Al Unser Jr and John Andretti drove backup cars belonging to other drivers on Saturday and earned places in the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500.
Unser, 45 and a recovering alcoholic, climbed into A.J. Foyt's second car last week, qualified and then was edged out of the tentative 33-car field.
He returned on Saturday, the third of four days of time trials for next Sunday's race to post a four-lap, 16km run of 2 minutes, 42.9871 seconds that assured him of starting his 19th 500.
"The run was pretty good," Unser said, smiling. "I'm a tenth [of a second] slower than I was last Sunday, but the conditions were a little bit worse today, with lots of wind in turn one and real loose [conditions] in turn two."
Andretti, who has spent the past 13 years racing stock cars, didn't get his ride in the third Panther Racing car until earlier this week.
With some help in setting up the car from teammate Vitor Meira -- who is already in the field with Kosuke Matsuura, the third Panther driver -- Andretti was even stronger.
He completed a best lap of 2:42.3403 to qualify for his eighth Indy start and first since 1994.
The two veteran racers were among 10 drivers who qualified on Saturday, leaving one more position to fill in the 33-car Indy lineup for yesterday, the final day of time trials.
Other third-day qualifiers included Roger Yasukawa, Alex Barron, Jon Herb, Jaques Lazier, rookie Milka Duno, Marty Roth, Roberto Moreno and Jimmy Kite.
Unser joined Foyt's full-time driver Darren Manning, one of 22 first-week qualifiers, in the lineup. Foyt, who has driven to four Indy wins and was owner of another winning car, is celebrating his 50th year at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"With A.J. Foyt working on my car, we're having a lot of fun," Unser said. "Getting to talking to him and work with him is something I really am enjoying."
Drivers hoping to get into the field yesterday included P.J. Jones, son of 1963 Indy winner Parnelli Jones, and Richie Hearn, who was signed to drive for Hemelgarn/Racing Professionals on Saturday and did not make it onto the track.
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