33 Drivers Enter Indy 500 Qualifying as Dixon Leads Saturday Run — Indy 500 Qualifying

Indy 500 qualifying starts Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with 33 drivers chasing the pole and the first six rows still to be sorted by Sunday night. Scott Dixon gets the first shot at 11 a.m. ET, putting five previous Indy 500 poles back in the frame as the field begins four-lap runs.

Scott Dixon Opens Saturday

Dixon will be the first driver to begin a four-lap timed run when the session opens at 11 a.m. ET. The Saturday qualifying window runs until 5:50 p.m. ET and will lock in starting positions 16 through 33 before the weekend shifts to the faster groups.

That gives the early runners real weight. The fastest nine cars on Saturday move on to the Top 12 session on Sunday, while positions 10 through 15 return for the Fast 15 round in reverse order at 4 p.m. ET.

Five Past Pole Winners

The pole fight is wide open, but it is not short on proven names. Five drivers in this field have already won the Indianapolis 500 pole: Dixon with five, Helio Castroneves with four, Ed Carpenter with three, Scott McLaughlin with one and Alex Palou with one.

Will Power has won 71 poles in NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition, yet none has come in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Robert Shwartzman arrived as last year’s pole winner after taking the top spot as a rookie, and he did it from 13th on the grid at 231.295 mph before improving to a four-lap average of 232.790 mph.

Practice Speeds At Indy

Friday’s Fast Friday practice hinted at the contenders, not the final order. Felix Rosenqvist posted the fastest overall lap, Alexander Rossi was second and McLaughlin was third, but last year McLaughlin was quickest in that same session and still finished qualifying 10th.

Alex Palou has been near the front all week, going No. 1 on Tuesday and No. 2 on Wednesday. He won last year’s race from the sixth starting position, and in the past 10 years the winner’s average starting spot has been 6.1.

Conor Daly was fastest in Wednesday’s session and finished his best Friday lap 13th, trying to give Dreyer & Reinbold Racing its best Indianapolis 500 start since Robbie Buhl earned the second spot in 2002. Daly’s top Indy 500 starts are 11th in 2019 and 11th last year, and Dario Franchitti said late in Friday’s FS2 broadcast, “Conor looks very, very strong” and “So does Rossi, and McLaughlin.”

Sunday’s ladder starts at about 5 p.m. ET with the Fast 12, and the Firestone Fast Six follows at about 6:35 p.m. ET. By then, the field will know which six drivers are fighting for the pole and which 27 are already slotted for the rest of the starting order.