Everyone is chasing Alex Palou… still.
The reigning and four-time IndyCar Series Champion saved his best for last with a remarkable final run to take pole for the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500.
In a stout Fast Six, Palou, the defending race winner, throttled to four smooth laps to set an 232.248mph in the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and take the top spot. It is Palou’s second Indy 500 pole, with his last coming in 2023. Additionally, he became the first defending race winner to win pole the following year since Helio Castroneves in 2010.
Fast Six
Alexander Rossi, the 2016 Indy 500 winner, was the first to go out in the Fast Six as the track temperature fell to 100F, compared to 111F during the Fast 12 round. He hit a stout opening lap of 232.568mph in the #20 ECR Chevrolet, and backed it up with a 232.038mph on his second lap. On the edge over the next two laps, he hit a four-lap average of 231.990mph to set the benchmark.
The #5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Pato O’Ward went out second. However, he already ended up on the back foot on his opening lap with a big lift in Turn 3 before reaching 230.108mph. Unfortunately, even with going faster on his next three laps, it wasn’t enough to fight with as he ended with a four-lap average of 230.509mph.
AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci, who has finished in the top 10 in all seven starts in the Indy 500, was the third driver out on track. He pushed his #14 Chevrolet to a four-lap average of 230.846mph.
Next up was David Malukas, who managed a 231.728mph on his first lap in the #12 Team Penske Chevrolet. He went even faster with a 231.937mph on Lap 2 before a third lap at 231.769mph. After a fourth lap of 232.073mph, it set his average at 231.877mph and just shy of Rossi’s mark.
Palou rolled out fifth on track and immediately hit a 232.848mph opening lap. The second lap ended up at 232.347mph, with the third at 231.845mph. A fourth lap of 231.955mph for an average 232.248mph and knocked Rossi off the top spot.
Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist was the last driver of the six to go out and hit a 231.765mph first lap. He slid the wrong direction after a 231.374mph second lap, with a third circuit at 231.219mph. In the end, a fourth lap of 231.144mph made his average at 231.375mph to slot fourth.
The finishing order of the Fast Six was led by Palou, followed by Rossi, Malukas, Rosenqvist, Ferrucci, and O’Ward.
Fast 12
Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Lumen via Getty Images
As a result of inverting the order in which drivers qualified in the opening three-hour session that set the Fast 12 and locked in positions 13-33, Kyffin Simpson was the first to go out. He rolled around the 2.5-mile superspeedway, which sported a blistering 111F track temperature, to a four-lap average of 230.883mph in the #8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Palou was the next driver to go out and surged to a stout opening lap of 232.056mph before going on to a four-lap run at 231.665mph.
The third driver to go out was Ferrucci, who managed four crisp laps at an average of 231.098mph in the #14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet.
O’Ward went out fourth and put together a consistent run through his initial three laps before dropping on the last lap and setting an average of 231.088mph for Arrow McLaren.
Six-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 winner, was next up and managed to scrape together four laps with an average of 230.347mph.
The sixth driver out on track was rookie Caio Collet, and he put together a strong effort that saw multiple runs of 240mph into Turn 3 before a big lift on his third and fourth laps negated the remarkable pace. In the end, he put the #4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet 230.539mph.
Rossi rolled out seventh and managed a four-lap run, without using all of the hybrid boost, of 231.005mph.
The running order through seven was Palou, followed by Ferrucci, O’Ward, Rossi, Simpson, Collet, and then Dixon.
Rinus VeeKay, driving the #76 Juncos Hollinger Racing with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet, was the eighth competitor to go out. He nailed a monster 232.138mph on his opening lap, but dropped down to 230.344mph on his second, and fell worse on his third with a lap at 228.617mph. His fourth lap was 227.299mph to set an average of 229.585mph and slotted last among the eight to make an attempt.
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, the ninth driver to go out, hit 242mph into Turn 3 and had a first lap run of 231.880mph. He nailed a four-lap average of 230.577mph, bumping – and replacing – Collet from sixth.
Rolling out 10th was Conor Daly, who put the #23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet in sixth provisionally, bumping McLaughlin with a four-lap average of 230.712mph.
Malukas was the 11th driver to roll out on track and made his presence felt with four clean laps at 231.486mph and vaulted to second, knocking Daly out of the top six.
The fastest driver in the opening round of Sunday’s qualifying session earlier, Rosenqvist was the last driver to take to the track and immediately hit a 232.325mph opening lap. He followed it up with a 232.127mph second lap. After two more laps, which included a 232.017mph final lap, the four-lap average ended up at 232.065mph. The result put him as the fastest driver of the Fast 12 and bumped Simpson from the final transfer spot.
The six drivers that went on to the Fast Six were Rosenqvist, Palou, Malukas, Ferrucci, O’Ward, and Rossi.
Simpson qualified seventh, with Daly eighth, and McLaughlin ninth. Collet’s first Indy 500 will see him roll off 10th. Dixon qualified 11th, with VeeKay 12th.
Fast 6 qualifying – 2026 Indianapolis 500
All Stats
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