Scott McLaughlin won the NTT P1 award in Sunday morning’s qualifying session at World Wide Technology Raceway, but Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden will start from the top spot for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline this afternoon.
McLaughlin claimed his first career oval pole and fifth NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole overall with a two-lap average of 182.951 mph in the No. 3 Odyssey Batteries Team Penske Chevrolet on the 1.25 mile oval. But he will start tenth after his team received a nine-spot penalty for an unauthorized engine change after the Gallagher Grand Prix on August 12 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway street circuit.
SEE: Qualification Results | starting grid
“I’m so competitive, and so are we all,” McLaughlin said. “And we just always want to beat our teammates. I’m excited. First oval bar. We received a stalling penalty, but we will get through it and have a lot of fun doing it.”
That puts Newgarden in the lead of the 260-lap race, which begins at 3:30 p.m. ET today (live, NBC, Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network). Newgarden was the second fastest car in qualifying with an average of 182.390 in the #2 Chevrolet of PPG Team Penske. Newgarden is attempting to win his sixth consecutive oval race in the series and become the first driver ever to win all oval races in a season that features at least two circles or more.
Two-time series champion Newgarden has won the last five oval races of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, a series that began with this event last August. He triumphed at Texas Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge that season, and won the one-two at Iowa Speedway. Only Sebastien Bourdais has won every oval race in an INDYCAR SERIES season, but that came in 2006 when he saw the checkered flag at Milwaukee, the only circuit on that year’s Champ Car schedule.
“Scott just did a better job,” Newgarden said. “I had a phenomenal car. I’m really proud of the team. This car was exactly where it needed to be.”
Colton Herta will be on the front row alongside Newgarden after qualifying third in the #26 Andretti Autosport Gainbridge Honda with Curb-Agajanian with a 181.946. Pato O’Ward will start third after his qualifying run of 181.722 seconds in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
Championship leader Alex Palou qualified fifth with 181.599s in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing’s The American Legion Honda but is relegated to 14th due to a nine-place grid penalty for an unauthorized engine swap after Saturday’s practice session. fall back starting position. Palou leads by 101 points over second-place Scott Dixon and can secure his second series championship in the last three years if he leads by 109 points or more after this race.
Grid penalties for McLaughlin and Palou put sixth-fastest qualifier, Felix Rosenqvist, in fourth on the grid after his two-lap average of 181.557 in the #6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
McLaughlin and Palou were among the six drivers who will start nine places worse than in qualifying due to grid penalties for illegal engine changes. The others: Dixon (qualified seventh, grid 16), Takuma Sato (qualified eighth, grid 17), Kyle Kirkwood (qualified 13th, grid 22) and Agustin Canapino (qualified 21st, grid 28).