Team Penske backed up its qualifying pace from Saturday with a front row sweep on Sunday.
Scott McLaughlin went out last on Sunday and posted the fastest four-lap run of the weekend to win the pole for the 2024 Indianapolis 500. His speed bested his Team Penske teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden, the defending Indy 500 champion.
Kyle Larson qualified fifth for the 500 before he had to head to North Carolina for the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race later Sunday night. Larson is set to be the fifth driver to compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day next weekend.
Nolan Siegel misses out
Siegel pushed as hard as he could during his final run on Sunday and found that he went a little too close to the edge.
Siegel found himself 34th of 34 drivers after Marcus Ericsson pushed his way into the field with less than five minutes to go in the last-row qualifying session. Siegel’s first lap of his four-lap qualifying attempt wasn’t good enough to make the field and then he hit the wall on his second lap before his car crashed.
It was the second crash of the week for the 19-year-old after he flipped in practice earlier in the week.
Siegel’s DNQ means that Graham Rahal got the 33rd and final spot in the field. Rahal missed out on last year’s race but ended up driving the No. 24 car during the 500 because of Stefan Wilson’s practice crash.
Marcus Ericsson’s drama
Ericsson also crashed during practice this week and failed to lock into the field during Saturday’s qualifying session that guaranteed starting spots for the fastest 30 drivers in the 33-car field.
Ericsson was plenty fast on his first qualifying attempt but backed off after his third lap because of an apparent miscommunication about the number of laps he had completed. Had Ericsson kept going on his fourth and final lap, he wouldn’t have needed a second qualifying run.
Instead, he had to go again and did just enough to get in. Ericsson’s second run bumped Siegel from the field.
Indianapolis 500 starting lineup
1. Scott McLaughlin
2. Will Power
3. Josef Newgarden
4. Alexander Rossi
5. Kyle Larson
6. Santino Ferrucci
7. Rinus VeeKay
8. Pato O’Ward
9. Felix Rosenqvist
10. Takuma Sato
11. Kyle Kirkwood
12. Ryan Hunter-Reay
13. Colton Herta
14. Alex Palou
15. Callum Ilott
16. Marcus Armstrong
17. Ed Carpenter
18. Kyffin Simpson
19. Marco Andretti
20. Helio Castroneves
21. Scott Dixon
22. Augustin Canapino
23. Sting Ray Robb
24. Christian Rasmussen
25. Tom Blomqvist
26. Romain Grosjean
27. Linus Lundqvist
28. Christian Lundgaard
29. Conor Daly
30. Pietro Fittipaldi
31. Katherine Legge
32. Marcus Ericsson
33. Graham Rahal
DNQ: Nolan Siegel
Source Agencies
