Scott Dixon blazed to pole for this year’s Indianapolis 500, setting a four-lap average speed on Sunday that was well ahead of his nearest rival.
To get to 234.046 MPH, which is a new Indy 500 qualifying record, Dixon had to trim even more downforce out of his car than he ran with during his first run of the day.
The veteran revealed afterwards that he was already pushing the limits so hard he nearly crashed in the first session, and his team decided to remove more downforce in his second run anyway in order to secure the pole.
“From the first run, I was glad to get out of that car because I nearly crashed in turn two on the last lap. I had to get out of it and went for the brake as well,” said Dixon.
“Luckily, we were covered and able to still have a great speed and top actually of the first 12. I knew once we had a clean run, we were going to have tremendous speed.
“I think all of us knew that from the first run to the second run it was going to get easier, so you could be more aggressive.
“The first run we were already super aggressive, so we didn’t want to overstep it and then we kind of just waited to see what the #10 car did and then we trimmed out [downforce] a little bit more than he did. That was it.
“This year I think has been tricky just because of the sealant and how black it is, so the sunlight has really affected kind of qualifying more than what we’ve had in the past.”
The combination of knowledge from his team and bravery behind the wheel proved to be the formula needed for Dixon to earn his fifth Indy 500 pole.
Dixon started from pole in 2021 as well, but had a troublesome race that saw him finish down in 17th position.
