Tyler Roahrig Claims Second Straight Little 500 Pole

Tyler Roahrig qualified on the pole for Saturday's 78th Annual Unified Group Services Little 500 presented ED Martin Automotive Group during the first round of qualifying on Thursday at Anderson Speedway.

WATCH ON RACINGAMERICA.TV

Roahrig clocked in at 44.002 seconds during the four-lap qualifying effort, averaging 81.414 miles per hour during the mile-long attempt. It is his third career pole in the event, including his second consecutive pole award.

Roahrig was third-fastest in Friday's practice session, but believed he needed a little more speed to contend for the pole. After some adjustments prior to qualifying, his No. 56 rocketed to the top of the board.

"We were off a little early in practice," said Roahrig about his Thursday. "I don't know if the change of weather affected us a little bit. Our car felt pretty good for the race, but we clearly weren't fast enough to contend for the pole at that point.

"We made some pretty decent adjustments to it, and we made another adjustment before we went out to qualify, which isn't always what you want to do, but I was pretty confident in it and it worked out."

Roahrig is no stranger to qualifying well for the event. His pole position for Saturday's race marks the eighth straight year the Plymouth, Indiana native has earned a front-row starting position for the Little 500, a trend dating back to 2019.

"It's important, don't get me wrong. We've started on the front row all these times and only won it twice. It's definitely easier at the start of the race, but everyone knows the race is won well after halfway.

Jackson Macenko qualified second, earning him the middle position on the front row. He will be flanked by a pair of former Little 500 winners. Roahrig claimed the event in 2021 and 2022, while Kody Swanson won in 2016, 2018 and 2019.

"It really is incredibly exciting," said Macenko. "I really didn't know if we had a front-row car. I knew we were a really good car. I'm more focused on the race, being 500 laps, and not having to hustle it, just having a car that's really settled and I can work through traffic in. When I looked up and it said P2, I was really pleased.

"It's an honor to be on the front row with Kody and Tyler. It's such a pleasure to be up there with those guys that I've been chasing since I started on the 500 Tour. Hopefully, I get to chase Tyler down Saturday."

Swanson is a three-time Little 500 pole-sitter but qualified eighth and seventh, respectively, in the last two runnings of the event. He was pleased to be back on the front row for the 2026 edition of the Little 500.

"It's been a few years since I've been on the front row," said Swanson. "I'm glad to have a fast race car. If I hit it right, it's been really good, but I don't know that I hit any of those four [laps] as good as I needed to.

"I felt like they were all pretty good, really consistent, but just not fast enough to match Jackson or Tyler. He put up a great run, like he always does, right? He's on the front row a lot."

The 15 fastest qualifers locked into the first five rows of the Little 500 field during Thursday's qualifying session. C.J. Leary was the last of those drivers to lock in, with a time of 44.944 seconds.

Positions 16 through 33 in the Little 500 field will be determined during Bump Day qualifying on Friday, starting at 12:30 p.m. ET. Fans can watch Friday's Bump Day qualifying and Saturday's 78th Annual Unified Group Services Little 500 presented ED Martin Automotive Group live on RacingAmerica.TV.

-Photo credit: Zach Evans

Little 500 Round One Qualifying Results