Alex Palou put himself in prime position to defend his Indianapolis 500 title by winning the pole in qualifying Sunday for the May 24 race.

The Spaniard earned his second career pole with a four-lap average speed of 232.248 mph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The four-time and reigning IndyCar Series champion, Palou also won the pole for the race in 2023 and finished fourth. Helio Castroneves, a four-time Indy 500 winner, was the last defending champion to be on the pole for the following year’s race in 2010.

“I have no words,” said Palou, 29, of being on the pole for the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500. “That was incredible. It just feels incredible. Great start to the month of May.

“Did not expect it. You could see the celebration was really high (after winning the pole) because this morning when we woke up, we did not expect this speed.”

Palou’s No. 10 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing is on the front row with Chevrolets driven by Alexander Rossi of Ed Carpenter Racing and David Malukas of Team Penske. Rossi, the 2016 champion, averaged a career-best 231.990 mph, while Malukas was third in 231.877.

Palou’s wife, Esther, drew the 31st of 33 driver positions for him in the qualifying order in a blind draw on Friday night. Then qualifying was washed out by rain on Saturday, making Sunday the entire process for one round of qualifying runs and knockout rounds from 33 to 12 to six to determine the starting grid.

Palou was 11th in the first round with a four-lap average of 231.155, then was second-fastest in the next round (231.665) behind Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing. Palou’s crew was able to make adjustments for warmer temperatures on a sunny Sunday at the hottest time of the day.

“I have to say being on the 31st — thanks to my wife, by the way, for drawing that number — I think being there allowed us to work on those conditions,” Palou said. “It’s not easy to do everything the way this team is executing.”

Rosenqvist’s Honda was fourth-fastest (231.375) to make Row 2 with the Chevrolets of Santino Ferrucci (230.846) of A.J. Foyt Racing and Pato O’Ward (230.442) of Arrow McLaren.

Katherine Legge qualified 27th in the No. 11 Chevrolet to start on Row 9. Legge plans to race in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600, which would make her the first female driver to complete the “Double” if successful on May 24.

The Double calls for a driver to compete in two premiere races, covering 1,100 miles with barely a moment to spare between the Indy and NASCAR Cup Series races. Five drivers previously have attempted the double since John Andretti hatched the idea and completed it in 1994 for A.J. Foyt Racing.

Legge, 45, is competing in the Indy 500 for A.J. Foyt Racing and plans to fly directly to the No. 78 car for Live Fast Motorsports in the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, N.C., which starts a few hours later. She has entered and qualified for four previous Indy 500 starts and is the only woman in the field in 2026.

2026 Indianapolis 500 starting lineup

With starting position, car number, engine, team and qualifying speed (4-lap average) on Sunday:

Row 1

1. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing, 232.248

2. (20) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, Ed Carpenter Racing, 231.990

3. (12) David Malukas, Chevrolet, Team Penske, 231.877

Row 2

4. (60), Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, Meyer Shank Racing, 231.375

5. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, A.J. Foyt Racing, 230.846

6. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, Arrow McLaren, 230.442

Row 3

7. (8) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing, 230.883

8. (23) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 230.712

9. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, Team Penske, 230.577

Row 4

10. (4) Caio Collet, Chevrolet, A.J. Foyt Racing, 230.539

11. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing, 230.347

12. (76) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, Juncos Hollinger, 229.585

Row 5

13. (75) Takuma Sato, Honda, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, 230.995

14. (33) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, Ed Carpenter Racing, 230.829

15. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, Meyer Shank Racing, 230.811

Row 6

16. (21) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, Ed Carpenter Racing, 230.705

17. (66) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, Meyer Shank Racing, 230.701

18. (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, Andretti Global, 230.667

Row 7

19. (7) Christian Lundgaard, Chevrolet, Arrow McLaren, 230.661

20. (26) Will Power, Honda, Andretti Global, 230.279

21. (6) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, Arrow McLaren, 230.213

Row 8

22. (45) Louis Foster, Honda, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, 230.212

23. (31) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, Arrow McLaren, 230.202

24. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, Team Penske, 230.165

Row 9

25. (18) Romain Grosjean, Honda, Dale Coyne Racing, 229.791

26. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, Andretti Global, 229.067

27. (11) Katherine Legge, Chevrolet, A.J. Foyt Racing, 229.456

Row 10

28. (47) Mick Schumacher, Honda, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, 229.450

29. (24) Jack Harvey, Chevrolet, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 229.207

30. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, 229.017

Row 11

31. (19) Dennis Hauger, Honda, Dale Coyne Racing, 228.982

32. (51) Jacob Abel, Chevrolet, Abel Motorsports, 226.169

33. (77) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, Juncos Hollinger, 226.572

–Field Level Media

Lionel Messi scored his 12th goal of the season and added his sixth assist as Inter Miami defeated the Portland Timbers 2-0 on Sunday evening to finally secure their first win in their new stadium.

German Berterame added his fifth goal for Miami, which had previously gone 0-3-1 at Nu Stadium, the permanent facility for the Herons that opened its doors in early April.

Dayne St. Clair made four saves to keep him and his club’s third clean sheet of the campaign and first since a 2-0 win at Real Salt Lake on April 22.

Portland lost 2-0 on the road for a fourth time this season, including three of its last five away fixtures. The Timbers were outshot 22-16 overall and 9-4 in efforts on target.

Messi sits tied with Dallas’ Petar Musa and one behind Chicago’s Hugo Cuypers for the MLS scoring lead. The 38-year-old Argentine has now contributed five goals and all six of his assists in his last four games as he prepares to play one last World Cup this summer.

He got started early Sunday, forcing James Pantemis into a save from close range in the fourth minute, and he had his goal 27 minutes later.

Messi began the attack from beyond the penalty arc, playing a pass to Luis Suarez on his left and then making a run into the center of the box.

Suarez fed Telasco Segovia, who played a clever backheel into Messi’s path for a simple finish into the right half of the goal as Pantemis guessed with his lunge in the opposite direction.

Messi’s assist 11 minutes later was of the vintage variety that recalled his best days as an FC Barcelona star and eight-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Rodrigo de Paul’s early cross from the right found Messi, who used his chest to control it, laid it off to Suarez on his left and then quickly reached a return pass.

From there, he weaved into the penalty area on the dribble, slaloming between four defenders before laying it off to Berterame on his left for a first-time finish from about 10 yards out.

–Field Level Media

Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 26 points, Jarrett Allen enjoyed his second consecutive dominant series finale and the Cleveland Cavaliers earned a spot in the Eastern Conference finals with a 125-94 shellacking of the host Detroit Pistons in Game 7 of their semifinal series on Sunday night.

Allen outscored rival big man Jalen Duren 23-7, Sam Merrill matched him with 23 points off the bench and Evan Mobley completed his first double-double of the series with 21 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. The fourth-seeded Cavaliers will face the New York Knicks in a best-of-seven series that tips off Tuesday night at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Overpowering the top-seeded Pistons in every possible way, the Cavaliers built as much as a 20-point lead in the first half, extended the margin to as many as 26 in the third period and coasted into their first trip to the Eastern finals since beating the Boston Celtics in seven games in 2018.

Failing to get to the Eastern finals for the 18th consecutive year, the Pistons watched All-Star guard Cade Cunningham miss all seven of his 3-point shots on a 13-point night and Tobias Harris fail to connect on any of his six shots from the field en route to five points.

The Cavaliers outshot the Pistons 50.6% (43 of 85) to 35.3% (30 of 85) overall and outscored them 28-22 at the free-throw line. They also got the better of the rebounds (50-41) and forced 15 Detroit turnovers while committing 13.

Cleveland’s big halftime lead was a gradual build. The Cavaliers led just 22-19 inside the 1:49 mark of the first quarter before scoring nine points in the final 94 seconds of the period to go up 31-22. Mitchell had a pair of 3-pointers in the run, including a 38-foot buzzer-beater.

The margin reached double digits at the 10:04 mark of the second quarter, 15 after a Merrill 3-pointer with 7:30 left in the half and then hit 20 on three occasions, the last time at 64-44 on a driving hoop by Mobley with 31 seconds left before the intermission.

Allen, who had gone for 22 points and 19 rebounds when Cleveland needed a Game 7 to eliminate the Toronto Raptors in Round 1, had 15 of his 23 points in the first half.

Mobley added six assists, two steals and two blocks for the game to his best overall performance of the series, which saw the home team win each of the first four games, then not again. Mitchell collected a game-high eight assists.

Daniss Jenkins was Detroit’s leading scorer with 17 points to go with five assists, while Duncan Robinson had 13 points and Caris LeVert 11. Duren found time for a team-high nine rebounds.

–Field Level Media