Indianapolis 500 Qualifying Sees Former Winner on Pole

After a weekend plagued by weather issues and conditions that the drivers and teams haven't seen all month at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, this is the starting grid and recap for the Indianapolis 500 next weekend.

Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Indianapolis 500 Qualifying | Via Penske Entertainment, Amber Pietz

Indianapolis 500 Qualifying is generally an entire weekend affair. If teams are lucky, they run both Saturday and Sunday. If unlucky, they will wait to run again in later practice sessions, tethered to their positions behind the first 4 rows.

This year, however, after changing the qualifying format the first time, Saturday ended before it even began. The first day of qualifying was rained out, leaving the 33-car grid to run 3 sessions to set the grid on Sunday. The new Top 15 qualifying format – scrapped.

The new Indy 500 Qualifying Format resembled that of a road or street course track on the IndyCar calendar. All 33 drivers ran one at a time, banking their 4-lap average. This was followed by the Top 12 and Fast 6.

Ultimately, Alex Palou achieved his second Indianapolis 500 Pole Position alongside former Indy 500 winner, Alexander Rossi and Penske's David Malukas.

First Session Qualifying Results

The first session saw all 33 cars race for the fastest 4-lap average speed – a session that went without incident on a very hot, sunny day in Indianapolis. This session set grid positions 13-33 prior to the two sessions that will set the front of the grid.

Josef Newgarden Indy 500 Qualifying | Via Penske Entertainment, Joe Skibinski

There were a few interesting trends coming out of the first session of the day. First, and most notably, is that no other car on the grid could hold a candle to the average speed of Meyer Shank Racing's Felix Rosenqvist, who set a 232.599 average.

On the other side of the coin, Penske's Josef Newgarden (two-time winner), and all three Andretti cars – Kyle Kirkwood (2nd in 2026 Championship), Marcus Ericsson (former winner), and Will Power (former winner) – all did not make the Top 12. Both of Newgarden's teammates made the Top 12, with Newgarden over 1mph off their pace.

Position	Driver / Team	Avg. Speed
13.	Sato/ RLL	230.995
14.	Carpenter/ ECR	230.829
15.	Castroneves/ Meyer Shank	230.811
16.	Rasmussen/ ECR	230.705
17.	Armstrong/ Meyer Shank	230.701
18.	Ericsson/ Andretti	230.667
19.	Lundgaard/ McLaren	230.661
20.	Power/ Andretti	230.279
21.	Siegel/ McLaren	230.213
22.	Foster/ RLL	230.212
23.	Hunter-Reay/ McLaren	230.202
24.	Newgarden/ Penske	230.165
25.	Grosjean/ Dale Coyne	229.791
26.	Kirkwood/ Andretti	229.607
27.	Legge/ HMD - AJ Foyt	229.456
28.	Schumacher/ RLL	229.450
29.	Harvey/ Dreyer Reinbold	229.207
30.	Rahal/ RLL	229.017
31.	Hauger/ Dale Coyne	228.982
32.	Abel/ Abel	228.169
33.	Robb/ Juncos	226.572

Top 12 Qualifying Results

During one of the hottest parts of the day, the Top 12 drivers went out with one question in mind – could any driver touch the speeds that Felix Rosenqvist put in earlier today? And could Felix Rosenqvist replicate his results?

Felix Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing Indianapolis 500 Qualifying | via Penske Entertainment, Joe Skibinski

The answer in this session was a 'yes' and 'no'. Rosenqvist again topped the session with significant performance drop offs plaguing drivers like Veekay over the course of their 4-lap averages.

Position	Driver / Team	Avg. Speed
7.	Simpson/ Chip Ganassi	230.883
8.	Daly/ Dreyer Reinbold	230.712
9.	McLaughlin/ Penske	230.577
10.	Collet / AJ Foyt	230.539
11.	Dixon / Chip Ganassi	230.347
12.	Veekay/ Juncos	229.585

Daly and McLaughlin, both favorites for pole, fell at this hurdle and will start together on Row 3. They are still ones to watch next weekend during the race.

Fast 6 Qualifying Results

Straight out of the gates, ECR's Rossi – a former Indianapolis 500 winner exactly one decade ago – set the fastest 4-lap average significantly faster than his speed in the prior two sessions.

Alexander Rossi ECR Indianapolis 500 Practice | via Penske Entertainment, Amber Pietz

However, the biggest disappointment of the session was Felix Rosenqvist, who was significantly faster in the prior two sessions, coming in 4th, approximately one mph slower than the full grid and Top 12 sessions.

Position	Driver/ Team	Avg. Speed
1.	Palou / Chip Ganassi	232.248
2.	Rossi / ECR	231.990
3.	Malukas / Penske	231.877
4.	Rosenqvist / Meyer Shank	231.375
5.	Ferucci / AJ Foyt	230.846
6.	O'Ward / McLaren	230.442

When the 'floodgates' opened for Palou, he put out one of the fastest laps of the day, followed by precise consistency that he is known for. The pole-to-win conversion rate is currently ~20%, so the odds are stacked against Palou. As the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion, the only question on people's minds is if Palou can two-peat... and Palou thinks he can.