Scott Dixon dominated qualifying to win his second consecutive Indianapolis 500 pole position with authority, putting up a four lap average of 234.046 mph, the second fastest pole speed of all time en route to his fifth pole for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing”.
IndyCar’s “Iceman” was the last to hit a rapidly-cooling track, beating out his teammate Alex Palou and Ed Carpenter Racing‘s Rinus Veekay who make up the rest of the first row in second and third respectively.
“This is stage one,” Dixon said on pit lane. “Obviously it doesn’t mean nothing come next Sunday. We’re starting in the right spot, we haven’t had a good record of keeping it in the right spot, but we’ll definitely be trying come next Sunday.”
Ed Carpenter will start on the inside of Row Two in fourth place, flanked by CGR teammates Marcus Ericsson and Tony Kanaan in fifth and sixth respectively. Kanaan’s team made a herculean effort to put the car on the track after electrical issues threatened their qualifying runs.
Dixon was just as dominant in the Fast Twelve as well. The New Zealand native was the third car on track in the first session of the day and picked up right where he left off from practice this morning, as he set the bar high with a hyper consistent four lap average of 233.510 mph. That held to be the fastest ahead of Veekay and Palou in second and third respectively.
Jimmie Johnson made an incredible save in the first corner of his first lap, as understeer sent him up the track. The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion just barely kept his car off the wall, but the moment killed his average and despite a great recovery he will start twelfth. Even though he was last in qualifying today, starting in the first four rows of his first Indy 500 is a huge accomplishment for Johnson.
Pato O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist, Romain Grosjean, Takuma Sato, and Will Power were the other drivers eliminated, starting seventh through eleventh respectively. Positions 13 through 33 were set on a rain shortened session on Saturday, 21 May.
With the grid now set, all eyes turn to the main event of May: The 106th Indianapolis 500 next Sunday, 29 May.
Indianapolis 500 Qualifying Results
| RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | NAT. | TEAM | AVERAGE SPEED (MPH) |
| 1 | 9 | Scott Dixon | NZL | Chip Ganassi Racing | 234.046 |
| 2 | 10 | Alex Palou | ESP | Chip Ganassi Racing | 233.499 |
| 3 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | NED | Ed Carpenter Racing | 233.385 |
| 4 | 33 | Ed Carpenter | USA | Ed Carpenter Racing | 233.08 |
| 5 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | SWE | Chip Ganassi Racing | 232.764 |
| 6 | 1 | Tony Kanaan | BRA | Chip Ganassi Racing | 232.372 |
| 7 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | MEX | Arrow McLaren SP | 232.705 |
| 8 | 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | SWE | Arrow McLaren SP | 232.182 |
| 9 | 28 | Romain Grosjean (R) | FRA | Andretti Autosport | 231.999 |
| 10 | 51 | Takuma Sato | JPN | Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing | 231.67 |
| 11 | 12 | Will Power | AUS | Team Penske | 231.534 |
| 12 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson (R) | USA | Chip Ganassi Racing | 231.264 |
| 13 | 18 | David Malukas (R) | USA | Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports | 231.607 |
| 14 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | USA | Team Penske | 231.58 |
| 15 | 23 | Santino Ferrucci | USA | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | 231.508 |
| 16 | 60 | Simon Pagenaud | FRA | Meyer Shank Racing | 231.275 |
| 17 | 11 | JR Hildebrand | USA | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 231.112 |
| 18 | 20 | Conor Daly | USA | Ed Carpenter Racing | 230.999 |
| 19 | 77 | Callum Ilott (R) | GBR | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 230.961 |
| 20 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | USA | Andretti Autosport | 230.812 |
| 21 | 15 | Graham Rahal | USA | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 230.766 |
| 22 | 24 | Sage Karam | USA | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | 230.464 |
| 23 | 98 | Marco Andretti | USA | Andretti Herta w/ Marco & Curb-Agajanian | 230.345 |
| 24 | 29 | Devlin DeFrancesco (R) | CAN | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | 230.326 |
| 25 | 26 | Colton Herta | USA | Andretti Autosport | 230.235 |
| 26 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | NZL | Team Penske | 230.154 |
| 27 | 06 | Helio Castroneves | BRA | Meyer Shank Racing | 229.63 |
| 28 | 14 | Kyle Kirkwood (R) | USA | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 229.406 |
| 29 | 4 | Dalton Kellett | CAN | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 228.916 |
| 30 | 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | COL | Arrow McLaren SP | 228.622 |
| 31 | 30 | Christian Lundgaard (R) | DEN | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 227.053 |
| 32 | 45 | Jack Harvey | GBR | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 226.851 |
| 33 | 25 | Stefan Wilson | GBR | DragonSpeed / Cusick Motorsports | NO TIME |