Amid one of the more surprising lineups for a Firestone Fast Six qualifying session this season, there was little shock over who won the NTT P1 Award on Saturday for The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2026 Passport.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship leader Alex Palou claimed his series-leading 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. Palou also leads the series this season with six victories and brings a 93-point advantage over second-place Kyle Kirkwood into the race at 1 p.m. ET Sunday (FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
SEE: Qualifying Results
“Ever since I started with CGR, we’ve had great cars,” Palou said. “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. Super happy. Tomorrow is going to be a great day, for sure.”
Christian Lundgaard will join Palou in the front row after qualifying second at 1:05.2126 in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, tying his season best set in March at The Thermal Club.
Palou’s teammate Kyffin Simpson also was a star of the show, qualifying a career-best third at 1:05.7555 during his first Firestone Fast Six appearance in the No. 8 Journie Rewards Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Simpson managed to produce that stellar performance despite using a used set of Firestone Firehawk alternate tires, shrewdly saving an extra set of new alternate tires for the 90-lap race Sunday.
Nolan Siegel, in only his second career appearance in the Firestone Fast Six, also qualified a career-best fourth at 1:05.9262 in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet as CGR and Arrow McLaren locked out the first two rows on the starting grid.
Colton Herta qualified fifth at 1:06.1218 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian, while Road America pole winner Louis Foster earned his third trip into the Firestone Fast Six during his rookie season and qualified sixth at 1:06.2398 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 Firestone Fast Six, Palou’s desire to ensure good track position on the 13-turn, 2.258 roller coaster 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, 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 tomorrow. 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.
Kirkwood, quickest in Friday practice, 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.
That was disappointing for Kirkwood, the only race winner besides Palou this season. But starting seventh was nowhere near the same trouble suffered by Team Penske, which continues to endure a winless season despite being the most successful team in INDYCAR SERIES history.
Josef Newgarden was the team’s top qualifier, 18th in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. Scott McLaughlin was next, 21st in the No. 3 Odyssey Batteries Team Penske Chevrolet, followed by Will Power in 22nd in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
A 25-minute warmup session precedes the race at 9:30 a.m. ET Sunday (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).