Alex Palou claimed his third pole of the season and ninth career pole with a best lap of 1 minute, 5.0215 seconds in the No. 10 Open AI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Photo courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

INDYCAR championship leader Alex Palou received a heated, impromptu pit road lecture from Will Power after Saturday morning’s practice at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Palou later claimed his third pole of the season.

Some sage advice from Will _ the NTT IndyCar Series’ acknowledged qualifying ace _ or just coincidence?

“He gave me some ‘compliments,’^” Palou joked during his post-qually presser for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by the all new 2026 Passport. “No, it was all good. He was frustrated about traffic. Yeah, it wasn’t too bad.”

Palou secured his series-leading third pole of the season and ninth of his career with a lap of 1-minute, 5.0215-seconds/125.017 mph around the 2.258-mile/13-turn permanent road-course in Lexington, Ohio. Palou, who also leads the series with six victories this season, will take a 93-point advantage over second-place Kyle Kirkwood into Sunday’s race at 1 p.m. (EDT) with broadcast coverage provided by FOX, FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

This event marks the first anniversary for introduction of INDYCAR’s hybrid system _ and the first time teams can return to their car setup notes from 2024 on a road or street-course. Eight races remain on the 17-event schedule.

SEE: Qualifying Results

“Ever since I started with CGR, we’ve had great cars,” said Palou, driver of the stealth-black No. 10 Open AI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. “But we’ve always struggled with qualifying up-front. So, this year it has been phenomenal. The speed we have in the cars at every single racetrack we show up at is amazing. It’s all the work that everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing is doing, all our partners.

“We wanted to go aggressive. We went on a brand new set of (Firestone Firehawk) softs for Fast Six instead of keeping it for the race, like I think three guys did it, to try and get that pole and it worked out. Super-happy. (Sunday) is going to be a great day, for sure.”

The three-time/reigning series champ from Spain, Palou will be joined in the front row by Christian Lundgaard after the native of Denmark hot-lapped at 1:05.2126-seconds/124.651 mph in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Lundgaard tied his season-best qualifying effort set in March at The Thermal Club in California.

“Pretty straightforward, I would say. Really wasn’t the most entertaining,” said Lundgaard, who completely upstaged teammate Pato O’Ward, the defending event winner who was bounced in Round 1. “I think we were one of the few cars that decided to run a new set of primes in Q1 and Q2 as a bank lap. We knew we were going to be on the alternates anyway, so we were in debate if we were going to use the third set or not. We ended up doing that in the Fast Six.

“The last few races, we’ve tried to think about the long game and try to be focused on a better tire strategy going into the race. I think this weekend, we felt we didn’t need to do that, so we knew that I could go for it. It wasn’t quite enough. That No. 10 car (Palou) seems to be too strong. We’ve got two cars in the top-four, so time to execute and go for the win.” 

CGR’s Kyffin Simpson also starred in the session, qualifying a career-best third at 1:05.7555-seconds/123.622 mph during his first Firestone Fast Six appearance in the No. 8 Journie Rewards Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Simpson, a native of the Cayman Islands, produced that stellar performance despite running a used set of Firestone Firehawk alternates, thereby saving an extra set of new alternate rubber for the 90-lap/203.22-mile race.

“We need to remember that he’s very, very young,” Palou said of Simpson. “He’s 20. He’s very, very young. He’s been picking up a ton of speed, especially this year. I think he’s in front of one Penske car in the championship standings now with a couple of incidents and mechanical issues that he had.

“If you look at the performance he’s had, he’s been really, really fast and it’s not been just by luck. Honestly, I don’t think he cares or I care or anybody cares about what they think about him, but yeah, he’s good. I’m very happy for him.”

Nolan Siegel, making his second career appearance in the Fast Six, also qualified a career-best fourth at 1:05.9262-seconds/123.302 mph in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet as CGR and Arrow McLaren locked-out the first two rows on the 27-car starting grid.

“I’m very happy with P4 running on the used tires,” Siegel said. “I think we could have given Christian a run for the front row on a new set, which would have been fun, but I’m happy to be starting fourth. It’s my best INDYCAR starting position and it’s nice to be in the Firestone Fast Six again.

“We’ve had a few rough weekends, and things are really turning around. We’ve got some new faces on the No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet crew, and it’s all working well. We’ve got young people that are hungry for it, along with experienced, proven faces, so obviously excited for the rest of the year.”

Colton Herta qualified fifth at 1:06.1218-seconds/122.937 mph in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian. Road America pole-winner Louis Foster earned his third trip into the Fast Six during his rookie season and qualified sixth at 1:06.2398-seconds/122.718 mph in the No. 45 Droplight Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

While Simpson’s gamble to use only a set of scuffed alternate tires paid off in the Fast Six, Palou’s desire to earn track position on Mid-Ohio’s rollercoaster of a road-course induced him and his team to opt for a new set of Firestone Firehawk alternates in the last qualifying group.

“We could have saved the last set of new soft tires here in the Fast Six to try and have an advantage tomorrow,” Palou said. “But we were like, ‘Man, we really think that starting up-front, top-three, is always going to benefit us more.’ We know there are some cars that are going to save those tires, so they’re going to be a big threat. But happy with our car and our starting position.”

Among the Firestone Fast Six, Palou, Lundgaard and Herta used a new set of Firestone alternates. Simpson, Siegel and Foster stayed on used alternate tires.

Back to that post-practice spat between Team Penske’s Power and Palou. When a helmet-less Power marched into his pit area with index finger fully-loaded, Palou said he was aware of what the native Australian was ticked-off about.

“Yeah, I knew. I knew,” Palou said. “Look, I think if you look at Practice 1 or 2, everybody is complaining about traffic, and we’re all angry that we don’t get clear laps. But maybe he thought we did something personal to him. For sure that was not the intention. I don’t know if you saw, but I was always like a second or two seconds in front of him. He was just having to back off. I never tried to defend or anything.

“I think he was just a little bit upset, and that’s OK. But yeah, I knew what he was coming _ I just didn’t want to start to get into an argument. Yeah, it happens. It was my first time with him, so it’s good.”

Kirkwood, quickest in Friday’s practice, also was slowed by traffic during the second round of qualifying and will start seventh in the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda featuring a special Honda tribute livery this weekend. Kirkwood recorded a best lap of 1:05.4443-seconds/124.209 mph. Kirkwood (three victories) is the only race-winner besides Palou this season.

David Malukas led the two-car effort from Waller, Texas-based A.J. Foyt Racing in 13^th after a lap in 1:05.6384-seconds/123.842 mph in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet. A fuel pressure issue surfaced on Malukas’ hot lap and cost him the chance to transfer out of the first round.

“So really unfortunate” Malukas said. “We actually did a really good job getting the car where it needed to be. Went to the top of the hill to finish off the lap in (Turn) 8, and we had a little bit of a fuel pressure issue and it kind of shut down on us. So probably lost about half-a-second on top of that hill, and we didn’t transfer by 1,000ths of a second (0.0117-second). Really unfortunate, because we were there.”

Dallas resident Santino Ferrucci will start 17^th after lapping at 1:05.8138-seconds/123.512 mph in Foyt Racing’s No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet.

“I think as a group, we’d be qualifying better than 17th at the moment; just unfortunately missing a ton of rotation mid-corner for myself,” Ferrucci said. “I thought I drove well and my engineering group, they’re doing a great job. The car felt really quick, but it’s also just really tight time-wise (throughout the field). We’ve got to figure out what we’re missing to get up to the top step in quals. But I have a feeling that our race car is going to be good, and we’ll continue to move forward.”

Ferrucci scored a career-best third-place finish in the series’ most recent event on Road America’s natural-terrain road-course in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

O’Ward will start 15^th after his best lap of 1:05.7726-seconds/123.589 mph in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. “We’ve had a really fast car all weekend,” said O’Ward, a native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas. “Gapping issues in Q1 kept us from advancing. It’s a shame because we had the pace, so now we get to have fun from the back.”

Meanwhile, Team Penske’s frustrating and so-far winless season continued. Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden was Roger Penske’s top qualifier _ 18th in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. Native New Zealander Scott McLaughlin was next, 21st in the No. 3 Odyssey Batteries Team Penske Chevrolet, followed by Power in 22nd in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

A 25-minute warmup session will precede the race at 9:30 a.m. (EDT) Sunday with broadcast coverage on FS1, FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Dennis Hauger of Norway earned his sixth pole in eight starts this season in the INDYCAR development series with a top lap of 1 minute, 9.7431 seconds in the No. 28 Nammo car fielded by Andretti Global. Photo courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series.

Dennis Hauger added two more accomplishments during his sensational rookie season, erasing the track record and winning the pole Saturday for the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio.

A 22-year-old native of Norway, Hauger earned his sixth pole in eight starts this season in INDYCAR’s developmental series with a lap of 1-minute, 9.7431-seconds/116.553 mph in the No. 28 Nammo car fielded by Andretti Global. That smashed the INDY NXT track record of 1:10.2879 set by native Brazilian Caio Collet last season during qualifying.

SEE: Qualifying Results

“Super-happy about the pole,” Hauger said. “Didn’t really expect it being in Group 1. It felt like the track evolution was quite big in our session. I hoped for (pole), and it came through. Time to get ready for tomorrow.”

The 35-lap/79.03-mile/55-minute race will start at 10:30 a.m. (EDT) Sunday with broadcast coverage on FS1, FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network. Hauger leads fellow-Andretti Global rookie Lochie Hughes of Australia by 28 points in the championship standings after winning four of the first seven races this season.

Collet, who led practice Saturday morning, didn’t repeat as pole winner but will join Hauger in the front row Sunday after qualifying second at 1:09.8612-seconds/116.356 mph in the No. 76 HMD Motorsports car.

Hughes will start directly behind his pole-winning teammate Hauger, qualifying third at 1:09.9894-seconds/116.143 mph in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship car. Josh Pierson continued his recent improvement in form by qualifying fourth at 1:10.0315-seconds/116.073 mph in the No. 14 HMD Motorsports machine.

Salvador de Alba of Mexico was the third Andretti Global driver in the top-five with his best lap of 1:10.3916-seconds/115.480 mph in the No. 27 Grupo Indi entry. Callum Hedge of New Zealand will join de Alba in Row 3 after qualifying sixth at 1:10.2488-seconds/115.714 mph in the No. 17 Abel Motorsports car.

Hauger was the first driver in the opening group to break the 1:10 mark, dropping to 1:09.945-seconds with six minutes remaining. He then laid down his best lap with two minutes left, and Hughes couldn’t top it.

“The track was getting better and better, so in the beginning, it was a bit weird,” Hauger said. “It felt like the tires and track really didn’t come together. The track was definitely better at the end. It was a good run. I maximized what I had with that lap.”

Collet wasted little time finding speed in the second group, dropping to 1:10.1 with nearly seven minutes remaining. He produced his best lap with six minutes left but couldn’t top it as the 2.258-mile/13-turn track continued to bake under bright sunshine, which lifted track temperatures from 85 degrees in the morning to over 120 degrees during qualifying.

NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 386; 2, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 293; 3, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 275; 4, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 231; 5, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 231; 6, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 228; 7, Will Power, Team Penske, 197; 8, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 190; 9, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 184;  10, Colton Herta, Andretti Global, 184;

11, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 183; 12, David Malukas, A.J. Foyt Racing, 174; 13, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 161; 14, Rinus VeeKay, Dale Coyne Racing, 157; 15, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 150; 16, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 141; 17, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 137; 18, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 133; 19, Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 133; 20, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 128;

21, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 123; 22, Robert Shwartzman, PREMA Racing, 104; 23, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 102; 24, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 93; 25, Devlin DeFrancesco, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 89; 26, Callum Ilott, PREMA Racing, 78; 27, Jacob Abel, Dale Coyne Racing, 56; 28, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 36; 29, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing, 20; 30, Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 16;

31, Jack Harvey, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports, 12; 32, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports, 10; 33, Kyle Larson, Arrow McLaren with Henrick Motorsports, 6; 34, Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb-Agajanian, 5.

FOX SPORTS’ 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST COVERAGE SCHEDULE

Sunday, March 2 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, March 23 _The Thermal Club, Thermal, Calif.  (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, April 13 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif. (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, May 4 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, May 10 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, May 25 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, June 1 _ Streets of Detroit (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, June 15 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill. (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, June 22 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, July 6 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington (FOX, 1 p.m.)

Saturday, July 12 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 1 (FOX, 5 p.m.)

Sunday, July 13 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 2 (FOX, 1 p.m.)

Sunday, July 20 _ Streets of Toronto, Canada (FOX, noon)

Sunday, July 27 _ WeatherTech Raceway, Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif. (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 10 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 24 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis. (FOX, 2 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 31 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn. (2:30 p.m.)

NOTE _ All times Eastern. Dates and times subject to change.