INDIANAPOLIS — Alexander Rossi stood on pit lane, at the time the fastest driver in the Firestone Fast Six with just two drivers left before he could celebrate his first Indianapolis 500 Pole.
But one of those two drivers that remained was Alex Palou and as soon as Palou’s first lap speed was revealed over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway public address system and message boards, Rossi knew his hopes were dashed.
Palou’s first lap in the No. 10 DHL Honda was 232.848 mph around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. Rossi and his entourage walked down pit road, realizing that Palou was about to knock him off the pole.
By the time Palou’s four-lap run was over, it averaged 232.248 mph over 10 miles – the fastest speed of the day.
The only driver that had a chance to keep last year’s Indianapolis 500 winner from winning the pole was Felix Rosenqvist – the fastest driver through Sunday’s two earlier qualification sessions. But when Rosenqvist’s first lap was 231.765 mph, the crowd knew he wasn’t going to knock Palou off the pole. Rosenqvist’s four-lap average was 231.375mph. That wasn’t good enough for the front row, much less the pole.
Alex Palou breaks a lot of hearts in racing. He did it again in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 Pole Qualifications, claiming his first Indy 500 Pole, his third pole of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season and solidified himself as a favorite to win the Indy 500 for a second straight year on May 24.
When Fast Six qualifications began at 6:05 p.m., the ambient temperature was 86 degrees with a relative humidity of 40 percent with winds from the south at 16 mph. The skies were sunny and the track temperature was 100.3 degrees according to Firestone engineers.
Rossi was the first driver on the track in the Fast Six and he had a great first lap at 232.568 miles per hour in the No. 20 ECR Chevrolet. He followed that with laps at 232.038 mph, 231.710 mph and 231.645 mph for a four-lap average of 231.990 mph.
Pato O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was next, but his four-lap average was 230.442 mph. Santino Ferrucci followed with a four-lap average at 230.442 mph. At 6:23 p.m., Team Penske’s David Malukas started off having a shot to knock Rossi off the pole with a first lap at 231.728, but by the time his four laps were complete, his average was 231.877 mph. That moved him up to second behind Rossi.
Then came Palou, and it was all over. And the last driver of the day, Rosenqvist, couldn’t match his best on the track efforts from the earlier two rounds of qualifications.
Palou starts on the pole with Rossi in the middle of Row 1 and Malukas on the outside of the front row to give Team Penske it’s 50th Indianapolis 500 Front Row start in its 60th anniversary season.
“I’m very surprised,” Palou said. “We did not have the speed. Even on Fast Friday we tried and tried and tried to get more speed. It was okay. I think we were top 5, top 6, but then there were cars like Felix that just had a huge advantage on everyone.
“This morning, even more. We barely made it into the Fast 12. But I think that kind of helped us. Just struggling a little bit on those conditions kind of made us work a lot and made us put our car for those conditions instead of this morning, which I believe they were better, and the car on Fast 6 was incredible.”
Rossi’s Front Row start on the 10th Anniversary of his 2016 win in the 100th Indianapolis 500 gives the driver from Nevada City, California the confidence that he can contend for another win on May 24.
“It was a huge team effort,” Rossi said. “You know these conditions were really hard today. It was moving for every run. We didn’t do anything the same for each of the three runs.
“Our last run was the best. That’s a huge win for the 20 Java House guys, and a big win for Chevy to be on the front row. The car has been incredible all month.
“Obviously, you hope for pole, but a front row is so cool here and something I haven’t accomplished for a really long time. Thrilled with today and how it went and can’t wait to get on track tomorrow and make it better.”
And Malukas is proving that he is more than deserving of the high-profile No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet at Team Penske after following the team’s winningest INDYCAR SERIES driver in history, Will Power.
“I’m very happy,” Malukas said. “That was the goal. We wanted to be on this front row.
“To be honest, in this race everybody always says, ‘You can get the win from wherever you start.’ Last year we qualified seventh, and I mean, we were fighting for the win very early on throughout the rest of the race, but if feels good.
“This team did a fantastic job at getting the car where it needed to be and making me feel comfortable in it. Yeah, it feels good, front row.”
Rosenqvist starts on the inside of Row 2, Ferrucci in the middle of the second row and O’Ward on the outside.
Rows 3 and 4 were determined by the Fast 12 and Rows 5 through 11 were determined by the full-field qualifications that began at 12 noon on Sunday.