Indy 500: Marco Andretti tops Saturday qualifying session

Marco Andretti topped the Saturday qualifying session for the 104th running of the Indy 500 to lock up a spot in the Fast Nine Shootout.

As has been the case for much of the week, Andretti Autosport and Honda dominated day one of Crown Royal Armed Forces Qualifying for the 104th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Andretti Herta Autosport’s Marco Andretti led the pack by recording a four-lap average speed of 231.351 miles per hour around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Brickyard oval in Speedway, Indiana behind the wheel of his #98 Honda. Andretti hasn’t been outside of the top three in a single session thus far.

Andretti Autosport swept the top four positions, with Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe finishing in second, third and fourth place in their #28 Honda, #27 Honda and #29 Honda, respectively. Honda swept the top five positions, as Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon finished in fifth in his #9 Honda.

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Honda also took 11 of the top 12 positions, with Ed Carpenter Racing rookie Rinus VeeKay leading the way for Chevrolet in sixth place in his #21 Chevrolet.

VeeKay was the only Chevrolet driver who advanced to tomorrow afternoon’s Fast Nine Shootout to battle it out for the pole position, and the #21 Chevrolet has now qualified in the top nine and on one of the front three rows in each of the last seven years, the longest active streak. He is one of two rookies set to advance to the Fast Nine Shootout, as Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh’s Alex Palou finished in seventh place today in his #55 Honda.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammates Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato finished in eighth and ninth place in their #15 Honda and #30 Honda, respectively. They were the first two drivers to qualify today, and that is set to be the case tomorrow with the top nine set to be reversed.

The fastest driver among those who did not advance to the Fast Nine Shootout was Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport’s Colton Herta in 10th place in his #88 Honda. He is set to start the race in 10th on the inside of the fourth row, and everyone behind him is set to start the race where they qualified today.

Team Penske had a disastrous day, with Josef Newgarden leading the way in 13th place in his #1 Chevrolet. Will Power, who hasn’t started outside of the top nine since he started in 23rd back in 2008, qualified in 22nd in his #12 Chevrolet. Roger Penske’s team hadn’t entirely missed out of the Fast Nine Shootout since 2002.

Here are the full qualifying results of the first day of Crown Royal Armed Forces Qualifying for the 104th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

NOTE: Drivers listed in italics are locked into the top nine via the Fast Nine Shootout. Drivers not listed in italics are locked into their listed position.

Rank – Driver – Car, Team, Engine – Speed (miles per hour)
1st – Marco Andretti – #98, Andretti Herta Autosport, Honda – 231.351
2nd – Ryan Hunter-Reay – #28, Andretti Autosport, Honda – 231.33
3rd – Alexander Rossi – #27, Andretti Autosport, Honda – 231.268
4th – James Hinchcliffe – #29, Andretti Autosport, Honda – 231.195
5th – Scott Dixon – #9, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda – 231.155
6th – Rinus VeeKay – #21, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet – 231.114
7th – Alex Palou – #55, Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh, Honda – 231.034
8th – Graham Rahal – #15, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda – 230.822
9th – Takuma Sato – #30, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda – 230.792
10th – Colton Herta – #88, Andretti Harding Steinbrener Autosport, Honda – 230.775
11th – Marcus Ericsson – #8, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda – 230.566
12th – Spencer Pigot – #45, RLL Racing with Citrone/Buhl Autosport, Honda – 230.539
13th – Josef Newgarden – #1, Team Penske, Chevrolet – 230.296
14th – Felix Rosenqvist – #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda – 230.254
15th – Pato O’Ward – #5, Arrow McLaren SP, Chevrolet – 230.213
16th – Ed Carpenter – #20, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet – 230.211
17th – Zach Veach – #26, Andretti Autosport, Honda – 229.961
18th – Conor Daly – #47, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet – 229.955
19th – Santino Ferrucci – #18, DCR with Vasser-Sullivan, Honda – 229.924
20th – Jack Harvey – #60, Meyer Shank Racing, Honda – 229.861
21st – Oliver Askew – #7, Arrow McLaren SP, Chevrolet – 229.76
22nd – Will Power – #12, Team Penske, Chevrolet – 229.701
23rd – Tony Kanaan – #14, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet – 229.154
24th – Dalton Kellett – #41, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet – 228.88
25th – Simon Pagenaud – #22, Team Penske, Chevrolet – 228.836
26th – Fernando Alonso – #66, Arrow McLaren SP, Chevrolet – 228.768
27th – James Davison – #51, DCR with Rick Ware & Byrd Belardi, Honda – 228.747
28th – Helio Castroneves – #3, Team Penske, Chevrolet – 228.373
29th – Charlie Kimball – #4, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet – 227.758
30th – Max Chilton – #59, Carlin, Chevrolet – 227.303
31st – Sage Karam – #24, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Chevrolet – 227.099
32nd – J.R. Hildebrand – #67, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Chevrolet – 226.341
33rd – Ben Hanley – #81, DragonSpeed, Chevrolet – 222.917

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Tune in to NBC tomorrow afternoon at 1:15 p.m. ET to watch today’s nine fastest qualifiers battle for the pole position for the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 in the Fast Nine qualifying session.