Indy 500 2026: Palou Leads from Pole in 110th Running Today

The crowd will rise. The Purdue All-American Marching Band will strike up Back Home Again in Indiana. Roughly 300,000 fans packed into the cathedral of speed will join in. Then, sometime just after 12:45 p.m. Eastern, the green flag will wave on the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500, and a year of buildup, heartbreak, and qualifying drama will dissolve into 200 laps of throttle-pinned theater around the 2.5-mile rectangle in Speedway, Indiana.

At the front of it all sits a familiar figure. Alex Palou, the reigning Indy 500 champion and three-time IndyCar Series titlist, will lead the 33-car field to the green from pole position, having clipped off a four-lap qualifying average of 232.248 mph. That run made the Chip Ganassi Racing driver the first defending Indy 500 champion to also win pole for the following year's race since Helio Castroneves in 2010, and it gives the Spaniard the cleanest possible shot at a back-to-back triumph at the Brickyard.

Palou's Bid for Back-to-Back

Back-to-back Indy 500 wins are one of the hardest doubles in motorsport. Only a small club has done it, and none since Castroneves in 2001 and 2002. Palou has spent the past 12 months proving that last year's breakthrough was no fluke, leading the championship standings yet again and arriving in May with the speed, the team, and now the track position to make history.

The 28-year-old has played down talk of dynasty, preferring to focus on execution. "You can't win this race on Sunday morning," Palou said after his pole-winning run. "But you can lose it, and you can lose it many times. We've put ourselves in a good spot. Now we just race."

A Front Row Built for a Slipstream Fight

Palou will not have the front row to himself. Veteran Alexander Rossi qualified second at 231.990 mph for Ed Carpenter Racing, his best Indy starting spot in years and a reminder that the 2016 winner has lost none of his oval craft. David Malukas, the young Team Penske recruit, completes the front row at 231.877 mph after a season in which he has gradually emerged as one of the series' most polished oval drivers.

Row two is a fast and varied trio: Felix Rosenqvist in the Meyer Shank Racing Honda, Santino Ferrucci in the A.J. Foyt Chevrolet, and Pato O'Ward in the Arrow McLaren entry. O'Ward sits sixth on the grid but enters the day as the most-fancied threat to Palou.

Top 11 Starting Order

• 1. Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) 232.248 mph
• 2. Alexander Rossi (Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet) 231.990
• 3. David Malukas (Team Penske Chevrolet) 231.877
• 4. Felix Rosenqvist (Meyer Shank Racing Honda) 231.375
• 5. Santino Ferrucci (A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet) 230.846
• 6. Pato O'Ward (Arrow McLaren Chevrolet) 230.442
• 7. Kyffin Simpson (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) 230.883
• 8. Conor Daly (Dreyer and Reinbold Racing Chevrolet) 230.712
• 9. Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske Chevrolet) 230.577
• 10. Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) 230.347
• 11. Rinus VeeKay (Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet) 229.585

The Chasers: O'Ward, Newgarden and the Old Guard

O'Ward's week was nearly derailed by a Monday practice incident in which he spun avoiding a sliding Rossi and damaged his primary car. He will race a backup chassis, a fact his team has tried to frame as a blessing in disguise. The Mexican driver has finished second at Indianapolis in both 2022 and 2024 and has cracked the top 10 in five of his six starts. If he can lead the high line into Turn One, his car has shown the race pace to challenge anyone.

Josef Newgarden begins from 23rd, an unusual position for the two-time winner who took back-to-back checkered flags here in 2023 and 2024 before a disqualification voided his attempt at three straight last year. The Tennessean has won the most recent two ovals at Phoenix and Nashville, and his pit crew, fresh off another Pit Stop Challenge final, has the muscle memory to turn a deep grid slot into a real fighting chance.

Six-time series champion Scott Dixon will roll off 10th in his 23rd start at the Brickyard, hunting a second Borg-Warner Trophy. Three-time winner Castroneves, in the Meyer Shank No. 06, lines up 14th and may be running his final 500 as a regular. Kyle Larson is not entered this year, the NASCAR star having stepped back after consecutive Double attempts ended in Indy crashes.

The Disqualifications That Reshuffled the Grid

Qualifying was overshadowed by post-session drama. INDYCAR Officiating ruled that the No. 4 A.J. Foyt Racing entry of rookie Caio Collet and the No. 24 Dreyer and Reinbold Racing car of Jack Harvey had unapproved modifications to the Dallara-supplied Energy Management System covers, citing violations of Rules 14.12.1.1 and 14.12.1.6.

Both cars had their qualifying times disallowed. Collet, who had originally qualified 10th and earned a spot in the Top 12 shootout, was relegated to 32nd. Harvey, originally 29th, was sent to 33rd. Collet also forfeited his three bonus points for advancing to the Top 12. The penalties bumped every driver from Kyffin Simpson down one row, gifting fast starting slots to drivers who had been outside the Fast 12 picture and turning Sunday's strategy chess into an even more compressed scrap.

Weather, Strategy and the Forecast

The forecast is the great unknown. Race-day conditions are expected to top out near 74 degrees with thick cloud cover, southwest winds gusting to 10 mph, and humidity around 84 percent. Rain probabilities have swung wildly through the week, with some models showing a roughly 24 percent chance and others as high as 60 percent during the opening three-hour window. A delay, a red flag, or a shortened race remain live possibilities.

Cooler air typically helps the cars stick, narrowing the gap between front-runners and the midfield. Teams will weigh fuel saving against aggression, with strategists watching pit lane the way meteorologists watch radar. A late caution, an unexpected shower, a botched stop on Lap 175: any of these can rewrite the script.

How and When to Watch

Pre-race ceremonies, including the singing of the national anthem and the traditional command to start engines, begin shortly after noon Eastern. The green flag is targeted for 12:45 p.m. ET. Fox Sports carries the live broadcast in the United States, with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network handling national radio coverage. International viewers can follow the action via Sky Sports F1 in the United Kingdom and a patchwork of regional rights holders elsewhere.

By late afternoon, one driver will drink the milk, kiss the bricks, and step into a piece of history that began in 1911. The grid is set. The forecast is uncertain. The Borg-Warner Trophy is waiting. The 110th Indianapolis 500 is here.