Alex Palou on pole for Honda for the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500

• Alex Palou continues to shine, qualifying on pole for the 2026 Indy 500
• Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist goes fourth fastest, leads first two rounds of qualifications
• Chip Ganassi Racing driver, Kyffin Simpson, earns career-best ’500’ qualifying position

Alex Palou scored yet another pole for Honda, putting his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing machine on pole position for next Sunday’s 110th running of the Indianapolis 500.

The Spaniard set a speed of 232.248 miles per hour, the only driver in the Firestone Fast Six pole shootout to break into the 232 mph band to claim his second pole position in the Indy 500—following his qualifying triumph in the 2023 edition of the race.

Palou is both the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner and the reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and is looking to repeat both feats in 2026. Palou would be the seventh driver in IndyCar history to win back-to-back Indy 500s. Palou also leads the 2026 drivers’ championship fight by a margin of 27 as he looks for his fifth NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship and fourth-consecutive title.

Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist will line up fourth for the 500-mile race. Rosenqvist led the first two rounds of qualifications today to lock himself into the Top 12 and Firestone Fast Six, but came up just short on his final run of the day. This is Felix’s second-consecutive year making the Fast Six round of qualifying, after starting fifth and finishing fourth last year.

Two further Chip Ganassi Racing Honda drivers also made the Top 12 round of qualifications. Kyffin Simpson, the second youngest driver in the field, will line up seventh in his #8 Honda. This is the best start for the driver from the Cayman Islands in his three Indianapolis 500 starts. 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon will start 11th as the veteran looks for an elusive second Indy win.

Two-time ’500’ winner Takuma Sato just missed out on the Top 12 round of qualifying and will roll off 13th for Rahal Letterman Lanigan. He will share row five with fellow one-off entrant Helio Castroneves, P15, who is looking for a history-making fifth Indy 500 win.

Marcus Armstrong will roll off 17th for next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500-mile race—setting a qualifying speed of 230.701 mph. The Kiwi will be piloting the Acura-branded Honda for Meyer Shank Racing in celebration of 40 years of the Acura brand. Acura is activating around the Indy 500 for the very first time, hoping to tap into a new and growing market provided by the fan base of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Last year’s Indianapolis 500 drew an average viewership of 7.087 million people on FOX—making 2025 the most-viewed Indy 500 in 17 years and a 41% increase over 2024.

Indianapolis 500 Honda Qualifying Results

• 1st Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 4th Felix Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing Honda
• 7th Kyffin Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 11th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 13th Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
• 15th Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda
• 17th Marcus Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing Honda
• 18th Marcus Ericsson Andretti Global Honda
• 20th Will Power Andretti Global Honda
• 22nd Louis Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
• 25th Romain Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing Honda
• 26th Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Global Honda
• 28th Mick Schumacher -R Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
• 30th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
• 31st Dennis Hauger -R Dale Coyne Racing Honda

R – Rookie

Quotes

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) qualified first: “We just got pole here at the Indy 500! I cannot believe it, honestly. This morning and even on Fast Friday, we knew we had a great car, but not the ultimate fastest. We struggled a little bit to get in the Fast 12, but the team and Honda did an incredible job on getting us everything we needed. The balance of the car and the speed on that first lap was incredible in the Fast Six run. This is the best way to start the Indy 500 and I cannot wait for next week.”

Felix Rosenqvist (#60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda) qualified fourth: “Honestly, I’m a little disappointed with fourth. We felt like we had a pole-worthy car today, and I don’t know what happened in the last run. It seemed like a good, clean run, but it just wasn’t really as quick as the first two rounds of qualifying. I lost more than one mile per hour compared to the previous one. Disappointing, but we’ll switch to race mode and see where we end up next week.”

Kyffin Simpson (#8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) qualified seventh: “Solid day for the #8 Sunoco Honda. I think we found a lot of pace since Fast Friday, which is great to see. It’s awesome to have all three Ganassi cars in the Top 12. Good day for the team, and I think we’re all happy with that performance—and we’ve got Alex on pole position as well. It was a strong day overall for us. Honda did a great job giving us a lot of power and we really got that thing rolling. Big day!”

David Salters (President, HRC US): “POLEEEEEEEEEE! What a brilliant job from Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda Racing Corporation USA, and the mythical Alex Palou. It was an absolutely superb team effort, and a big thank you to all the men and women across HRC, CGR, and all of our Honda-powered teams who work so hard to make these moments happen. Congratulations and thank you as well to Meyer Shank Racing and Felix Rosenqvist, who drove excellently. It is extremely satisfying to get pole position at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the legendary Indy 500. Bravo, and now let’s put on a great show next Sunday.”

Where to Watch

• The 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 will air on Sunday, May 24, 2026 on Fox beginning at 10 AM ET.
  
  

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