Alex Palou wins the 2026 Indianapolis 500 Pole
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Alex Palou wins the NTT INDYCAR Series pole for the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 with a speed of 232.248mph.
This is his second career INDY 500 pole and his 15th in the series as the defending winner has a clear windscreen for Sunday.
He becomes the first defending champ to win the pole since Helio Castroneves in 2010.
“We didn’t expect to have this much speed today” said Palou.
As crazy as that statement sounds from the defending champion, it held tremendous weight early in the day. He narrowly avoided being cut before the Top 12 as he only outpaced 13th-placed Takuma Sato by just over a tenth.
He joined his fellow Chip Ganassi Racing teammates inside the Top 12 where he started to shine.
From 11th in the first round, he vaulted himself into the Firestone Fast 6 with a speed of 231.665mph.
From there his confidence grew. Palou set himself up for the pole with his great run in the prior round just as the cooling track surface saw increased speeds the further into the round they went.
In true Alex Palou fashion, he delivered his best four lap average time when it mattered most. After setting his pole winning time he stood outside his No. 10 DHL Honda to watch the fastest driver on average today in Felix Rosenqvist’s run.
Once Rosenqvist’s No. 60 crossed the yard of bricks with a 231.765mph lap he knew he captured his second pole at the speedway.
“That was incredible…great start of the Month of May” he exclaimed.
If anyone thought this meant any less to the four-time champion and 2025 Indianapolis 500 winner, he set that record straight. “look how we’re celebrating… this team is executing and did not expect it. Incredible so fun”.
Firestone Fast 6
Six different teams comprised the representation in the Firestone Fast 6, but Chevrolet’s failed to grab the pole after they occupied four of the six slots.
Alexander Rossi will start as the highest Chevrolet in the field as he achieves his second front row start at Indianapolis – His first since 2015. He also jumped four spots from the end of the Top 12.
David Malukas will join them on the front row after his strong day. He takes his iconic Team Penske No. 12 to third and his highest start in the event.
Felix Rosenqvist ran the fastest all day but in the most critical junction he failed to repeat that same success. While he hoped for more, he will be pleased with his start in the second row from fourth.
Santino Ferrucci did not believe his car was a great qualifying car. Wow did he prove that wrong. He will make his best start in the race of his career in fifth to try and extend his historic average finish inside the top ten once more.
Pato O’Ward will start sixth as the final driver on the second row. He has a great starting position to try and make his near annual appearance towards the front of the pack on lap 199.
- Alex Palou: 232.248mph
- Alexander Rossi 231.990mph
- David Malukas: 231.887mph
- Felix Rosenqvist: 231.452mph
- Santino Ferrucci: 230.846mph
- Pato O’Ward: 230.442mph
Top 12 Speeds
Conor Daly’s run to the Firestone Fast 6 concluded with a start in the third row. He will make his best Indianapolis 500 start from eighth. He is joined by another driver who will make his best start in seventh, Kyffin Simpson.
Scott McLaughlin will join the two in the third row from ninth for another top ten start in the “500”. This year he hopes to makes it to see lap one after failing to a year ago.
Caio Collet was the underdog story of the day. The rookie outpaced his AJ Foyt Racing teammate Santino Ferrucci in the first round as he shocked the paddock with his entrance into the Top 12.
He will make his best start in his entire INDYCAR career from tenth and is joined by the 2008 “500” winner Scott Dixon. Dixon is always a factor on Indianapolis qualifying day but he was surprisingly outpaced by both of his teammates in the session.
Rinus VeeKay rounds out the third row from 12th. He should play a factor in the top ten come next Sunday as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is arguably his best track.
- Felix Rosenqvist: 232.065mph
- Alex Palou: 231.665mph
- David Malukas: 231.486mph
- Santino Ferrucci: 231.098mph
- Pato O’Ward: 231.088mph
- Alexander Rossi: 231.005mph
- Kyffin Simpson: 230.883mph
- Conor Daly: 230.712mph
- Scott McLaughlin: 230.557mph
- Caio Collett: 230.539mph
- Scott Dixon: 230.347mph
- Rinus VeeKay: 229.585mph
Bold denotes qualified for next round
Session One Speeds
The fifth row of the grid might be the oldest row ever at the Indianapolis 500. Takuma Sato, Helio Castroneves, and Ed Carpenter combined ages equal 145 years old! Their 48.3 average age won’t deter them as all three found great speed during the practice sessions.
By far the largest surprise of the first round was the absence of Andretti Global from the next. All three cars showed great single-car speed early in the week but they showed signs of struggles on Fast Friday which indicated a potential collapse today.
That collapse came as their highest placed entry, former winner Marcus Ericsson, will start 18th from the sixth row. The other former INDY 500 champion in the stable, Will Power, will start one row behind him in 20th.
Josef Newgarden failed to find the same success he’s known to have and his Team Penske teammates did today. The 2023 & 2024 Indianapolis 500 champion will start deep in the field from 24th.
Kyle Kirkwood sits second in the INDYCAR championship currently but he will have a lot of ground to make up come Sunday if he wants to maintain or gain from there. He will start 26th.
Katherine Legge will begin her attempt at the Memorial Weekend “double” one spot behind Kirkwood in 27th.
The full starting grid and results from today’s PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying Day can be found at the bottom of the page.
- Felix Rosenqvist: 232.599mph
- David Malukas: 231.813mph
- Conor Daly: 231.744mph
- Scott McLaughlin: 231.623mph
- Rinus VeeKay: 231.591mph
- Alexander Rossi: 231.580mph
- Caio Collet: 231.419mph
- Scott Dixon: 231.411mph
- Pato O’Ward: 231.248mph
- Santino Ferrucci: 231.224mph
- Alex Palou: 231.155mph
- Kyffin Simpson: 231.095mph
- Takuma Sato: 230.995mph
- Ed Carpenter: 230.829mph
- Helio Castroneves: 230.811mph
- Christian Rasmussen: 230.705mph
- Marcus Armstrong: 230.701mph
- Marcus Ericsson: 230.667mph
- Christian Lundgaard: 230.661mph
- Will Power: 230.279mph
- Nolan Siegel: 230.213mph
- Louis Foster: 230.212mph
- Ryan Hunter-Reay: 230.202mph
- Josef Newgarden: 230.165mph
- Romain Grosjean: 229.791mph
- Kyle Kirkwood: 229.607mph
- Katherine Legge: 229.456mph
- Mick Schumacher: 229.450mph
- Jack Harvey: 229.207mph
- Graham Rahal: 229.017mph
- Dennis Hauger: 228.982mph
- Jacob Abel: 228.169mph
- Sting Ray Robb: 226.752mph
Bold denotes qualified for next round
Full Results and Starting Lineup
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Ryan Kemna View All
Ryan Kemna is a photojournalist for The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2025.
Currently residing in the Minneapolis, MN, area, Kemna brings his passion for motorsports, photography, and a good story to readers.