here. Of course, qualifying is important, but the race is what it really comes down to.”

To increase excitement — and to reduce the downtime between pole qualifying on the first day of trials and a scramble for the few remaining spots on the fourth and final day — the IRL adopted a new format three years ago. The change gave each car up to three attempts on each of the four days, rather than three attempts the entire month.

Now, 11 spots are filled each of the first three days, with the near certainty that there will be bumping for those spots.

The fourth day is left for bumping regardless of which day a car has already qualified. Any qualifying attempt that is faster than a qualified car among the 33 qualifiers from the first three days will bump the slowest qualifier from the field, regardless of the day of qualification.

Rain on the first day of qualifications spoiled the first two years under the new procedure. Then last year, the first year the new format got a full test, there were 44 attempts and 11 bumps on the final day of qualifications.

In Rahal’s case, all the bumping Saturday came in 28-minute flurry of attempts in the final hour.

Already the youngest driver to win a major open-wheel race, Rahal qualified for his first Indy 500 with an early four-lap average of 223.540 mph. The top 11 spots were filled in the first 50 minutes, though, and as each slower car was bumped out, Rahal moved down the list toward the bubble.

Finally, he was bumped the first time by rookie Hideki Mutoh with 45 minutes to go.

When former winner Dan Wheldon withdrew his previous qualification attempt in hopes of trying again for the pole, Rahal moved back into the lineup, but not for long. Wheldon improved his speed to 226.110, and Rahal was bumped out a second time.

Then, when Tomas Scheckter withdrew his car, the yo-yo yanked Rahal back into the lineup again. And just like before, when Scheckter requalified, Rahal was out for the third time.

“The car was really good, and I was really happy with it,” said Rahal, who drives for Newman/Haas/Lanigan, one of the five former Champ Car teams that merged into the IRL this season. “Obviously, we need to find a little more speed, but, yeah, I’m perfectly fine with it. I’m looking forward to the race.”

Besides Rahal, the others bumped on Saturday were veteran Davey Hamilton — twice — and rookies Mario Moraes, Will Power, Oriol Servia and Ryan Hunter-Reay, once each.

“I don’t think we’re that far off. I think we’ll qualify in the top 22,” said Power, a teammate of Servia with KV Racing, another former Champ Car team. “I think we are best of the transition teams, and we’re catching these other guys slowly, but we are getting there.”

Others still hoping to qualify include former winners Buddy Rice and Buddy Lazier and veterans Bruno Junqueira, A.J. Foyt IV, Sarah Fisher, Milka Duno, Marty Roth, Max Papis, John Andretti and Jeff Simmons.