Scott McLaughlin won the pole position for the second consecutive year at World Wide Technology Raceway Gateway, but the Team Penske star will get to lead the starting lineup to the green flag this season as other championship contenders face grid penalties.
McLaughlin turned a 179.972 mph lap in the No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet to earn his fourth pole position this season and ninth of his career.
“We rolled out of the truck great today,” McLaughlin said. “I’m very proud of the team. But end of the day tomorrow is payday, and we’ll make sure that we were on top of things.
STARTING LINEUP: Click here for how the 27 cars will start Saturday
“We’re coming, and I want to make sure I get myself back in this championship. Starting position is huge, and ultimately, getting a pole without having an engine penalty as well as a big deal. That’s what happened last year, and we found out the hard way.”
Because of a penalty for an engine change, McLaughlin started 10th in last year’s race despite qualifying first, and he finished fifth.
For Saturday’s race (6 p.m. ET, USA and Peacock), three drivers were docked nine positions in qualifying: Felix Rosenqvist (who will start 11th after qualifying second), points leader Alex Palou (16th after qualifying seventh) and Scott Dixon (19th after qualifying 10th).
Palou leads the championship standings by 49 points over Will Power, who will start fourth.
Colton Herta will start 25th after backing his No. 26 Dallara-Honda into the wall on his second qualifying lap.
“It just broke loose,” Herta said. “Unfortunate. I think that first lap was decent. I don’t think it was going to get us the pole, but it could have got us in the top five. Second lap, I don’t know if we wore the tires too much or what happened. Just let go pretty early.”
Here’s the IndyCar starting lineup for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 World Wide Technology Raceway Gateway, a 1.25-mile oval in Madison, Illinois (with qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine, time and speed):
ROW 1
1. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevy, 179.972 mph
2. (66) David Malukas, Honda, 179.503
ROW 2
3. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevy, 179.424
4. (12) Will Power, Chevy, 179.262
ROW 3
5. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 178.417
6. (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevy, 178.321
ROW 4
7. (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 178.114
8. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevy, 177.160
ROW 5
9. (78) Conor Daly, Chevy, 177.126
10. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 176.696
ROW 6
11. (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 179.796 (nine-position grid penalty)
12. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevy, 176.661
ROW 7
13. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevy, 175.865
14. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 175.782
ROW 8
15. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 175.656
16. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 178.363 (nine-position grid penalty)
ROW 9
17. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevy, 175.514
18. (8) Linus Lundqvist (R), Honda, 175.510
ROW 10
19. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 177.905 (nine-position grid penalty)
20. (6) Nolan Siegel (R), Chevy, 174.854
ROW 11
21. (20) Ed Carpenter, Chevy, 174.752
22. (4) Kyffin Simpson (R), Honda, 173.900
ROW 12
23. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 173.722
24. (41) Sting Ray Robb, Chevy, 172.782
ROW 13
25. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 136.880
26. (18) Jack Harvey, Honda, No Time
ROW 14
27. (51) Katherine Legge, Honda, No Time