INDIANAPOLIS โ Scott McLaughlin won this year's Indy 500 pole by setting the fastest four-lap average speed ever for an Indy 500 pole winner.
McLaughlin's record of 234.220 mph narrowly beat the previous record set by Alex Parow in 2023 (234.217 mph).
Arie Luyendyk set a four-lap qualifying record of 236.986 mph in 1996, but that record was set on the second day of qualifying and did not qualify for the pole.
McLaughlin's best qualifying position in his past three Indy 500 appearances was 14th.th Team Penske teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden will join the front row in 2023. This is his second time in the history of the 500 race that Team Penske has swept the first row. The first time was his 1988, when Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan and Al Unser accomplished this feat.
NASCAR's Kyle Larson, who will be attempting the Indy 500/Coca-Cola 600 double on race day, qualified fifth. He set the fastest qualifying lap ever for a rookie in the first leg of Top 12 qualifying at 233.453 mph, breaking Benjamin Pederson's record set last year (233.297 mph).
This year's field includes eight former Indy 500 winners: Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009, 2021), Scott Dixon (2008), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2014), and Alexander Rossi. (2016), Takuma Sato (2017, 2020), Will Power (2018), Marcus Eriksson (2022), Joseph Newgarden (2023).
Six rookies qualified: Larsson (starting 5th), Marcus Armstrong (16th), Kiffin Simpson (18th), Christian Rasmussen (24th), Tom Blomqvist (25th), Linus Lundqvist (27th).
The overall preliminary results are as follows.
- (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 02:33.7017 (234.220 mph)
- (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 02:33.9007 (233.917)
- (2) Joseph 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) Linus Vikay, 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) Kiffin 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 Rob, 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) Connor 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)