Some numbers to note from the exciting two days of qualifications for the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race:

8,630 -- Laps logged in practice from May 11 through the morning of Pole Day on May 18.

40 -- Driver/car combinations to take the 2.5-mile oval in practice and qualifying.

232.917 -- Fastest lap of the month in miles per hour by first-year competitor Mikhail Aleshin in May 18 practice in the No. 7 SMP Racing entry for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

1.56 -- Difference in seconds between Ed Carpenter's Verizon P1 Award-winning four-lap time in 2013 (2:37.3689) and 2014 (2:35.7992).

231.067 -- Four-lap average speed in miles per hour of Carpenter, the fastest since 2003 by Helio Castroneves (231.725).

229.698 -- Field average in miles per hour, which is the fastest in Indianapolis 500 history.

4 -- American-born drivers on the first three rows for the race. Five other countries represented.

5 -- Different Verizon IndyCar Series teams represented in the first three rows.

6 -- Former Indy 500 winners in the starting field of 33: Tony Kanaan (2013), Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009), Scott Dixon (2008), Juan Pablo Montoya (2000), Buddy Lazier (1996) and Jacques Villeneuve (1995). The record for most former winners is 10 (1992) and the fewest, other than the inaugural race in 1911, is zero (1912).

7 -- Rookies in the starting field: Kurt Busch, James Davison, Jack Hawksworth, Carlos Huertos, Sage Karam, Martin Plowman and Aleshin. Last year there were four rookies.

14 -- Drivers in the starting field are graduates of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system.

19 -- Karam is the youngest competitor, who will be 19 years, 2 months, 20 days on Race Day. He's the fourth-youngest to contest the Indy 500. A.J. Foyt IV, who turned 19 on Race Day in 2003, is the youngest.