Bill Abel has decided against fielding an entry with his Abel Motorsports team at the Indianapolis 500 in order to support his son, Dale Coyne Racing rookie Jacob Abel, during his first attempt to compete in the event.
“This means a whole lot to all of us, and we want to be there and be able to hopefully enjoy seeing Jacob get in the race, and finish the race, and not have to be in full race mode worrying about running our own car and everything else that comes with it,” Abel told RACER.
“The way we’re looking at it is, Jacob is our priority and supporting him as a family is what we want to do in his first time there for the 500.”
The front-running Abel Motorsports Indy NXT made its IndyCar debut in 2023 with an Indy 500 program for RC Enerson using a chassis owned by the Enersons, and subsequently bought a new chassis of its own in 2024, which has drawn interest from drivers searching for a team to run them at the Speedway.
Enerson’s car has since been purchased by PREMA Racing, and now Abel has chosen to skip the 2025 edition of the Indy 500 in favor of converting his unraced chassis from Chevy configuration to Honda-powered specification and have it ready for his son to use if Coyne needs a race-ready spare car.
With the Indy 500 entry list expected to feature at least 34 qualifiers —one more than the 33 starting positions that are available — at least one driver will fail to qualify. After seeing Dale Coyne rookie Nolan Siegel crash prior to time trials in 2024 and get bumped after struggling to muster the necessary speed in a backup car that wasn’t fully optimized for the Speedway, Abel made the decision to convert his car to take a Honda engine to match Coyne’s engine partner, and have his team prepare the chassis with all of the aerodynamic and mechanical drag improvements required to participate in May.