Rinus VeeKay, Pato O’Ward set pace at fastest Indianapolis 500 qualifying since 1996

INDIANAPOLIS — Rain held off long enough on Saturday to complete the first round of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 on a soupy day that still produced eye-popping speeds not seen in 26 years at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Rinus VeeKay and Pato O’Ward, a pair of young new stars, posted blistering qualifying averages of over 233 mph in a flex of Chevrolet horsepower. NASCAR star Jimmie Johnson qualified for his first Indy 500 and his Chip Ganassi Racing team showed it might be the strongest organization at Indy right now.

Meanwhile, Andretti Autosport had a terrible day. And Team Penske got bit by the weather when it pulled Scott McLaughlin‘s qualifying time late Saturday afternoon and sent him back out to try to crack the top 12. McLaughlin was 15th on the board when his time was forfeited; the New Zealander went even slower and dropped to 26th.

“Well this place just kicked (me) in the privates – ah well,” McLaughlin posted on social media.

Penske teammate Josef Newgarden followed McLaughlin out for his own attempt to make the top 12, but his run was halted when lightning flashed. It was the second lightning stoppage of the day, and the rain followed minutes later. IndyCar called it a day about 70 minutes short of the scheduled completion.

Only spots 13 through 33 were locked in Saturday, and the top 12 return Sunday for a shootout for the pole. Fighting for the front row will be VeeKay and O’Ward, who posted the third- and fifth-fastest four-lap qualifying averages in track history, and Felix Rosenqvist as Chevrolet swept the top three spots.

Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou was fourth fastest as Ganassi advanced its entire five-car fleet into Sunday’s action. Tony Kanaan was fifth, Johnson was sixth, Marcus Ericsson was eighth and Scott Dixon was 10th for the Honda-powered team.

Ed Carpenter, who on Saturday morning posted the eighth-fastest lap in track history at 234.410 mph, was sixth fastest in qualifying as he and Will Power (11th) completed the Chevrolet…