INDIANAPOLIS -- For the fourth time in his career, six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon will lead the starting lineup of the Indy 500 to the green flag in his career.
The 33 drivers in the 105th Indy 500 combined to post a qualifying field average at 230.294 mph, the fastest in the storied race’s history (breaking the 229.382 mph record set in 2014).
Dixon’s lone Indy 500 victory came in his first start from the pole position in 2008. He finished fourth when starting first in 2015 and placed 32nd from the pole in ’17 after escaping injury in a terrifying wreck.
Last year, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver started and finished second to Takuma Sato after leading a race-high 111 of 200 laps. It’s one of three runner-up finishes in the Indy 500 for Dixon, who says it’s “the worst place to finish” but adds that Indianapolis Motor Speedway owes him nothing.
ROW BY ROW: Click here to view the starting lineup
INDY 500 INFO: Start times, schedules, TV, stats, historical details about the race
“As we all know, it doesn’t really matter where you start, it’s where you finish,” Dixon said. “That’s going to be the focus now. We’re starting in a great position.
“Winning a pole at the Indianapolis 500 is one of the toughest things to do. From a team standpoint, just how much work and effort goes into building these cars specifically for that pole run, it’s a lot of money and a lot of effort that it takes.”
The No. 9 Dallara-Honda driver is one of nine former Indy 500 winners in the field, joining three-time winner Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009), two-time winners Juan Pablo Montoya (2000, 2015) and Sato (2017, 2020) Tony Kanaan (2013), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2014), Alexander Rossi (2016), Will Power (2018) and Simon Pagenaud (2019).
With the changing of the guard being an overarching narrative of the 2021 IndyCar season (which has started with three first-time winners and four 24 and younger), Dixon will line up beside two rising stars.
Colton Herta, 21, will be starting a career-best second in his third Indy 500 start, and Rinus VeeKay, 20, will be the youngest driver in history to start on the front row of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Here is the Indy 500 starting lineup by row for the May 30 race (11 a.m. ET NBC):
ROW 1
1. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 231.685 mph
2. (26) Colton Herta, Dallara-Honda, 231.655
3. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Dallara-Chevy, 231.511
ROW 2
4. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 231.504
5. (48) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 231.032)
6. (10) Alex Palou, Dallara-Honda, 230.616
ROW 3
7. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 230.499
8. (06) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 230.355
9. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Dallara-Honda, 230.318
ROW 4
10. (27) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 231.046
11. (18) Ed Jones, Honda, 231.044
12. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 230.864
ROW 5
13. (51) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 230.846
14. (7) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 230.744
15. (30) Takuma Sato, Honda, 230.708
ROW 6
16. (29) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 230.563
17. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 230.557
18. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 230.521
ROW 7
19. (47) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 230.427
20. (60) Jack Harvey, Honda, 230.191
21. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 230.071
ROW 8
22. (1) JR Hildebrand, Chevrolet, 229.980
23. (45) Santino Ferrucci, Honda, 229.949
24. (86) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 229.891
ROW 9
25. (98) Marco Andretti, Honda, 229.872
26. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 229.778
27. (14) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 229.744
ROW 10
28. (25) Stefan Wilson, Honda, 229.714
29. (59) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 229.417
30. (4) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 228.323
ROW 11
31. (24) Sage Karam, Chevrolet, 229.156
32. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 228.876
33. (16) Simona De Silvestro, Chevrolet, 228.353