ANDERSON, Ind. — For only the second time in the 72-year history of the Pay Less Little 500, three members of the same family will be in the starting field.
The front row of Kody Swanson, Tyler Roahrig and Kyle Hamilton will lead the field to the green flag Saturday at 8 p.m.
Dalton Armstrong jumped into a Jerry Powell car for the first time Thursday, posting the 20th fastest time during qualifying. He joins Dakoda Armstrong, who will start fourth, and Caleb Armstrong in the 10th starting spot as family members in the Little 500 field.
In 2007, the Florida based Butler family of Stan, Shane and Keith all made the starting field.
Two-time Little 500 winner Jacob Wilson elected to remove his first qualifying attempt and set the fastest time on bump day and will start 16th.
Crew chief Clinton Wilson said the team had a handling issue during pole day qualifying.
“We changed a lot of front-end parts,” he said. “We determined to withdraw our time when we went down to the track.
“We found somethings overnight,” Wilson said. “We made good changes on the car.”
Justin Harper was bumped from the field by Tommy Nichols and then successfully bumped Alexandria resident Rob Keesling from the field.
Harper will start 33rd in his first Little 500 start.
“This will be my first race at Anderson,” he said. “We were talking it over with Russ (Gamester) and decided to give it a shot. We practiced a week ago and our times were good.
“I was extremely nervous,” Harper said of riding the bubble. “We were watching to see who might be able to put us out.”
Former champion Brian Tyler also withdrew his initial qualifying attempt and will start 21st in the field.
There are six rookies who made the field, led by Derek Bischak, who qualified 11th.
Bischak will be joined in the field by Dalton Armstrong, Brian Gossel, Cory Setser, Ronald Wuerdeman and Harper.
Michigan driver Doug Dietsch will start 30th in the field after being the first alternate the past two years.
“We had made the race four times before that,” he said. “It was still a stressful day. A couple of guys went faster than expected and knocked us down a few spots.”
The starting lineup:
1. Kody Swanson; 2. Tyler Roahrig; 3. Kyle Hamilton; 4. Dakoda Armstrong; 5. Brian Gerster; 6. Chris Neuenschwander; 7. Bobby Santos III; 8. Billy Wease; 9. Mickey Kempgens; 10. Caleb Armstrong; 11. Derek Bischak; 12. Shane Butler; 13. Aaron Pierce; 14. John Inman; 15. Jerry Coons Jr.; 16. Jacob Wilson; 17. Scott Hampton; 18. Kyle O’Gara; 19. Shane Hollingsworth; 20. Dalton Armstrong; 21. Brian Tyler; 22. Jeff Bloom; 23. Eric Gordon; 24. Russ Gamester; 25. Johnny Gilbertson; 26. Brian Gossel; 27. Kenny Schrader; 28. Cory Setser; 29. Ronald Wuerdeman; 30. Doug Dietsch; 31. Chris Jagger; 32. Tommy Nichols; 33. Justin Harper.