Editor’s Note: Before jump into the latest updates from EJ on the 2009 Indianapolis 500, here is all of the need-to-know information for race day:

• Indy 500 Date: Sunday, May 24th
• Indy 500 TV Schedule: TV coverage begins at 12:00 ET on ABC
• Indy 500 Start Time: The race starts at 1:00 ET
• Miller Lite Carb Day: May 22nd, beginning at 8:00 AM | Click Here for Carb Day Tickets
• StubHub Tickets: Indy 500 Tickets
• RazorGator Tickets: $15 off on purchases of $100 or more with code take15off

Dateline: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The starting field for the 93rd Indianapolis 500 is full after a dramatic bump day yesterday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. During the last 5 minutes of qualifications there were two successful qualification runs and left out three very qualified drivers. Buddy Lazier, Stanton Barrett and Alex Tagliani were the three left out of the show as the final gun sounded ending qualifications and therefore sealing the field for the race. Or, so it seemed.

Late on Sunday night, Conquest Racing announced that they were going to pull Bruno Junqueira from the qualified machine for Conquest, and insert Alex Tagliani into the entry. Though there was much controversy from fans regarding this move, it all comes down to a few things.

Eric Bachelart, the team owner, is the one who will look like the bad guy after it’s all said and done. He is the one who poorly played his hand yesterday, he is the one who had to tell Bruno that he was out, and he was the one who kept his second machine out of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Tagliani’s machine appeared to be quick enough to make the show solidly, and therefore the Conquest group would have two cars in the show. However, and for whatever reason, they didn’t put Tags into the qualifying line early enough to give him a chance to requalify with some of their new found speed. As the gun sounded, the primary driver for the team found himself out of the Indy 500. What does primary driver mean? Pure and simply: Money. Alex Tagliani’s machine was full of sponsorship for the King Tut exhibition that is now travelling the country. For the team to have a driver in the show that didn’t have a lot of sponsorship money behind him just did not make sense. They had to have their primary car, with their primary driver, and the primary funding in the show. To that end, the decision was made to replace Bruno with Alex.

Do I agree with the decision? Not really…I feel very bad for Bruno who signed with the team on Saturday morning, put it in the show with limited practice time, and on Monday morning finds himself without a ride in the largest single day sporting event in the world. That has to be a helluva hangover for a driver to nurse.

Regardless of my feelings on the issue, I am glad that Alex Tagliani is in the Indianapolis 500. He has a great racing history in the CART series and is a classy guy who is polite to fans. I was fortunate enough to see him on Pole Day at the track, and he stopped to pose with my kids for a picture. I love the guys who know why they are there. Sure, its the money and prestige of winning the Indy 500, but without 400 thousand of my closest friends on race day…there is no race, no prestige, and no money. Give ‘em hell Tags!

(picture above, Tags on Pole Day)

MidwestSportsFans.com will have a lot more on the Indy 500 as the week continues.

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Here is the STARTING FIELD!!! The changes that happened late last night haven’t yet been updated on the speedway’s website. When they are updated…I will update the post here. [Editor's Note: EJ has recently posted the updates. Follow the link to view the final 2009 Indy 500 starting field.] The changes will result in Bruno being pulled. Tagliani will start 33rd, and Milka, Nelson, and Ryan will move up one spot.

Row 1
Pos. 1 Helio Castroneves Car # 3 D/H/F Speed/Time: 224.864/2:40.0967	Pos. 2 Ryan Briscoe Car # 6 D/H/F Speed/Time: 224.083/2:40.6546	Pos. 3 Dario Franchitti Car # 10 D/H/F Speed/Time: 224.010/2:40.7068
Row 2
Pos. 4 Graham Rahal Car # 02 D/H/F Speed/Time: 223.954/2:40.7470	Pos. 5 Scott Dixon Car # 9 D/H/F Speed/Time: 223.867/2:40.8098	Pos. 6 Tony Kanaan Car # 11T D/H/F Speed/Time: 223.612/2:40.9934
Row 3
Pos. 7 Mario Moraes Car # 5 D/H/F Speed/Time: 223.331/2:41.1958	Pos. 8 Marco Andretti Car # 26 D/H/F Speed/Time: 223.114/2:41.3522	Pos. 9 Will Power Car # 12 D/H/F Speed/Time: 223.028/2:41.4146
Row 4
Pos. 10 Danica Patrick Car # 7 D/H/F Speed/Time: 222.882/2:41.5205	Pos. 11 Alex Lloyd Car # 99 D/H/F Speed/Time: 222.622/2:41.7093	Pos. 12 Raphael Matos Car # 2 D/H/F Speed/Time: 223.429/2:41.1252
Row 5
Pos. 13 Paul Tracy Car # 15 D/H/F Speed/Time: 223.111/2:41.3545	Pos. 14 Vitor Meira Car # 14 D/H/F Speed/Time: 223.054/2:41.3958	Pos. 15 Justin Wilson Car # 18 D/H/F Speed/Time: 222.903/2:41.5051
Row 6
Pos. 16 Hideki Mutoh Car # 27 D/H/F Speed/Time: 222.805/2:41.5764	Pos. 17 Ed Carpenter Car # 20 D/H/F Speed/Time: 222.780/2:41.5942	Pos. 18 Dan Wheldon Car # 4 D/H/F Speed/Time: 222.777/2:41.5969
Row 7
Pos. 19 AJ Foyt IV Car # 41 D/H/F Speed/Time: 222.586/2:41.7355	Pos. 20 Scott Sharp Car # 16 D/H/F Speed/Time: 222.162/2:42.0441	Pos. 21 Sarah Fisher Car # 67 D/H/F Speed/Time: 222.082/2:42.1022
Row 8
Pos. 22 Davey Hamilton Car # 44 D/H/F Speed/Time: 221.956/2:42.1942	Pos. 23 Robert Doornbos Car # 06T D/H/F Speed/Time: 221.692/2:42.3877	Pos. 24 Townsend Bell Car # 8 D/H/F Speed/Time: 221.195/2:42.7524
Row 9
Pos. 25 Oriol Servia Car # 17 D/H/F Speed/Time: 220.984/2:42.9079	Pos. 26 Tomas Scheckter Car # 19 D/H/F Speed/Time: 221.496/2:42.5308	Pos. 27 Mike Conway Car # 24 D/H/F Speed/Time: 221.417/2:42.5889
Row 10
Pos. 28 John Andretti Car # 43 D/H/F Speed/Time: 221.316/2:42.6635	Pos. 29 EJ Viso Car # 13 D/H/F Speed/Time: 221.164/2:42.7753	Pos. 30 Bruno Junqueira Car # 36 D/H/F Speed/Time: 221.115/2:42.8114
Row 11
Pos. 31 Milka Duno Car # 23 D/H/F Speed/Time: 221.106/2:42.8180	Pos. 32 Nelson Philippe Car # 00 D/H/F Speed/Time: 220.754/2:43.0778	Pos. 33 Ryan Hunter-Reay Car # 21T D/H/F Speed/Time: 220.597/2:43.1934

Again, more to come from MidwestSportsFans.com throughout the week. Stay tuned.

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