Palou Leads the Way on Opening Day of Indy 500 Qualifying

Drivers at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway competed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 on its opening day. Alex Palou led the way with a speed of 233.043 miles per hour, followed by Team Penske drivers Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden.

Marcus Armstrong crashed during morning practice, while Colton Herta went airborne after slamming into the wall during his first qualifying run. Both drivers were able to return to the track.

The top 12 drivers from Saturday's qualifying will move on to Sunday to compete for pole position. The remaining four drivers – Marco Andretti, Rinus VeeKay, Marcus Armstrong, and Jacob Abel – will battle it out for the final three spots in the Indy 500.

“It’s amazing,” Palou said. “The only thing is its too early like, I don’t care right now, I don’t really care. I care about tomorrow at the end of the day and not even tomorrow, like I’ve like been here before and it didn’t change much when it went to a green flag. I just want to see the number ten next Sunday when we finish the day.”

The 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 25.

1. Alex Palou
2. Scott McLaughlin
3. Josef Newgarden
4. Pato O’Ward
5. Scott Dixon
6. Robert Shwartzman
7. David Malukas
8. Felix Rosenqvist
9. Takuma Sato
10. Will Power
11. Marcus Ericsson
12. Christian Lundgaard
13. Conor Daly
14. Alexander Rossi
15. Kyffin Simpson
16. Ed Carpenter
17. Santino Ferrucci
18. Devlin DeFrancesco
19. Sting Ray Robb
20. Christian Rasmussen
21. Kyle Larson
22. Louis Foster
23. Callum Ilott
24. Helio Castroneves
25. Kyle Kirkwood
26. Nolan Siegel
27. Ryan Hunter-Reay
28. Jack Harvey
29. Colton Herta
30. Graham Rahal