Buddy Rice sent to back of Vegas grid after penalty

Former Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice will start from the back of the grid in Sunday's IndyCar Series finale at Las Vegas after his times were nullified after qualifying.

The 35-year-old American is driving a second Panther Racing entry this weekend, alongside team regular JR Hildebrand, and initially qualified 19th. But series officials deemed that Rice had dipped below the white line during his 200.392mph qualifying run and sent him to the back of the field.

"I think the car is pretty good, I just missed out a little in qualifying," said Rice of his qualifying effort. "We were a little slower than we were in practice; I thought we would have picked up a little time in qualifying.

"We'll be ok, the car is really racy and will be pretty good. We'll just have to work a little harder come Sunday to get this car up front. I don't think the car count is going to be that much of a deal.

"I think it’s going to go back to pack racing like it did three or four years ago. Some guys have run that way and some haven't, so we'll just see how it plays out. It's just going to be a big chess match, so you have to make sure you have no mistakes." Autosport

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