IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials have again tinkered with the qualifying format for the Indianapolis 500 in hopes of adding drama…and so they have. This is the starting lineup for the 2022 Indianapolis 500. The 200-lap race is scheduled for Sunday, May 29, on the 2½-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. The Indy 500 starting lineup features 11 rows of 3 drivers each, established through two days of qualifying. The field average of 231.023 mph is the fastest in race history.
After two days of qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Scott Dixon came out on top, winning his fifth career and second consecutive Indy 500 pole.
Not only did Dixon set the record for fastest pole speed in Indy 500 history — it’s the fastest four-lap average for the race at 234.046 miles per hour — but he also, along with Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay, combined for the fastest front row ever in Indy 500 history with an average speed of 233.643 miles per hour. Both records had been standing since 1996.
“Honestly, nobody goes that fast, right, unless you’re on a plane,” 41-year-old Dixon told For The Win on Monday, struggling to compare the feeling with something regular people can do. “For drivers, you always just want to go faster, right? So it’s something that one, we’re used to, but two, it becomes an addiction, right? That you just want to keep going faster.
“And sometimes, the sport allows for that to happen, or some years, they come back and it’s a rule reset or the engines have changed or something like that where you don’t see the speed. For a long period of time, we were setting poles in the mid 220s, so it’s kind of cool to see the evolution of this car, even though the rules package has stayed very similar.”
Even fellow drivers, who race at high speeds all the time, were blown away.
Includes starting position, (car number), driver name (R-rookie; W-Indy 500 winner), team, engine, and 4-lap qualifying speed average. All cars have Dallara chassis and use Firestone tires. Speeds for Rows 1-2 were established in the Fast Six on May 22, and Rows 3-4 were set in the Fast 12; speeds for Rows 5-11 were set on May 21.
Indy 500 Row 1
1. (9) Scott Dixon (W), Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing, 234.046
2. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing, 233.499
3. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, Ed Carpenter Racing, 233.385
Indy 500 Row 2
4. (33) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, Ed Carpenter Racing, 233.080
5. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing, 232.764
6. (1) Tony Kanaan (W), Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing, 232.372
Indy 500 Row 3
7. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, Arrow McLaren SP, 232.705
8. (7) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, Arrow McLaren SP, 232.182
9. (28) Romain Grosjean (R), Honda, Andretti Autosport, 231.999
Indy 500 Row 4
10. (51) Takuma Sato (W), Honda, Dale Coyne Racing with RWR, 231.670
11. (12) Will Power (W), Chevrolet, Team Penske, 231.534
12. (48) Jimmie Johnson (R), Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing, 231.264
Indy 500 Row 5
13. (18) David Malukas (R), Honda, Dale Coyne Racing with HMD, 231.607
14. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, Team Penske, 231.580
15. (23) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 231.508
Indy 500 Row 6
16. (60) Simon Pagenaud (W), Honda, Meyer Shank Racing, 231.275
17. (11) JR Hildebrand, Chevrolet, A.J. Foyt Racing, 231.112
18. (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, Ed Carpenter Racing, 230.999
Indy 500 Row 7
19. (77) Callum Ilott (R), Chevrolet, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 230.916
20. (27) Alexander Rossi (W), Honda, Andretti Autosport, 230.812
21. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 230.766
Indy 500 Row 8
22. (24) Sage Karam, Chevrolet, Dreyer & Reinbold, 230.464
23. (98) Marco Andretti, Honda, Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco Curb, 230.345
24. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco (R), Honda, Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport, 230.326
Indy 500 Row 9
25. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, Andretti Autosport, 230.235
26. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, Team Penske, 230.154
27. (06) Helio Castroneves (W), Honda, Meyer Shank Racing, 229.630
Indy 500 Row 10
28. (14) Kyle Kirkwood (R), Chevrolet, A.J. Foyt Racing, 229.406
29. (4) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, A.J. Foyt Racing, 228.916
30. (6) Juan Pablo Montoya (W), Chevrolet, Arrow McLaren SP, 228.622
Indy 500 Row 11
31. (30) Christian Lungaard (R), Honda, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 227.053
32. (45) Jack Harvey, Honda, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 226.851
33. (25) Stefan Wilson, Chevrolet, DragonSpeed/Cusick Racing, no speed
