How Indy 500 bumping “relit a fire” in IndyCar rookie Abel

Credit: Dominic Loyer

While the rest of the IndyCar paddock is recovering from an intense Indianapolis 500 race week as the circus heads straight to the streets of Detroit, Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) rookie Jacob Abel has had an unwanted weekend off.

The 24-year-old Kentucky native failed to make the field of 33 for the Indy 500 after a face-off with DCR teammate Rinus VeeKay for the final spot in the field in Last Chance Qualifying. 

It was a brutal Month of May for one of IndyCar’s smallest outfits, battling a lack of speed and ultimately having their only car in the race crash out before the midway point due to a brake failure entering pit lane. All the while, Abel was forced to watch from the sidelines.

“It was tough,” he reflected. “It was a really weird thing. But it’s behind me for sure. Everybody always asked: ‘How does it feel? Has it set in yet that you’re not racing in the Indy 500?’ And I told everyone the same thing, that it hadn’t set in yet that I was racing in the Indy 500.

“Because it’s been a lifelong dream of mine. I’ve always watched those cars on the grid there and watched that race as a fan for over a decade. It truly hadn’t set in to me yet that I was going to be racing in that race. 

“Hopefully that day will come. But unfortunately it was more difficult.”

After a week of practice, Abel felt ready to compete in his maiden Indy 500. But after having speed good enough to make the field on Fast Friday, DCR suffered a mysterious loss of pace across both cars, despite both drivers staying clean and flat.

“That was part of the bummer of it because we spent so much time during the week working on our race car in traffic, getting up to speed, blending with the group and all of that,” Abel said. “And it was all just for nothing. 

“But regardless it’s going to be great experience for the future. I’m going to show up there next year hopefully as a rookie again - and I’ll be a pretty qualified rookie at that.”

Credit: Dominic Loyer

Abel credited the team for rallying around him across the last week, particularly teammate VeeKay.

“The thing that helped me get through it was the team and all the people there,” he said. “Rinus is the most supportive teammate that I’ve ever had and he’s very, very helpful - on the confidence side as well. He was very reassuring to me. He was right there in the position with me. He was very helpful.”

Missing out on a maiden Indy 500 compounded a challenging start to Abel’s debut IndyCar season. Last year’s Indy NXT runner-up has managed no better than 23rd in a qualifying session or race across his first five races. 

Plagued by mechanical issues in the opening rounds, Abel has been unable to establish much of a rhythm. Returning post-Indy allows a possible reset opportunity. 

“Honestly, the biggest part of it is just trying to put together a weekend from start to finish,” Abel explained. “We’ve had a couple races where we didn’t have mechanical issues or anything happen to the car and it’s just being able to maximise when that time comes. 

“I’ve been very, very conservative with everything, especially the weekends we’ve had issues, which has unfortunately been quite a few of them at this point. Just trying to stay positive as much as I can. 

“Learning the technical side of things - the in-laps, the out-laps, pit stops, hitting your box - all of that is important. I’ve learned a lot, even though the results haven’t really showed or really haven’t even been there at all truthfully. 

“We’re just gathering building blocks. I’ve had some good stints, some good points at times in races. It’s just trying to hang my head on those and learn what I can from those so once we do piece it together, it’ll be good and we’ll get some good results.”

In the wake of the Indy 500, DCR have opted to undergo a significant engineering reshuffle. The renowned Michael Cannon has replaced Ed Nathman on VeeKay’s No.18 stand, while the experienced Mike Colliver has replaced John Dick on Abel’s No.51 team.

Credit: Dominic Loyer

Factoring in the behind-the-scenes changes, it is an opportunity for Abel to approach the remainder of the season with a clean slate.

“It’s relit a bit of a fire in me as well,” he admitted. “Just a bit of a fresh start. You see it in the whole entire team; the attitude this weekend is different. At Indy, as a team collectively, we kind of hit an all-time low. 

“Fighting against one another to even just make the race is a place that no team wants to be. The whole entire team from Dale [Coyne, owner] on down has realised that. It’s lit a fire on all of us to really go out there and succeed and turn things around. 

“Hopefully you’ll see that this weekend [in Detroit]. I’m certainly ready. I’ve never been more excited to get back into a race car than I have for this week. Just trying to maximise everything.”

Abel is not placing any undue pressure on himself. There are no defined expectations, especially as the new personnel bed into the team.

“Part of me feels like my IndyCar season hasn’t even started yet just based on how things have gone for all the different weekends,” Abel said. “Obviously I do have experience now with a lot of different things but we really haven’t had a race result at all yet, which is super unfortunate. 

“Expectations will come as the season goes, but for now it’s just trying to take it as it comes and get through a weekend issue-free. And then we’ll build the baseline. Hopefully this weekend, whatever happens happens and then we’ll have expectations moving forward. Then we’ll have a target. 

“But for now, it’s just: ‘Let’s go out there, let’s just execute as much as we can, run all the laps in the race and get however many pit stops done and get across the chequered flag with no issues,’ and we’ll be happy. 

“Then once that happens, we can really go into goal-setting, trying to get results throughout the year.”

Credit: Dominic Loyer

DCR’s new recruits bring a wealth of experience. On Abel’s side, Colliver brings recent success as Ryan Hunter-Reay’s engineer for the Indy 500 this month, almost helping to guide the Indy-only Dreyer & Reinbold Racing entry to victory.

Meanwhile, Cannon is famed for his prowess at Indy and ability to guide projects - most recently at AJ Foyt Racing - as is suitable for DCR’s current situation. He returns to DCR after five years with the team between 2014 and 2019, having worked with the new PREMA Racing team in early 2025 before promptly splitting due to supposed differences in opinion.

“It will be awesome,” Abel said. “Those are two names in the motorsport paddock that are very, very legendary. So excited to have them. 

“I don’t think it’s anything against the two guys we used to have; learned a lot from them - they had so much experience in this industry. But unfortunately there was a change that did need to be made after Indy. 

“It obviously wasn’t great for us to both be battling to even get in the show in the first place. I think we’ll see the benefits pretty quickly, but it also will take a little bit [for] everyone to learn their new positions and work into the system. But it’s come at a good time. We get super into the season, start going weekend after weekend racing.”

Abel was keen to acknowledge the efforts of Nathman and Dick. VeeKay finished fourth at Barber at the start of May, with a total of three top-10 results in five races a drastic improvement from the team’s best finish of 13th across the entirety of last season. 

“[They] are not bad engineers by any stretch,” Abel insisted. “They’ve won races at every single level and been very successful. Where these new guys come in, Mike and Mike, they have recent experience so they’re able to have a better baseline.”

Abel hopes to learn from Cannon and Colliver’s experience and likes the mentality they have already brought onboard. He has worked with Colliver previously, meaning they have been able to quickly get into a groove.

Credit: Chris Jones

“We all have a no-BS attitude out there,” Abel said. “We won’t sugarcoat things. I don’t want them to sugarcoat things with me and I won’t do the same with them. It definitely helps that we have worked together - breaks those boundaries down and helps us hit the ground running. Hopefully we’ll be good.”

Already, while expectations are being managed as the alterations take force, there is a noteworthy difference inside the team, Abel believes.

“You just see the motivation out of everyone. Those guys come in and there’s a big pressure about it. They want the results to immediately be better because it makes them look good and they want the team to succeed. 

“They both have a vested interest in making everything better and this whole weekend [in Detroit so far] from the start has just felt different. Everybody is more motivated. Not saying we weren’t motivated before but there’s this new fire from top to bottom.”