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| - Marco Andretti edged Scott Dixon for pole position in the 104th Indianapoilis 500 with a dramatic final qualifying run Sunday, following famed grandfather Mario onto the pole 33 years later. In treacherously windy conditions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Andretti had a four-lap qualifying average of 231.068 mph around the 2 1/2-mile (4km) oval to defeat New Zealand's Dixon by 0.017 mph with Japan's Takuma Sato completing the front row for next Sunday's race. "Fantastic. I mean it was unbelievable," car owner and proud father Michael Andretti said. "The car was so loose and he didn't take his foot off the throttle. He drove the hell out of it. "He did a hell of a job." No Andretti had sat on the pole since Mario in 1987, Marco's best start on the outside of row one in 2013. But a tense run enabled him to change that. "For me, I started feeling it lap two, which meant it was going to be a long couple of laps," Andretti said. "Lap three and four was sketchy." Marco Andretti has won only twice in 236 starts over 15 IndyCar seasons, his best Indy 500 showing a near-miss runner-up effort in his 2006 debut. But starting on the inside of row one helps his chances. "Best seat in the house," he said. "Speed is always good here, and man, horsepower is so cool." Since Mario Andretti won the 1969 Indy 500, members of the family have spent a half-century trying to do it again. "Actually I thought of him because today I walked out of the motorhome, it was pretty windy," Marco Andretti said of his 80-year-old granddad. "He has a famous quote -- within us, he doesn't say it to many people -- he says, 'The wind will scare you but it will never crash you.' "Today, he was right. It was pretty awesome." Saturday's nine fastest qualifiers for the field of 33 advanced to Sunday's pole battle to decide the starting order in the front three rows for the race, postponed from May 24 and to be staged without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 winner seeking his 50th career IndyCar victory and fourth of the year, called the conditions "tricky," "nerve-wracking" and "upsetting." He missed out on his fourth Indy 500 pole by less than two-hundredths of a second over 16 miles but still hugged Andretti to congratulate his rival. "That's crazy. A gust of wind can change that in a moment," Dixon said. "But I'm really happy for Marco. They have had a solid month and he deserves this. "I know what this place means to his family and him especially. And it's good to see him, even under this pressure, make it work. Hopefully we can reverse that position in a week's time." Sato was the first to post a time Sunday and his consistent 230.725 mph effort put him on the front row for the first time, his best prior start coming on the inside of row two in 2017, when he won the race. "It feels fantastic," Sato said. "Front row at Indy, there's nothing like it." Dutch rookie Rinus VeeKay, American Ryan Hunter-Reay and Canada's James Hinchcliffe will start in row two with Spanish rookie Alex Palou and Americans Graham Rahal and Alexander Rossi in row three. "This is not a fun day to be a driver," Rahal said. "Four laps around here will be the toughest four laps you ever do." js/bb
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