A look at the “Fast Nine” drivers who qualified on the first three rows, led by pole winner Scott Dixon,

Scott Dixon couldn’t believe it. The steering wheel dashboard must be broken, he thought. Because 232 mph can’t be right.

But, to the thrill of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway crowd, it was. Dixon posted a four-lap qualifying speed of 232.164 mph — the best since Arie Luyendyk’s 236.986 mph in 1996 — to claim the pole for the Indianapolis 500.

When his first lap of 232.595 mph — the fastest lap of the day Sunday — flashed on the big screen, the crowd roared with approval. And Dixon was stunned.

“I thought maybe the dash had broken on the steering wheel and brought up a fake number,” he said. “We seriously don’t think we expected to see the speed that we did.”

Dixon, now a three-time Indy 500 pole winner (2008, 2015), credited his engineer and was roundly praised by fellow drivers for the bold setup he took out onto the track.

“Scott Dixon is the (expletive) man,” tweeted Graham Rahal, who qualified 14th. “I guarantee you that car was extremely on edge. ... Legendary run.”

Following Dixon was Ed Carpenter, driver of the No. 20 Chevrolet. Since 1997, Carpenter’s speed of 231.664 mph ranks third behind Helio Castroneves in 2003 (231.725 mph) and Dixon. Carpenter, who was one of five drivers to average a speed of better than 231 mph, credited nearly ideal wind conditions for Sunday’s quick times.

But the local driver and owner said the biggest thrill for him was hearing the crowd roar as drivers continued to one-up each other.

“It’s cool to see the speeds going back up, to hear the crowd roar when Scott did those laps, when everyone put up big times,” Carpenter said. “It’s cool. Part of the mystique of this place is pushing the limits of the cars and us as drivers. So I enjoy that part of it. It’s thrilling when it goes well and when it goes poorly like we saw yesterday, but that’s part of what makes IndyCar special.”

Not to be lost in the shuffle of Dixon’s triumph was the success enjoyed by the drivers of Andretti Autosport. Michael Andretti’s crew put five cars in the top 10 and three in the front five.

Alexander Rossi led the way for the Honda-powered cars. The reigning 500 champion, who will start on the front line along with Dixon and Carpenter, was a man on a mission over the weekend. Rossi said Saturday that there were plenty of people who thought his 500 victory relied more on strategy than on the strength of his car.

“There were a lot of stories and comments going around regard- ing how we won the race purely on strategy, when I know we had a fast car,” Rossi said. “We had a fast car this time around, and we were going to prove it.”

Leading the second row of cars will be Rossi’s teammate Takuma Sato, and next to him Formula One star Fernando Alonso.

For Alonso, his success and that of his teammates was an affirmation of his choice to not only try his hand at the 500 but also to do it with Andretti Autosport.

“I am lucky that it’s probably the best team for a rookie to come in with a lot of cars on the team and a lot of experience,” Alonso said.

For Penske, it was the first time since 2011 the team hasn’t had more than one driver in the first three rows.