Jacob Abel spirals with 'self doubts' after getting bumped from Indy 500 grid

Indy NXT's reigning vice champion, Jacob Abel, suffered a massive heartbreak at the Indy 500 qualifying. The Kentucky-born driver was knocked out of the 33-car grid for the upcoming Indy 500 on May 25, which later led the 24-year-old to doubt his potential in the series.

While rookie Robert Shwartzman claimed the pole position yesterday, the other rookie, Abel, suffered a torrid qualifying day. After not making the 30-driver cut on Saturday, he had to pass through the Last Chance Qualifying to secure his spot on the field next week.

However, Dale Coyne Racing's IndyCar appeared to be in a totally different realm compared to its previous few outings, as both Rinus VeeKay and Jacob Abel struggled. With the DCR cars being the slowest, one had to make way for the other, and the 24-year-old posted the slowest lap time en route to being bumped out of the field.

Reflecting upon his suboptimal run, Abel shared his dejected feelings in the post-qualifying press conference, and said:

"It sucks. It's awful. Our whole season has kind of been pretty miserable so far, to be frank. We've had sort of issue after issue, week in, week out. It's been tough.

"Like you said, I've been working my whole life to get into INDYCAR, and this is, what, the first six or seven races have been like. I remember about 12 months ago when I was sitting on this stage because I got two poles and won the INDY NXT here race. It's a little bit of a different scenario now just trying to stay mentally as positive as I can because there are certainly some self-doubts that are trying to creep in. Yeah, just trying to stay as positive as I can."

The DCR cars were the slowest of the bunch as they were over 2mph slower than their nearest rivals.

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Rinus VeeKay was unhappy with Jacob Abel being bumped out of the Indy 500 grid

Rinus VeeKay's Dale Coyne Racing car at the INDYCAR 109th Running of The Indianapolis 500 - Source: Getty

While Jacob Abel was knocked out, this helped his Dutch teammate get into the 33-car safe zone. Though he was relieved of the stress of being on the knife-edge, it was still a bad day for the team.

Opening up about the tragedy that the team faced, the senior driver said, via IndyStar:

"I feel relief but not real happiness. Not happy to bump Jacob out."

On the other hand, in the five race weekends held so far, Jacob Abel has not put in great results. The Indy NXT reigning vice champion has a best result of 23rd, which he secured at the season opener, showcasing his delta to his fellow paddockmates.