Welcome back to happier times, Felix Rosenquist.
The Arrow McLaren SP driver took off to pole at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday in his No. 7 Chevy, claiming the highest average speed among the 27 drivers who hit 221,110 mph. St. Petersburg’s polesitter and race winner Scott McLaughlin came close to dethroning the Swede in the No. 3 Chevy, but fell short of an average speed of 221.096 mph to give Bowtie a front-row lockout.
“I definitely feel like I have some unfinished business,” Rosenquist said of Texas, where he did well in last year’s doubleheader but finished 13th and 16th. “It was a good run. It was kind of exciting. So far, so good.”
Takuma Sato scored the biggest qualifying surprise by placing third for Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing in the #51 Honda (221.094 mph) – good enough for the front row until McLaughlin came last and knocked out the two-time Indy 500 winner went down to one place.
Like Sato, the veterans dominated the rest of the top six, followed by Penske’s Willpower (221.016 mph), Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon (221.011 mph) and Meyer Shank Racing’s Helio Castroneves (220.768 mph) .
The next outstanding performance after Sato came from the smallest team in the series, with rookie Callum Ilott qualifying 20th on the #77 Honda ahead of oval expert Ed Carpenter (21st), vaunted rookie Kyle Kirkwood (23rd) and all Jay Foyt. The racing team as well as the entire Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team.
NEXT: Tire cleaning session, 4-4:30 pm, final practice 4:45-5:45 pm ET.
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