Marco Andretti beats himself up for 'demoralizing' Indy 500 qualifying failure

Marco Andretti spoke bluntly about his failure to get inside the Top 30 on day one of Indy 500 qualifying on Saturday. The third-generation driver, who will record his 20th attempt at winning the prestigious IndyCar race this year, finished in the bottom four of 34 entries in P31.

Andretti took multiple attempts to secure a spot on the 33-driver grid, but his best four-lap average speed of 229.859 wasn't enough. He fell a mere 0.004 mph short of Graham Rahal, who barely made the cut into the Top 30.

In a post-session press conference, the No. 98 Andretti Global driver was harsh on himself and his team for the 'demoralizing' result.

"I think we would have been just in there. But the trim level that we're at at the end is kind of demoralizing for the speed. I don't know what else to do. I think tomorrow is ours to lose. We need to just not be dumb tomorrow and do four solid ones, and we should be okay. Yeah, just the fact that we're running tomorrow is a bummer," he said via ASAP Sports.

Marco Andretti was the only Andretti Global driver not in the Top 30. Even Colton Herta, who suffered a horrific crash on his first run, ran an entirely rebuilt car to P29 with a speed of 230.192 mph.

Andretti will compete against Dale Coyne Racing drivers Rinus Veekay and Jacob Abel, and Meyer Shank Racing's Marcus Armstrong in Last Chance Qualifying on Sunday. The slowest of the four drivers will be bumped out from the grid and watch the 109th Indy 500 from the sidelines.

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Marco Andretti blames Andretti Global's "speed problems" and bad luck

Marco Andretti drives his No. 98 Honda at the 109th Running of The Indianapolis 500 - Source: Getty

Marco Andretti will record his worst qualifying position at the Indy 500 on what should've been an iconic 20th attempt. A P27 in 2011 was the lowest starting position for the veteran, who has also started the race on pole in 2020. The best he can do this Sunday in LCQ will result in a P31 starting position.

The 37-year-old spoke about his key issue on his No. 98 car and also highlighted teammate Colton Herta's comeback after a crash to give a comparison.

"I feel like I've seen it all here in 20 years. I guess the underwhelming part about it is if I execute it perfectly at a downforce that crashed earlier, I would have been 29th (Herta's position). 30th is not a big deal unless we screw up tomorrow, obviously. I don't want to be in that position."

"We have bigger problems. Just had speed problems... I don't know. I've seen it across the garage with big teams. There's always like that one that they change every bolt on the car, and that's how fast it's going to go. I drew that straw this year."

Marco Andretti ideally shouldn't have a problem making the 33-car grid after LCQ. Rookie Jacob Abel, who was considerably off the pace and had a best four-lap average of 226.859 mph, will most likely be bumped out.