By Austin Lawton, Staff Writer

For just the second time in his career, Alex Palou will lead the field to the green flag in the Indianapolis 500. 

Palou, the defending winner of the “500” averaged 232.248mph on his four-lap run in the Firestone Fast Six. The Spaniard was the second-to-last car to attempt a run as the sun was setting and wind gusts were high at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Palou and the No.10 Chip Ganassi crew laid down consistent runs all day, but even still, the four-time IndyCar champion was surprised by the feat on Sunday evening. 

“We did not have the speed,” Palou said regarding the shock of winning pole. “Even on Fast Fridays we tried and tried and tried to get more speed. It was okay. I think we were top five, top six, but then there was cars like Felix [Rosenqvist] 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 in those conditions kind of made us work a lot and made us put our car in those conditions instead of this morning, which I believe they were better , and the car on Fast 6 was incredible.”

The No.10 car was the 31st car to go out for an original qualifying attempt. Cars that go out later are normally at a disadvantage, but, in very ‘Alex Palou’ fashion, he and the No.10 crew saw this as a positive and worked from there. 

“I think that kind of allowed us to work on those conditions. Like, it made it tougher,” Palou said. “Getting into the Fast 12, we didn’t have any margin, and we did everything. Like, that was our ultimate pace at that moment, but obviously I think the track conditions were, like, 15 degrees warmer than when all these guys had gone, because I think everybody was on, like, the top 12. So it made us work on those conditions, and they were a lot more similar in fast 6. For us, qualifying just got better and faster, and for everybody else just got slower and greasier. Like, we saw a lot more mistakes or just people not being able to be flat-out.”

Joining Palou on the front row are Alexander Rossi and David Malukas. Rossi, who held the provisional pole until Palou unseated the 2016 “500” champion, missed out on pole position by two-tenths of a mile-per-hour. Palou got the upper-hand on Rossi due to a lap one time of 232.848mph, compared to Rossi’s 232.568mph

Rossi’s 231.990mph average gives Rossi his highest starting position in the race, besting a previous best of third in 2017. The American, who has ran the most laps of any driver over the past week, navigated the changing conditions from the Top 12 session to the Fast Six, into a front-row starting spot. 

“Every run around here, you learn something new, and it’s never the same just because the margins are so small,” Rossi said. “You start compiling the information, and you can kind of see what others are doing. Based on, you know, what you know you have, you can work to optimize it and maximize it, and that’s what we were able to do today.”

Malukas starts on the front-row of the “500” for the first time in his young career and continues a stellar start to his time at Team Penske. For Malukas, the expectation was to start on the front row and the young driver went out and did just that. 

“That was the goal. We wanted to be on this front row,” Malukas said. “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. It feels good.”

In what was supposed to be a two-day affair, qualifications for the “500” became a one-day show after Saturday’s running was called off due to rain. A condensed format saw each driver get one attempt starting at noon, then shrank the field to 12 and then six. 

Felix Rosenqvist was the fastest driver at the end of the first qualifying session, where all 33 cars made one attempt. Rosenqvist was the only driver of that session to average over 232mph, setting the tone early for the Meyer Shank Racing team. 

Rosenqvist, who would qualify fourth, his second-best starting position in the “500”, was the fastest in the Top 12 session, laying down an average of 232.065mph. It would be the Fast Six where Rosenqvist, the last car to make a run, would lose pace in the car, averaging 231.375mph. 

“We are not sure what happened with our speed in the Fast Six,” Rosenqvist said in an instagram post on Sunday evening. “Definitely a bit of a kick in the nuts after an amazing day. Proud of my team for putting up a fight today. We have a great opportunity for the race next week.”

Santino Ferrucci put the famed No.14 A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet in fifth (230.846mph), his second best starting spot in the “500”. Ferrucci was consistent throughout all of his runs, with his fastest coming in the first session.

“We have a really good race car,” Ferrucci said. “I’m happy with it. It was probably one of the easiest qual runs I think I’ve done here in my years, so I’m pretty happy.”

Pato O’Ward closes out the top six in qualifying after taking his No.5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet from the bottom half of the practice charts into another positive starting spot for the “500”

“We’re going to be rolling off sixth for the big show, so a great starting position to put ourselves into an opportunity for the Sunday that really matters. Good job to the team and we’re going to be working hard to pepper in the race car to give it everything we’ve got.”

The surprise of Sunday’s qualifications would undoubtedly be Kyffin Simpson. The third-year driver for Chip Ganssi Racing advanced to Top 12 and would be on the bubble to advance into the Fast Six, but would drop out due to Rossi’s 231.005mph average. 

Simpson (230.883mph) starts a career best seventh in the “500”. 

“Great effort by the No.8 Sunoco Honda team,” Simpson said in a CGR social media video. “Great effort by Chip Ganassi Racing to get three cars in the Top 12.” 

Kyffin Simpson hugs a crew member after missing out on the Fast Six, but achieving a career best starting position in the “500”. Photo Credit: Austin Lawton-KickinTheTires.net

SEE: 110th Indianapolis 500 Starting Lineup

There are just two more practice sessions for the 33-car field before the May 24th race day: A two-hour session on Monday and then the final practice on Friday, May 22, another two-hour session.