Marco Andretti claims pole position at Indy 500 Sunday qualifying

UPDATE Aug 16, 2:14 p.m.: Marco Andretti has claimed the pole position for the 2020 Indianapolis 500 following a strong run at the Fast 9 qualifying on Sunday. Below are the full results from the Fast 9.

All the way back in March, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced the Indy 500 would be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Memorial Day extravaganza was moved to August 23rd, and all of a sudden that day is fast approaching!

The race is a week from Sunday, and this weekend the Brickyard is hosting qualifying for the event. The first round of qualifying took place on Saturday afternoon, and the second round will take place on Sunday, a week before the race runs. Here is a rundown of how qualifying works, courtesy of the Speedway website:

All entered cars are guaranteed one four-lap qualifying attempt, and once those have been completed the team can elect to make another qualifying run – but there’s a twist. The team must choose between one of two different ‘lanes’ – either the normal lane or the fast lane.

Teams that put cars in the normal lane may attempt to improve their qualifying time without withdrawing their established time. Choosing the fast lane means getting priority ahead of cars in the normal lane. The fast lane is primarily for cars without a qualifying time. However, a car in this lane with an established time must withdraw the time before making the next four-lap run – and obviously that comes with some risk. Sometimes the reward pays off, sometimes it doesn’t.

Each driver in Sunday’s Fast Nine Shootout will receive one (1) set of Firestone tires to be utilized during the pre-Qualification practice, and one (1) additional set for their Qualification attempt. Both sets of tires must be returned to Firestone at the conclusion of each session.

For all qualifying attempts, cars must add a minimum of three (3) gallons of fuel from the qualifications fuel tank located in pit lane.

The first round of qualifying is a wrap, and below is how the grid looks like for the time being. We’ll update it on Sunday throughout qualifying. Through one day of qualifying, Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Alexander Rossi are sitting on the front row for the Indy 500.