Chevy Versus Honda in Fastest Field Ever at Indy 500

Rinus VeeKay- left – Chevrolet IndyCar and – right – pole winner Alex Palou – Honda – after qualifying for the NTT IndyCar Series Indianapolis 500.

Alex Palou produced Honda’s fourth consecutive Indianapolis 500 pole yesterday in a qualifying contest that resulted in the fastest field at 232 mph, as well as one of the closest front rows in Brickyard history.* Palou drove the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to a four-lap record speed of 234.217 mph, surpassing the mark set last year by Scott Dixon also in a Honda-powered car. Dixon will start sixth this year.

Palou’s speed edged Rinus VeeKay by just 0.006 mph over the four-lap, ten-mile qualifying run. It is Honda’s fourth consecutive 500 pole, a streak started by Marco Andretti in 2020 and continued by Dixon in 2021-22. VeeKay, of Ed Carpenter Racing, has been the best qualifying Chevrolet for the Indianapolis 500 for four years in a row. VeeKay will be joined on the front row by Felix Rosenqvist at Arrow McLaren, also Chevy powered, for his first front row start at the 500. The 33-car field is almost evenly divided between Honda (16) and Chevy (17) engines.

“We knew it was going to be tight, and it was really tight, but the #10 car guys and Honda did an amazing job. They made the fastest car today,” said Palou. ” I’m just super-proud of the work they’ve done all month, all year, to get us to this point. We knew that we had to go aggressive (with the setup) to get a good first lap. That made the fourth lap really tough to stay flat (in the turns), but we did it.”

 Chevrolet – Ed Carpenter Racing

“I got everything out of it but I wish I had just a little bit more. I got tight and I should have let it run a little bit, but I mean, it’s, it’s so close,” said Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet. “I got everything out of it but I wish I had just a little bit more. I got tight and I should have let it run a little bit, but I mean, it’s, it’s so close. You know, the whole group really had a shot for pole position. I am a bit spoiled to say that so starting second, and still very happy. We don’t win anything with this you know, this is only the start to the race.”

*Next Sunday 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500

Live NBC network coverage of the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 begins at 11 a.m. EDT, with the green flag to start Sunday’s 200-lap contest at 12:45 p.m. EDT. Live streaming will also be available on NBC Peacock. The starting grid is here.