NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Scott McLaughlin dominated Music City Grand Prix qualifying, earning the pole position for the second consecutive year.
The Team Penske star turned a 1 minute, 14.6099-second lap in his No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet around the 11-turn, 2.1-mile course through the streets of Nashville, beating Pato O’Ward by more than 0.3 seconds.
It’s the fourth career pole position and the first this season for McLaughlin, who won after qualifying first last year at St. Petersburg and Portland. His other pole last year came at Nashville, where he finished second after starting first and leading 22 of 80 laps.
QUALIFYING RESULTS: Click here for Honda Indy Toronto qualifying speeds | Round 1, Group 1 | Round 1, Group 2 | Round 2 l Round 3
INDYCAR IN NASHVILLE: Schedule, details for watching on NBC, Peacock
A slow pit stop and untimely yellow neutralized his chances as McLaughlin finished second by 0.107 seconds to Scott Dixon in IndyCar’s closest street race finish — a potential victory that he still feels got away.
“Our car was phenomenal,” he said. “I feel like it’s just as good this year. It’s just a matter of I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. You can’t even plan really. You just got to play it on the run and try and do the best job, execute every lap that I can.”
.@smclaughlin93 puts the "Printer Wagon" on pole in Nashville for the second year in a row. #INDYCAR // #MusicCityGP pic.twitter.com/VilBzKejZ3
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 5, 2023
Colton Herta qualified third ahead of points leader Alex Palou, Romain Grosjean and David Malukas after a final qualifying round that had a few big moments despite McLaughlin’s speed.
Grosjean and Palou nearly collided twice early in the final round. After the session, Herta walked to Grosjean’s timing stand and expressed his displeasure that he had been held up by his Andretti Autosport teammate.
“I wasn’t happy that there’s six cars on track, and they go out a second in front of me,” Herta told NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch. “And they back up into me. It affects the car dramatically aero-wise. I just wanted to know why and what happened. It sounds like it was a miscommunication, and if I finish that lap, who knows?
PRIMARY OR ALTERNATE: Tire designations for the start
“It wasn’t stellar to start, but I wish we could have fought a little bit harder. P3 is not bad. I’m not upset at that. I think it’s unnecessary.”
Will Power will start seventh, followed by Kyle Kirkwood, Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi in 10th.
Linus Lundqvist will start 11th after advancing to the second round of qualifying in his IndyCar debut. The 2022 Indy Lights champion is driving the No. 60 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing in place of Simon Pagenaud (who still is recovering from his Mid-Ohio crash).
Scott Dixon will start 12th after crashing his No. 9 Honda in the 11th and final corner near the end of the second round.
“I feel bad for the crew there, clipping the inside wall and it just kind of put us straight into the outside,” Dixon told Welch. “Feel bad for the other drivers, too, that were on a lap. It’s a tough circuit. The front just turned a lot better than I thought it was going to, and unfortunately, I clipped that inside wall.”
Dixon rebounded to win in Nashville last year after starting 14th and making six pit stops after being involved in an early incident. Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson won the inaugural Music City Grand Prix despite making made five pit stops after starting 20th and getting involved in an airborne collision on Lap 5.
“Hopefully just trying to stay out of the mess,” Dixon said of his outlook for Sunday. “The past two champions here have been involved in a lot of mess. That seems to be the theme, but we’ll try to stay out of it, keep the car in one piece and hopefully we’re in a spot to race at the end.”
In the first two editions of the Music City Grand Prix, 69 of 160 laps have been run under the caution flag. The race has been dubbed “Crashville” in the IndyCar paddock, making it a crapshoot even for a fast car.
Herta led a race-high 39 laps as the inaugural pole-sitter in 2021 but crashed while trying to chase down the leader after getting caught out by ill-timed yellows just like McLaughlin last year.
“You’re just waiting for the yellow light to flash up on your dash,” McLaughlin said. “You can’t control anything like that. It’s a matter of me controlling what I can control.”
Said O’Ward: “Everything can happen here, as we’ve seen in ’21. Will it be as chaotic tomorrow? I don’t know. That’s what we thought in ’22. It was worse, so maybe tomorrow it’s the same.”
So how does the front row formulate a strategy?
“I just think you don’t,” McLaughlin said. “You have a plan, but you don’t.”
O’Ward joked that his team will make 10 plans, and “if one fails, we’'re going to Plan F.”
“I was on numbers last year, plan Z1,” McLaughlin cracked.
Here’s the IndyCar starting lineup for Sunday’s Music City Grand Prix on an 11-turn, 2.1-mile street circuit in Nashville, Tennessee (qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine, time and speed):
ROW 1
1. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 1 minute, 14.6099 seconds (101.327 mph)
2. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 1:14.9395 (100.881)
ROW 2
3. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 1:15.2416 (100.476)
4. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 1:15.2462 (100.470)
ROW 3
5. (18) David Malukas, Honda, 1:15.8703 (99.644)
6. (28) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 1:15.9921 (99.484)
ROW 4
7. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 1:15.1384 (100.614)
8. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 1:15.1641 (100.580)
ROW 5
9. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 1:15.4862 (100.151)
10. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 1:15.5711 (100.038)
ROW 6
11. (60) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 1:16.0715 (99.380)
12. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 1:16.7692 (98.477)
ROW 7
13. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 1:16.0985 (99.345)
14. (6) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 1:15.4638 (100.180)
ROW 8
15. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 1:16.1825 (99.235)
16. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Chevrolet, 1:15.5631 (100.049)
ROW 9
17. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 1:16.2203 (99.186)
18. (77) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 1:16.0170 (99.451)
ROW 10
19. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 1:16.3356 (99.036)
20. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 1:16.0420 (99.419)
ROW 11
21. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 1:16.6416 (98.641)
22. (30) Jack Harvey, Honda, 1:16.1193 (99.318)
ROW 12
23. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 1:16.6900 (98.579)
24. (51) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 1:16.3907 (98.965)
ROW 13
25. (55) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, No Time (No Speed)
26. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 1:16.4369 (98.905)
ROW 14
27. (20) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 1:17.2417 (97.875)