INDIANAPOLIS – Scott McLaughlin captured the pole for this year’s Indianapolis 500 by turning the fastest four-lap average speed ever for an Indy 500 pole winner.
McLaughlin’s 234.220 mph run narrowly beat out the previous mark set by Alex Palou (234.217 mph) in 2023.
Arie Luyendyk set the four-lap qualifying record of 236.986 mph in 1996, but that run came on the second day of qualifying and wasn’t eligible for the pole.
McLaughlin’s best qualifying position in his three previous Indy 500 starts was 14th in 2023. Team Penske teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden will join him in the front row; it’s only the second time in 500 history that Team Penske swept the first row; the first time was in 1988, when Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan and Al Unser accomplished the feat.
NASCAR’s Kyle Larson, who will attempt the Indy 500/Coca-Cola 600 “double” on race day, qualified fifth. He turned the fastest qualifying lap for a rookie ever at 233.453 mph during the first leg of his Top 12 qualifying attempt, besting Benjamin Pederson’s record (233.297 mph) set last year.
This year’s field includes eight former Indy 500 winners: Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009, 2021), Scott Dixon (2008), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2014), Alexander Rossi (2016), Takuma Sato (2017, 2020), Will Power (2018), Marcus Ericsson (2022) and Josef Newgarden (2023).
Six rookies qualified: Larson (starting fifth), Marcus Armstrong (16th), Kyffin Simpson (18th), Christian Rasmussen (24th), Tom Blomqvist (25th) and Linus Lundqvist (27th).
Here’s a complete look at the qualifying results:
- (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 02:33.7017 (234.220 mph)
- (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 02:33.9007 (233.917)
- (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 02:33.9726 (233.808)
- (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 02:34.4469 (233.090)
- (17) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 02:34.6083 (232.848)
- (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 02:34.7110 (232.692)
- (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 02:34.7657 (232.610)
- (5) Pato O'Ward, Chevrolet, 02:34.7829 (232.584)
- (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 02:34.9686 (232.305)
- (75) Takuma Sato, Honda, 02:35.0578 (232.171)
- (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 02:35.8490 (230.993)
- (23) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 02:36.1367 (230.567)
- (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 02:34.9616 (232.316)
- (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 02:34.9682 (232.306)
- (6) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 02:35.0184 (232.230)
- (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 02:35.0504 (232.183)
- (20) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 02:35.1608 (232.017)
- (4) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 02:35.2069 (231.948)
- (98) Marco Andretti, Honda, 02:35.2458 (231.890)
- (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 02:35.2587 (231.871)
- (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 02:35.2723 (231.851)
- (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 02:35.2750 (231.847)
- (41) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 02:35.2888 (231.826)
- (33) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 02:35.3852 (231.682)
- (66) Tom Blomqvist, Honda, 02:35.4554 (231.578)
- (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 02:35.4982 (231.514)
- (8) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 02:35.5034 (231.506)
- (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 02:35.5308 (231.465)
- (24) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 02:35.6803 (231.243)
- (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 02:35.7768 (231.100)
- (51) Katherine Legge, Honda, 02:36.4590 (230.092)
- (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 02:36.5037 (230.027)
- (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 02:36.5396 (229.974)