Roahrig Qualifies on Pole for second consecutive year

By Koty Geyer: ‍

The first five rows for the 78th Annual Unified Group Services Little 500 Presented By ED Martin Automotive Sales has been set following CB Fabricating Pole Day at Anderson Speedway.

Tyler Roahrig won the pole for the Little 500 for the second consecutive year and third time overall.  The two-time Little 500 champion posted a four lap time of a 44.002 puts him on the inside front row for Saturday’s race.

At one point during practice, Roahrig found himself outside of the top ten in the rundown.  His team made a big swing towards the end of the session and again right before hitting the track for his qualifying run, a move that paid off with the pole. ‍

“We were off a little bit early in practice.  I don’t know if it was the change in weather that affected us a little but I thought our car felt pretty good for the race.  We clearly weren’t fast enough to contend for the pole at that point so we made some pretty decent adjustments to it and we made another adjustment right before qualifying.  It’s not what you really want to do but it worked out.” ‍

With his qualifying run on Thursday, he has now qualified on the front row of the Little 500 for eight consecutive years.  In that time, he has won the race twice, including being the last driver to date to win the race from the pole (2022).  Having started the race anywhere from first to 23rd in what will be his 11th start Saturday night, he says a good starting spot isn’t as important as later on in the race.

“It’s important, don’t get me wrong but we’ve started on the front row all these times and we’ve only won it twice.  It’s definitely easier at the start of the race but the race is always won well after halfway.  Hopefully our car races good, that’s the important thing. ‍ ‍

Jackson Macenko qualified second with a four lap time of 44.218, which gives him his first front row start Saturday night.  It’s a career-best qualifying effort for the Cincinnati native in his third Little 500 appearance, having qualified 18th and 9th in his previous two attempts. ‍

He finished fifth in last year’s race, and was running in the top-five in 2024 when an accident took him out of the race.  Even with starting on the front row, it doesn’t affect how he attacks 500 laps Saturday night. ‍

“It really is incredibly exciting because I didn’t know we had a front row car.  I thought we had a really good car but I was more focused on the race and it being 500 laps and not having to hustle it, just having a car that’s settled and that we can work through traffic in.  When we went out there and 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.”

“Two years ago we started 18th and last year we started 9th, but with the wreck that happened on lap one we basically started fifth or sixth.  I don’t know if it really changes my strategy, I’m more of a try and make it to the first stop, log laps.”‍ ‍

Three-time winner Kody Swanson returns to the front row of the Little 500 after qualifying in row three the previous two seasons.  After turning the fastest lap in practice Wednesday afternoon, a four lap time of 44.249 has him starting outside of row one for his 12th Little 500 start. ‍

 “It’s been a few years since we’ve been on the front row but we’ve had fast racecars.  It’s been good but I don’t know if I hit those four (laps) as good as I needed to.  It felt really good and it was consistent but just not fast enough to match Jackson or Tyler.  I’m glad to be back in the mix though with a good starting spot for Saturday night.” ‍

The top 15 qualifiers have locked in their starting spots for Saturday’s Little 500, while the remaining 18 spots will be decided on Friday during Bump Day.  ‍

Little 500 week continues tomorrow with Bump Day.  All times have been moved up one hour, with practice scheduled from 10:30-12:15, with Bump Day qualifying taking place from 12:30-2:30 ‍

Grandstand admission is free for fans Friday and race day tickets are reserved seating only. Click Here to purchase tickets.

The event, including practice and qualifying, will also be streamed live on Racing America. For more information on the Little 500, visit us at andersonspeedway.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and X. ‍