2026 Indianapolis 500

Rosenqvist Wins the Closest Indianapolis 500 in Race History with a Last-Lap Pass That Will Live Forever

With two laps remaining in the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, Felix Rosenqvist held third place and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway held its breath. A week earlier, in the Firestone Fast Six, the No. 60 SiriusXM Meyer Shank Racing Honda driver had been the fastest man at the Speedway for most of a qualifying day, only to watch the race slip away in the final moments. Sunday, when the moment returned, Rosenqvist made certain there would be no repeat.

On the final lap of 200, with David Malukas ahead and the race seemingly headed in Team Penske's direction, Rosenqvist put his car on the high line in Turn 3 and stayed there. Through Turn 4. Out onto the frontstretch. At the checkered flag — by 0.0233 of a second, the closest margin in the 110-year history of the Indianapolis 500 — the Meyer Shank Honda swept past Malukas and into the record books.

"It was almost like muscle memory when it happened," Rosenqvist said, "because I've been dreaming about that last lap move." He had thought, in the moment, that he had come up short. "I thought I was second, to be honest. I guess it was a good day; we did what we could. Then it just kind of pulled — the big Honda motor just — yeah, I thought I didn't have it, and then I shifted up, and it was just enough to get me over the finish line half a foot ahead of him. You can't even dream up that stuff."

The victory is Rosenqvist's second career NTT IndyCar Series win, his first on an oval, and the second Indianapolis 500 triumph in the history of Meyer Shank Racing. It arrived 13 days after his daughter, Stella, was born — a fact Jim Meyer raised in the team's post-race press conference, still finding his words. "Something really unusual for me, I'm kind of speechless," he said.

Team co-owner Mike Shank was more direct about what he saw in the final lap: "He was pushing every button on that steering wheel to get every bit of Honda power out of that thing. He knew where he was in space. He knew he had a good run on the 12 car, and it worked." For Rosenqvist, the month had widened something. "I think I've widened my spectrum of emotions by a million times this month," he said.

The driver whose emotions ran in the opposite direction was Malukas. The front-row starter led 30 laps over the course of the afternoon — more than anyone except Palou — and had the speed, the strategy and the position to win. He had it, until he didn't. "Just disappointment," he said in the post-race press conference. "I just don't know what else we could have done. We had the fastest car out there that whole race. It was ours to win, and I knew that." It is the second consecutive Indianapolis 500 runner-up finish of his career, and the combination of two near-misses in the sport's biggest race produced a particular kind of grief. "I think that's why it hurts because in my mind I really thought we were going to win it," he said.

Teammate Scott McLaughlin, who finished third after a stunning charge from 10th place on the final restarts, acknowledged what Malukas was carrying. "I feel for Dave. He's a good kid, and been great around here," he said. "I went from 10th to third in two laps." McLaughlin's charge gave Team Penske two of the race's three podium positions alongside Malukas, a remarkable result for the organization even as the victory itself slipped away.

Pato O'Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet finished fourth, and Marcus Armstrong — who had briefly led the race in the frantic final caution cycle and came agonizingly close to winning the race for Meyer Shank's second car — was fifth in the No. 66 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Honda, less than two-tenths of a second behind McLaughlin at the line. Shank was candid about what might have been. Without the Lap 197 caution for light contact by Mick Schumacher that set up the final restart, Armstrong may well have been on the podium. "If you think about it, I wouldn't have given up the bottom for nothing," Shank said of Armstrong's race in the final laps. "Felix did it the hard way, which is really impressive."

The final five finishers — Rosenqvist, Malukas, McLaughlin, O'Ward and Armstrong, covered by less than half a second — delivered a finish of a kind this track had never produced in 110 attempts.

The final eruption of drama grew from a long afternoon's worth of it. The race had produced 70 lead changes among 14 drivers, a record for the Indianapolis 500 and the third most in NTT IndyCar Series history, and by the time Rosenqvist made his move it had already been extraordinary. It began from the very first lap. Palou and Rossi — the pole sitter and his front-row companion, both of whom had spent the entire Month of May on opposite ends of crisis and momentum — swapped the lead seven times in the first 10 laps, a duel befitting their positions on the grid and their personal histories with the race. Rossi, who had crashed heavily in Turn 2 on Monday's Practice 7 and undergone outpatient surgery that same evening, who had returned to a backup car by Friday, was in the race and fighting on the front row in the early going. That fight ended at Lap 91, when a mechanical failure ended his afternoon.

The first caution of the day, at Lap 18, emerged from an incident in Turn 2 that took Hunter-Reay and Legge out of the race in the opening stint, both drivers emerging without injury. The opportunistic moves that followed — VeeKay and Grosjean staying out while the leaders pitted, holding track position through Laps 20-29 — created the first of the race's many strategic offshoots. Grosjean's race would ultimately become one of the afternoon's best-kept secrets: starting 24th, he navigated through penalties and traffic to finish ninth, the race's greatest position improvement at 15 spots.

The race's most hypnotic chapter came in the stretch from Laps 69 to 91, where Palou and Dixon engaged in a back-and-forth duel for the lead that produced 14 consecutive lead changes between them — each lap scored at the line, each one reversing the one before it. At its tightest, they were separated by less than a tenth of a second. Palou, in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, had started from the pole and was leading with the kind of authority his month suggested he would, accumulating a race-high 59 laps at the front. Dixon, five-time champion and the race's all-time leader in laps led, gave as good as he received. Their battle was finally ended at Lap 92, when Will Power spun on pit exit in the No. 26 TWG AI Andretti Global Honda, trailing fluid — a retirement that segued into rain, a red flag at Lap 105 and a 12-minute pause that reshuffled the field once more.

Power's DNF was among the hardest-luck outcomes of the afternoon. He had been among the fastest in single-car qualifying practice all month and started 19th with legitimate ambitions. Newgarden's afternoon ended harder still. The two-time defending champion, who had validated his race car's speed by leading both post-qualifying practice sessions, spun in Turn 4 and made hard contact with the SAFER Barrier on Lap 125, retiring from the race with a minor foot injury and ending any hope of a third Indianapolis 500 victory. Earlier, Ed Carpenter's race had ended at Lap 26 in a Turn 1 spin — a brief appearance for the Indianapolis native who has devoted his career to this event.

Palou, who had led the field at the halfway mark and remained among the leaders through much of the second half, ultimately could not hold the front in the closing stages as strategy cycles separated the field. He finished seventh — pole sitter, most laps led, seventh place. This track, as Castroneves had observed earlier in the month, picks its own winner. Palou could not argue with its choice on Sunday. He leads the NTT IndyCar Series championship with 278 points, extending his advantage to 54 over Kyle Kirkwood, with Malukas's extraordinary afternoon lifting him to second in the standings at 236.

At Lap 191, with Rosenqvist leading and the race apparently in hand, rookie Caio Collet got loose in Turn 2 and made hard contact with the SAFER Barrier in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet. The car caught fire briefly as it crossed the backstretch. Collet, who had started 32nd after a post-qualifying penalty erased a seventh-place full-field qualifying result, had led nine laps and completed 191 of 200 before the crash. He climbed out with assistance. A red flag flew at Lap 192 for 10 minutes, resetting the field for the drama to come. Castroneves, chasing a fifth victory, retired mechanically at Lap 194 with the end of the race in sight. Christian Rasmussen, who had run strongly for ECR, suffered a mechanical issue at Lap 144.

Among those who endured to the finish, Dennis Hauger made history no timing sheet will fully capture. The Norwegian rookie in the No. 19 Only Bulls Dale Coyne Racing Honda completed 199 laps and finished 19th — the first Norwegian driver in Indianapolis 500 history crossing the finish line, up 10 positions from where he started. Jacob Abel, in the No. 51 Abel Construction Company Abel Motorsports Chevrolet, completed 198 laps to finish 24th in the race he has dreamed of his entire life.

"If it ended in the fence, I think I would have been proud for my run," Rosenqvist said of his final-lap gamble. "That's the way you have to approach it." It did not end in the fence. It ended with the Honda motor pulling him past Malukas at the checkered flag, with his wife and daughter watching from home, with his team screaming on pit road, with the closest finish this race has ever produced. He had become a father 13 days ago. He had lost the pole to Palou a week ago. He had led this race and nearly seen it taken away in the final caution cycle. When the moment came to respond, he went to the high line and stayed there until it was over. "I've never had a more exciting finish ever," he said. "And to do it here in Indy in front of 350,000 people — that's just unreal."

"Winning the 500 just beats everything else," he added. "It's not really about the money. It's about the pride and the tradition."

The 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is in the books. The NTT IndyCar Series continues next at Detroit.

Rossi Returns to Cockpit on Carb Day; Newgarden Fastest as Indy 500 Field Completes Final Preparation

The lasting image of Carb Day Final Practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was not the fastest lap on the timing screen. It was Alexander Rossi climbing into a race car.

Five days after suffering injuries to his left hand and right ankle in Monday's multi-car accident, Rossi returned to the No. 20 Java House Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet — a backup car prepared by his crew since the primary machine was damaged beyond use — and completed 48 laps in the final session before Sunday's 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. He ranked 31st at 222.291 mph, well off the session's pace, but the significance of his presence extended far beyond the timing sheet. His participation strongly signals his intent to start from the front row on Sunday.

Josef Newgarden led the session for the second consecutive practice, posting 228.342 mph in the No. 2 Shell Fuel Rewards Team Penske Chevrolet — the fastest lap of the day on his 11th circuit before a deliberate and measured end to his program. "It should just be a validation day," he said afterward. "We've been out here a lot. Yeah, just ready to get to Sunday." For a driver who qualified 23rd after a qualifying weekend that did not reflect his car's true capability, the back-to-back practice leadership carries real weight. He acknowledged that starting from the middle of the pack rather than from the last row — as he did a year ago — will demand a different approach. "You can't just hang out at Turn 4 while they get to Turn 1. You've got to be racing and heads-up from the start."

Christian Rasmussen was second in the session at 227.474 mph in the No. 21 Splenda Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, a strong result for a driver starting 15th. David Malukas, sharing the front row with Rossi for Sunday's start, was third at 226.565 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Pole sitter Alex Palou was sixth at 225.986 mph in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda across 69 laps, well within the kind of steady, productive program that defines a well-prepared Carb Day.

Kyle Kirkwood, seventh at 225.917 mph in the No. 27 Sam's Club Andretti Global Honda, was candid about what the session showed — and what Sunday might look like once conditions change. Practice ran under cool, cloud-filtered skies, with an ambient temperature of 62 degrees and a track surface of just 74.1 degrees at the opening of the session. Kirkwood noted the discrepancy directly. "When you have conditions like this, it's making downforce, the wind's light, track's cool, tires live forever," he said. "That 10, 12 degrees is going to play a huge factor for some cars. Quite honestly, we talk about it within our team. We hope it's hotter because we think it exposes everybody with weaknesses more and also shows our strength. We invite the heat."

Sunday's forecast is expected to bring significantly warmer conditions than the field saw Friday, which means Carb Day speeds should be viewed as directional rather than predictive. Newgarden echoed the point: "You get these fluctuations every single day with temperature and wind. The one day that's going to matter is in 48 hours."

Beyond the speed chart, the session was notable for the volume of miles accumulated. Takuma Sato logged 93 laps in the No. 75 Amada Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, Scott Dixon 96 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and Romain Grosjean 91 in the No. 18 Bmax.IO Dale Coyne Racing Honda — the kind of heavy-mileage days that teams use to validate race setups, practice fuel runs and refine strategy under conditions as close to race day as the calendar allows.

Marcus Ericsson brought out the session's only yellow flag at 11:09 a.m. with a loose outside rear tire on the No. 28 Phoenix Investors Andretti Global Honda. He returned to the track and completed 61 laps, ranking 15th at 224.896 mph.

At the post-session press conference, Newgarden was asked about the passing of NASCAR's Kyle Busch, news of which had reached the paddock during the week. "How can you not be in shock?" he said. "It just puts into perspective how fragile life is. The racing deal — he'd probably tell you that too. He was an extreme racer, one of the best you'd ever see on track. My feelings are toward his family. I hope their community can rally around the kids. That's what's going to matter at the end of the day."

The 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge goes green Sunday, May 24, at 12:45 p.m. ET, with live coverage beginning at 10 a.m. on FOX, FOX Deportes and FOX One.

Rossi Undergoes Outpatient Procedures After Practice 7 Crash; Rain Cuts Session Short

Practice 7 for the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge was brought to a premature close Monday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, its scheduled two hours reduced to roughly 50 minutes of acttivity by a multi-car accident and a final curtain of rain. When it was over, the most pressing question had nothing to do with lap speeds: it was the condition of Alexander Rossi.

At 1:28 p.m., with the field running in the kind of pack traffic that defines Indianapolis 500 race preparation, Rossi spun in Turn 2 in the No. 20 Java House Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet and made hard contact with the SAFER Barrier. Pato O'Ward, in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, attempted to avoid the incident but struck the rear of Rossi's car, continued down the track and made contact with the inside wall on the backstretch. Romain Grosjean also spun in the aftermath and hit the SAFER Barrier in the No. 18 Bmax.IO Dale Coyne Racing Honda. All three climbed from their cars without assistance from the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team. Debris from the accident damaged the No. 23 DRR Kingspan ARCO Chevrolet of Conor Daly.

Rossi was transported from the infield medical center to a local hospital for further evaluation. Later in the afternoon, Ed Carpenter Racing provided an update that offered both clarity and encouragement.

"ECR driver Alexander Rossi underwent successful outpatient procedures this evening to repair minor injuries to a finger on his left hand and his right ankle," the team said in a statement. "Rossi is in good spirits and has no additional injuries. His progress will continue to be evaluated with the full intent of participating in final practice on Friday, May 22 and the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 24. The No. 20 Java House Chevrolet crew will prepare a backup car and return to the track for final practice on Friday."

Rossi had qualified second Sunday, earning a front row start alongside pole sitter Alex Palou, and the prospect of his missing the race would represent one of the most significant storylines of the month.

The session itself had barely found its rhythm before the incident. After an early yellow flag for a track inspection at 1:10 p.m., the field returned to green at 1:19 p.m. before the accident brought everything to a halt nine minutes later. The green came out again at 1:49 p.m. with 70 minutes remaining — but rain arrived at 2:05 p.m. and the session was called at 2:19 p.m.

In the limited running available, Josef Newgarden was the quickest driver, posting 226.198 mph in the No. 2 Shell Fuel Rewards Team Penske Chevrolet across 34 laps. Takuma Sato was second at 225.723 mph in the No. 75 Amada Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. Unlike qualifying speeds, these are race-representative figures — meaningful for understanding setup direction but not directly comparable to the 232 mph averages posted Sunday.

Dennis Hauger was third at 224.554 mph in the No. 19 Only Bulls Dale Coyne Racing Honda — a result consistent with his own upbeat assessment after the session. "Today was probably, like, an eight" out of ten for comfort, he said. "It's probably the best I've felt so far." Hauger, who will start 29th Sunday, will make history as the first Norwegian driver to compete in the Indianapolis 500. "I'll be proud obviously to represent Norway," he said, "and obviously do my first Indy 500 as a rookie. It's a dream come true."

Ryan Hunter-Reay was fourth at 224.415 mph in the No. 31 PrizePicks Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. He had been candid about the week's complications — electrical problems on the opening day of practice, a hybrid issue Thursday and a gearbox problem Friday had left the team "a day and a half behind" in race preparation — but he arrived Monday in better spirits. "We found some things that we needed to go into Carb Day," he said. "Thankful for the time on track." He also confirmed the team used part of the limited session for pit stop practice, a priority for a one-off entry competing against crews in mid-season form.

O'Ward, despite the crash, completed enough laps to rank eighth at 224.079 mph. Rossi, whose best lap came before the incident, was 26th at 221.578 mph in what proved to be his final laps in the primary No. 20 car.

Palou, the pole sitter, was 17th at 222.815 mph in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda — a position that carries no meaningful concern in the context of a session devoted to race setup and traffic management rather than outright speed. David Malukas was 12th at 223.418 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, with the front row trio each logging enough laps to gather useful data before rain intervened.

The next scheduled on-track activity for the Indianapolis 500 field is Practice 8, also known as Carb Day Final Practice, running from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on Friday, May 22, with live coverage on FS1.

Palou Wins NTT P1 Award for Indianapolis 500; Rossi and Malukas Complete the Front Row

Alex Palou entered the afternoon as the driver who had barely survived the morning. He exited it as the pole sitter for the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

Having drawn 31st in the qualifying order and posting only the 11th-fastest average in a field battered by rising track temperatures, Palou spent the hours between full-field qualifying and the Firestone Fast Six doing what his team does best: working the problem. By the time the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda rolled to the line at 6:31 p.m., with only Felix Rosenqvist still to run, the afternoon had been utterly transformed. Palou's four-lap average of 232.248 mph earned him the NTT P1 Award, his second Indianapolis 500 pole, his 15th career pole and his third NTT P1 Award of the 2026 season. For Chip Ganassi Racing, it was the ninth Indy 500 pole.

"We did not have the speed," Palou said afterward, with a directness that made the accomplishment feel even larger. "Even on Fast Friday we tried and tried to get more speed — it was okay. I think we were top five, top six, but then there were cars like Felix that just had a huge advantage. 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 on those conditions made us work a lot."

What followed in the Fast Six was precisely the result of that work. Palou's opening lap of 232.848 mph was the fastest single lap turned by any driver all afternoon. His run was not without some fade — a characteristic of the high-trim setup he described — but the front-end speed was decisive. "In Fast 6, that car was a rocket ship," he said. He also gave some credit to an unlikely source: "I think my wife helped me. She drew the number."

The sense of disbelief was genuine. Heading into the Fast Six, Palou knew he had set a strong average but expected Rosenqvist, who had been the fastest driver throughout the day, to answer. "I was very nervous," he admitted. "I knew we did a great average, but I was expecting him to also pick up some speed as we did and go faster."

Rosenqvist did not. The Swedish driver, who had led both full-field qualifying and the Top 12 session, struggled through the Fast Six with each of his four laps slower than the one before, ultimately averaging 231.375 mph to qualify fourth. Palou had his suspicions: "I think he went a bit slower. I don't know what happened, but obviously everyone saw that he was the only car being able to be that fast with the conditions we had."

Alongside Palou on the front row will be Alexander Rossi and David Malukas — three drivers that arrived from very different directions but reflected the same theme of sustained effort paying off under pressure.

Rossi, in the No. 20 Java House Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, qualified second at 231.990 mph with a Fast Six run that opened at 232.568 mph — the fastest first lap of the session before Palou's attempt — and held respectably across all four circuits. It is his second front row at Indianapolis and his best starting position in 11 starts at the Speedway, coming a decade after his 2016 victory. He was measured about what the position means for next Sunday, but not about what a return to victory lane would mean. "It transcends any other place that we go," he said, "and it would be pretty magical if it chose me again." His progression across the afternoon — bumping Scott Dixon from the Fast Six in the Top 12 round before delivering in the final session — reflected a team that kept finding improvement with each run.

Malukas made history of his own. His third-place Fast Six average of 231.877 mph — achieved with a final lap of 232.073 mph that was actually faster than his first — secured his best Indianapolis 500 starting position and the first front row start of his career in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. It was also Team Penske's 50th front row start at the Speedway. "We wanted to be on this front row — that was the goal," Malukas said. His closing lap being his quickest was the signature of a driver and team that had the tires, the setup and the execution working in complete harmony.

The Top 12 session itself told its own vivid stories before the Fast Six began. Rosenqvist had been masterful, setting the round's fastest average at 232.065 mph with a first lap of 232.325 mph and remarkable consistency thereafter. But two of the afternoon's other protagonists experienced the Speedway's characteristic cruelty. Rinus VeeKay opened his Top 12 run with a 232.138 mph first lap — the fastest of the session at that moment — then watched his car fall away dramatically over the next three laps to average just 229.585 mph, the slowest of the 12 qualifiers and a result that ended his Fast Six hopes. McLaughlin showed a similar trajectory, falling from a 231.880 mph opener to 229.162 mph on his fourth lap to finish ninth in the round at 230.577 mph.

Pato O'Ward, who advanced sixth into the Fast Six, encountered his own difficulties at the opening of the final round. His first lap of 230.108 mph — well below the pace he had shown all day — effectively ended his pole prospects before they began. He recovered through his remaining laps but averaged 230.442 mph for sixth.

Caio Collet was the session's other notable performer. The rookie from São Paulo, competing in his first Indianapolis 500, qualified 10th in the Top 12 round at 230.539 mph after opening with a 231.858 mph first lap. He is the only Rookie of the Year candidate to advance beyond full-field qualifying.

Championship qualifying points, awarded through 12th position in reverse finishing order, go to Palou (12), Rossi (11), Malukas (10), Rosenqvist (9), Ferrucci (8), O'Ward (7), Simpson (6), Daly (5), McLaughlin (4), Collet (3), Dixon (2) and VeeKay (1).

The 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge goes green at 12:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 24, with live coverage beginning at 10 a.m. on FOX, FOX Deportes and FOX One.

Rosenqvist Sets Qualifying Standard; Daly and Collet Shine as 12 Advance at IMS

Felix Rosenqvist went out 11th in the qualifying order and made every lap count, posting a four-lap average of 232.599 mph in the No. 60 SiriusXM Meyer Shank Racing Honda to lead full-field qualifying for the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. His opening lap of 232.984 mph was the fastest single lap turned by any driver Sunday afternoon, and his consistency across all four circuits — falling off by less than six-tenths of a mile per hour from first lap to last — set a benchmark that held for the remainder of the two-and-a-half-hour session.

If Rosenqvist's run was defined by precision, Conor Daly's was defined by something rarer still: near-perfect flatness. The No. 23 DRR Kingspan ARCO Chevrolet driver's four laps spanned just 0.136 mph from fastest to slowest — 231.798, 231.784, 231.662 and 231.733 — a degree of consistency that drew admiring looks in the pit lane. Daly, who has been a quiet surprise throughout the Month of May, qualified third at 231.744 mph. Between them, David Malukas turned in the second-fastest average at 231.813 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, with a closing lap that was actually faster than his second and third, a testament to the durability of his car's setup.

Scott McLaughlin, who had topped the no-tow charts in practice, qualified fourth at 231.623 mph in the No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet. His opening lap of 232.403 mph was the second fastest of the session, but more fall-off across the final two laps ultimately left him behind Daly on the timesheet. Rinus VeeKay was fifth at 231.591 mph in the No. 76 WedBush-JHR-DRR Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet and Alexander Rossi sixth at 231.580 mph in the No. 20 Java House Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, completing the top six.

The story of the afternoon extended well beyond the top of the sheet. Caio Collet, one of four Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year candidates, qualified seventh at 231.419 mph in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet — a result that would be remarkable for a veteran, let alone a driver making his debut at the Speedway. He is the only rookie to advance to the Top 12 session.

Scott Dixon, the first car to attempt a qualifying run at noon, posted 231.411 mph in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and qualified eighth. Pato O'Ward advanced in ninth at 231.248 mph in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, a meaningful result given that he drew 18th in the qualifying order and had to make his run as track temperatures continued to climb. The ambient temperature rose from 80 degrees at noon to 82 degrees by 1:15 p.m., while track surface temperatures increased from 97.7 to 104.7 degrees over the same period — a punishing change for drivers who qualified deeper in the order.

Santino Ferrucci took 10th at 231.224 mph in the No. 14 Homes for Our Troops AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet. Defending Indianapolis 500 champion Alex Palou, who drew 31st in the qualifying order and made his attempt at 2:19 p.m. in the heat of the afternoon, qualified 11th at 231.155 mph in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda — a composed performance given the circumstances. Kyffin Simpson completed the Top 12 at 231.095 mph in the No. 8 Sunoco Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, giving Ganassi three cars — Dixon, Palou and Simpson — in the afternoon's decisive round.

The names left outside the Top 12 carried as much significance as those who advanced. Will Power, who had been among the fastest in no-tow practice, qualified 20th at 230.279 mph in the No. 26 TWG AI Andretti Global Honda. Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden was 24th at 230.165 mph in the No. 2 Shell Fuel Rewards Team Penske Chevrolet — a difficult afternoon for a driver who arrived as one of the favorites. Kyle Kirkwood, the no-tow leader after Practice 1 whose speed had tailed off steadily across the week, was 26th at 229.607 mph in the No. 27 Sam's Club Andretti Global Honda.

At the other end of the timesheet, Sting Ray Robb experienced a sharp deterioration across his four-lap run in the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger-Goodheart Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, dropping from 229.649 mph on his opening lap to 223.859 mph on his fourth — a fall of nearly six miles per hour that left him 33rd and last at a 226.572 mph average.

The 12 drivers advancing to the Top 12 session, in qualifying-speed order, are Rosenqvist, Malukas, Daly, McLaughlin, VeeKay, Rossi, Collet, Dixon, O'Ward, Ferrucci, Palou and Simpson. The six fastest from that round will contest the Firestone Fast Six for the NTT P1 Award and pole position, with coverage on FOX beginning at approximately 4 p.m. ET.

Rasmussen Tops Practice 6 as Field Eyes Compressed Qualifying Day

With PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying just hours away, most teams at Indianapolis Motor Speedway chose to keep their cars in the garage Sunday morning. Only 14 of the 33 Indianapolis 500 entries took to the track for Practice 6, the final session before the revised single-day qualifying format gets underway at noon ET — a telling sign of how carefully teams are managing their resources after Saturday's rainout forced the entire qualifying program onto one day.

Under cooler conditions than the field has seen all week — 71 degrees ambient and a track surface of just 73.5 degrees — Christian Rasmussen turned the session's fastest lap at 232.255 mph in the No. 21 Splenda Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, set on his third circuit of a seven-lap run. It was the kind of clean, efficient qualifying simulation that reflected ECR's confident posture heading into the afternoon. Ed Carpenter himself was third at 231.684 mph and Alexander Rossi fourth at 231.588 mph, giving the team three cars in the top four of the session.

Takuma Sato slotted second at 231.759 mph in the No. 75 Amada Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda despite an early scare in Group 2: at 10:09 a.m., he made light contact with the wall in the north short chute, bringing out a yellow flag. The car continued under its own power and returned to the pit lane. The session resumed at 10:13 a.m., and Sato's team will be assessing whether any repairs are needed before his qualifying attempt.

Among the participating drivers, Katherine Legge posted an overall best of 231.057 mph in the No. 11 e.l.f. Cosmetics HMD Motorsports with AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet — a respectable figure in the context of the session — but her no-tow speed of 210.941 mph represented a significant gap to the rest of the field. She will need a considerably stronger single-car performance when she qualifies last, per the draw, later today.

The 19 cars that sat out — including session-topping Fast Friday performers Felix Rosenqvist, Scott McLaughlin and Alex Palou — will head straight into qualifying without additional track time, a calculated bet that the benefit of preserving tires and car setup outweighs any value in further data collection.

Qualifying begins at noon ET, with all 33 cars making one attempt. The fastest 12 will advance to the Top 12 session at approximately 4:30 p.m. on FOX, with the six fastest from that round moving on to the Firestone Fast Six at approximately 6 p.m. The winner of the Fast Six earns the NTT P1 Award and starts from pole position on Race Day.

Rosenqvist Tops Rain-Delayed Fast Friday; McLaughlin Sets No-Tow Benchmark as Qualifying Begins Saturday

A morning of rain pushed the start of Practice 4 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway back by two hours, but once the track dried and the green flag flew at 2 p.m. Friday, the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge found a new gear — literally. With turbo boost pressure raised to qualifying levels for the first time in the Month of May, speeds across all 33 entries surged to qualifying-representative figures, and Felix Rosenqvist emerged as the fastest man on the 2.5-mile oval when the checkered flag fell at 7 p.m.

Rosenqvist's 233.372 mph in the No. 60 SiriusXM Meyer Shank Racing Honda was the fastest lap turned in any practice session so far this month and came near the end of a day that started unimpressively for the Swede. "We started pretty slow, to be honest," he said after the session. "It's kind of rare you are able to crawl out of a hole like that. I think our first run was, like, a 230-something. Yeah, and then we just found basically 3 miles per hour — that was kind of cool." He acknowledged his final run may have included some tow benefit — "the 2 car came out, so the last lap that I ran was definitely a tow" — which explains why his no-tow speed of 232.324 mph ranked sixth on that chart.

Because the session was devoted almost entirely to qualifying simulations, the no-tow results offer the clearest picture yet of where teams stand heading into Saturday's PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying. And on that front, Scott McLaughlin made the most definitive statement of the day.

The No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet driver arrived at the Speedway, turned seven laps and went home with the fastest no-tow speed of the session at 232.674 mph — a mark he set on his fifth lap after posting 232.582 two minutes earlier. That kind of economy of effort, paired with a speed that sat more than a tenth of a second clear of his nearest no-tow rival, made McLaughlin the driver to watch when single-car runs begin Saturday morning.

Alex Palou was second in no-tow at 232.532 mph in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, continuing a steady climb up the qualifying-simulation standings across the week. Rinus VeeKay and Alexander Rossi were effectively tied at 232.417 and 232.416 mph, respectively, with Christian Rasmussen fifth at 232.397 mph — a strong collective result for Ed Carpenter Racing, which placed two cars in the top five of the no-tow standings.

For Rossi, Friday capped a week defined by sheer volume. "We must have done the most laps because I can promise you we are behind everyone on the amount of tires we have," he said, explaining that the emphasis was on covering every possible scenario. "Race running in the hot. Q-sims in the hot. Race running in the cold. Q-sims in the cold. It's just one of those months in Indianapolis where you get two or three days of consistency and then it flips on its head." The work appeared to pay dividends: he arrived at Fast Friday having addressed what he described as a key weakness from a year ago. "Our biggest issue last year in qualifying was we had quite a bit of fall-off from one to four," he said of his four-lap qualifying runs. "That was a big focus, and we were pretty content with how that went."

Pato O'Ward and Conor Daly each posted 232.202 mph in no-tow to share seventh on that chart, while David Malukas rounded out the top nine at 232.050 mph. Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves improved to 25th in no-tow at 230.879 mph in the No. 06 Cleveland Cliffs Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian Honda — still toward the back of the single-car sheet, but no longer at the bottom as in Practice 1. Kyle Kirkwood, who had led the combined no-tow standings after the first day of practice, ranked 31st on Friday at 230.441 mph in the No. 27 Sam's Club Andretti Global Honda, a regression the team will need to address before Saturday.

Rosenqvist's day was given additional context by events away from the track. The Swede recently became a father for the first time and has carried that experience into the cockpit. "I've kind of gone through every emotion possible in the last two weeks," he said. "It becomes, like, the number one coolest thing you've ever done, and everything kind of pales in comparison. I feel like as a driver it kind of makes you a bit calmer, a bit more confident maybe." The result of that calm was evident: having not previously topped a Fast Friday session, Rosenqvist left with an unexpected boost of ambition. "I didn't really go into today thinking we're going to have a chance on pole," he said, "but yeah, now I'm kind of hungry for it."

Immediately after the session, at approximately 7:15 p.m., teams gathered for the qualification draw to set the order for Saturday's attempts. Scott Dixon, in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, drew the No. 1 coin and will be the first car to qualify. McLaughlin drew sixth, Power 10th and Rosenqvist 11th. The defending Indianapolis 500 champion, Palou, drew 31st and will qualify late in the day. Katherine Legge, in the No. 11 e.l.f. Cosmetics HMD Motorsports with AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, drew 33rd. The order is guaranteed for the first attempt from each driver; after all 33 cars have made one run, re-qualification attempts will be accepted in the order teams present themselves to race officials.

PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying — Day One opens Saturday, May 16, at 11 a.m. ET, with coverage on FS2 until 2 p.m., FS1 from 2–4 p.m. and FOX from 4–6 p.m. The fastest nine cars from Saturday will lock into Sunday's Top 12 qualifying session; positions 10–15 will advance to the Final 15 round on Sunday to compete for the three remaining spots. Cars ranked 16th through 33rd will be placed in the field based on their Saturday times.

O'Ward Leads Practice 3 at Indianapolis 500; Sato Sets New No-Tow Benchmark Ahead of Fast Friday

Pato O'Ward needed just four laps to stake his claim as the fastest man in Thursday's practice session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, turning a 227.308 mph circuit in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet by 12:35 p.m. — a lap that would stand as the session's fastest when the checkered flag flew at 6 p.m. But as the field continues calibrating for Saturday's PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying, it was Takuma Sato who delivered the most meaningful number of the day.

Sato, running the No. 75 Amada Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, posted a 223.828 mph no-tow lap late in the session — the fastest single-car speed recorded in any of the three practices so far, and a significant benchmark with tomorrow's turbo boost increase still to come. He used just 25 total laps all day, a clear indication that the RLL team came out Thursday with a focused qualifying simulation agenda.

"I feel that always a big team is going to have one car at least there in the top for sure," said Helio Castroneves, who finished second overall at 226.977 mph. His confidence reflected the broader mood of a session in which speeds continued rising across the field.

Meyer Shank Racing was the story of the overall chart, placing three cars in the top four. Alongside Castroneves, Marcus Armstrong ran third at 226.841 mph in the No. 66 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Honda and Felix Rosenqvist fourth at 226.626 mph in the No. 60 SiriusXM Meyer Shank Racing Honda. All three set their quickest laps inside the first dozen circuits of the session, suggesting the team was benefiting from traffic early in the run. Their no-tow results told a more measured story, with Castroneves 25th, Armstrong 22nd and Rosenqvist 31st on the day's single-car chart.

O'Ward, by contrast, was eighth in no-tow at 222.621 mph — a solid result for the session leader — and emerged from the session feeling good about his car's direction. "The car is in a good balance window," he said after the session. "The starting point has been one of the best balances that I've had, at least with the first few qualifying sims we've done into a qualifying weekend." He acknowledged, however, that the picture will change considerably Friday when turbo boost pressure increases to qualifying levels. "Tomorrow when the boosts come up, it does change quite a bit."

Behind Sato on the combined no-tow sheet, Scott McLaughlin ran second at 223.738 mph and David Malukas third at 223.391 mph, giving Team Penske three cars in the top six of the single-car standings alongside Josef Newgarden's 222.924 mph in sixth. Alex Palou, who sat 17th in the combined no-tow chart after Wednesday's work, jumped to fourth overall at 223.230 mph — a sign that Chip Ganassi Racing has been making deliberate progress in qualifying trim. Kyle Kirkwood, who had set the no-tow standard in Practice 1 at 222.062 mph, improved to 222.776 mph Thursday but now ranks seventh on the combined chart as the benchmark has risen sharply around him.

Three yellow flags interrupted the session: a debris caution at 12:06 p.m. with the green returning at 12:09 p.m., and two scheduled track inspections at 1:32 p.m. and 2:41 p.m., with the session resuming at 1:42 p.m. and 2:57 p.m., respectively.

Among the Rookie of the Year candidates, Caio Collet continued to show consistency, ranking 23rd in the day's no-tow order at 221.691 mph in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazona AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet. Jacob Abel was 24th at 221.614 mph in the No. 51 Abel Construction Company Abel Motorsports Chevrolet.

Castroneves, whose path to a record fifth Indianapolis 500 victory runs through a qualifying process he cheerfully admitted still required some decoding — "I'm still working on it," he laughed — offered a cleaner answer when asked what keeps pulling him back to the Speedway. "When I did my last lap on the open test, I went out on the back straight, and I was like, oh, I love this. This is the best feeling in the world," he said.

Practice 4 — known as Fast Friday — runs Friday, May 15, from noon to 6 p.m. ET, with coverage on FS2 until 3 p.m., FS1 from 3–5 p.m. and FS2 again from 5–6 p.m. With turbo boost pressure set to qualifying levels for the first time, Friday's no-tow speeds will offer the clearest look yet at where the field genuinely stands ahead of Saturday's opening day of qualifying.

Daly Sets Fastest Lap of the Month in Practice 2; Kirkwood Retains No-Tow Lead

Conor Daly delivered the most dramatic lap of the young Month of May on Wednesday, turning a 228.080 mph circuit in the No. 23 DRR Kingspan Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet to lead Practice 2 and set the fastest lap recorded so far in preparation for the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. It was a significant jump from Tuesday's session-topping 225.937 mph by Alex Palou, and it signaled that speeds across the 33-car field are still very much on the rise.

Palou, in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, ran Daly close at 228.026 mph — just 0.054 mph off the benchmark — and sits second on the combined overall sheet through two days of practice. But as was the case Tuesday, the story beneath the headline speeds tells a more nuanced tale about where teams actually stand heading into Saturday's PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying.

Daly's 228.080 mph was set on Lap 16 with the benefit of traffic; his best single-car speed in Practice 2 was 216.177 mph, placing him 28th in the day's no-tow standings and 22nd across both sessions. The gap between Daly's headline number and his qualifying-simulation pace was the starkest illustration of the tow effect in the entire field — and a reminder that the overall chart and the no-tow chart require very different interpretations.

On the no-tow side, Pato O'Ward was the standout of the day. The No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet driver topped the Practice 2 no-tow chart at 221.409 mph, having clearly committed much of his Wednesday program to qualifying simulation runs. He ranked 27th overall in the session — a reflection of the deliberate tradeoff. Alexander Rossi was doing likewise in the No. 20 Java House Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, posting 221.392 mph on just his third lap of the day as the very first notable benchmark of the session. Marcus Ericsson, in the No. 28 Phoenix Investors Andretti Global Honda, was third in the Practice 2 no-tow order at 221.204 mph.

None of them, however, matched Kyle Kirkwood's 222.062 mph from Tuesday. Kirkwood's no-tow lap in Practice 1 remains the fastest single-car speed of the month across both sessions, and no driver was able to eclipse it Wednesday. Andretti Global, with Kirkwood, Will Power and Ericsson all in the top five of the combined no-tow standings, continued to look like the team most deliberately calibrated for qualifying.

Four yellow flags disrupted the session. A debris caution at 12:42 p.m. brought out the first interruption before the green returned at 12:44 p.m. A second debris flag fell at 1:59 p.m., with the session resuming at 2:09 p.m. A scheduled track inspection at 3:45 p.m. produced a third yellow, with practice restarting at 4 p.m. The final interruption came at 5:20 p.m. for debris in Turn 1, with the green returning at 5:29 p.m.

Among the four Rookie of the Year candidates, Caio Collet remained the most consistent performer in no-tow running, ranking eighth in Practice 2 at 219.903 mph in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazona AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet. Dennis Hauger improved to 13th in the day's no-tow chart at 218.840 mph in the No. 19 Only Bulls Dale Coyne Racing Honda.

Practice 3 runs Thursday, May 14, from noon to 6 p.m. ET, with coverage beginning on FS2 before shifting to FS1 at 4 p.m.

Palou Sets Overall Pace in Indianapolis 500 Practice 1; Kirkwood Leads No-Tow Charts

Alex Palou opened the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge as the fastest man on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval Tuesday, turning a best lap of 225.937 mph in Practice 1. But with runs conducted without the benefit of a tow, it was Kyle Kirkwood who offered the most compelling preview of what to expect when single-car qualifying begins Saturday.

Practice 1 ran from noon until 6 p.m. ET, giving all 33 entries their first competitive laps on the historic oval. Under sunny skies and with an ambient temperature of 69 degrees and a track surface that had climbed to 100 degrees by early afternoon, the session produced a clear separation between teams focused on race-pace running in traffic and those already tuning for the demands of qualifying.

Palou's 225.937 mph in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda put him atop the overall timing sheet, with Marcus Armstrong second at 225.895 mph in the No. 66 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Honda and Conor Daly a surprising third at 225.838 mph in the No. 23 DRR Kingspan Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet. Josef Newgarden was fourth at 225.121 mph in the No. 2 Shell Fuel Rewards Team Penske Chevrolet, and Scott Dixon rounded out the top five at 225.087 mph in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Graham Rahal was sixth at 224.769 mph in the No. 15 United Rentals Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, Kirkwood seventh at 224.483 mph in the No. 27 Sam's Club Andretti Global Honda, Scott McLaughlin eighth at 224.401 mph in the No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet, Romain Grosjean ninth at 223.901 mph in the No. 18 Bmax.IO Dale Coyne Racing Honda and David Malukas 10th at 223.845 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

Three yellow flags interrupted the session, each for track inspection: the first at 1:58 p.m. with the green returning at 2:10 p.m., the second at 3:10 p.m. with green resuming at 3:21 p.m. and the third at 5:11 p.m. with the track going green again at 5:25 p.m.

The overall speed chart, however, tells only part of the story. Indianapolis 500 qualifying is conducted as single-car runs — four laps, no traffic, no tow — which makes the no-tow results a far more meaningful indicator of where teams actually stand heading into Saturday's PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying. On that front, the picture looked considerably different.

Kirkwood led the no-tow standings at 222.062 mph, a lap set on his 18th circuit in the No. 27 Sam's Club Andretti Global Honda. Will Power, his Andretti Global teammate, was second at 221.455 mph in the No. 26 TWG AI Andretti Global Honda, and Jack Harvey slotted third at 220.853 mph in the No. 24 DRR INVST Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet. Marcus Ericsson was fourth at 220.540 mph in the No. 28 Phoenix Investors Andretti Global Honda, giving Andretti Global three of the top four positions on the no-tow sheet — a strong collective statement from the Honda-powered outfit. Nolan Siegel rounded out the top five at 220.453 mph in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

The divergence between the two charts was striking in places. Palou, Armstrong and Daly — the top three on the overall sheet — ranked 16th (219.308 mph), 18th (219.281 mph) and 21st (218.942 mph), respectively, in no-tow speeds, suggesting those cars accumulated their headline figures running in close company. Conversely, Power ranked 27th overall at 221.455 mph but translated that figure directly into the second-best no-tow lap of the day — a sign that Andretti arrived in Indianapolis with a clear qualifying focus from the outset.

Among the four Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year candidates, Caio Collet showed the most in single-car running, ranking eighth in no-tow at 220.087 mph in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazona AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet. Jacob Abel was 14th at 219.448 mph in the No. 51 Abel Construction Company Abel Motorsports Chevrolet, Dennis Hauger 25th at 218.646 mph in the No. 19 Only Bulls Dale Coyne Racing Honda and Mick Schumacher 31st at 217.955 mph in the No. 47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

Four-time winner Helio Castroneves, chasing a record fifth Indianapolis 500 victory in the No. 06 Cleveland Cliffs Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Honda, placed 15th in the overall results at 223.332 mph but ranked last among the 33 entries in no-tow speed at 216.898 mph — a 5.164-mph gap to Kirkwood's benchmark that the team will look to close in the sessions ahead.

Practice continues Wednesday, May 13, with Practice 2 running from noon to 6 p.m. ET, with coverage beginning on FS2 at noon and shifting to FS1 at 4 p.m.