IndyCar
Scott McLaughlin wins first career pole position for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin won his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole position for Sunday’s season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
McLaughlin’s fast lap of 59.4821-seconds, as time was running out in the fast six shootout, was 0.1237-seconds faster than teammate Will Power.
“I love qualifying, you’ve got to put it all on the line,” said McLaughlin. “The Dex Imaging Chevy was just awesome, super proud of everyone. I felt like we showed some speed last year and I was just getting better and better as the car went on and I think rolling out with a car that suited me from the get-go is important.”
Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta turned the third fastest lap at 59.7104-seconds followed by Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay’s 59.8102 in fourth.
Andretti’s Romain Grosjean recovered from an incident in the morning practice to qualify fifth fastest at 59.8116 and Meyer Shank Racing’s Simon Pagenaud will start sixth.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson and Alex Palou along with Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal and A.J. Foyt Racing’s Kyle Kirkwood were the drivers who failed to make it out of the second round and into the Fast 6.
“In practice we were P20 so we’re definitely moving in the right direction,” said Dixon. “I mis-timed the sequence of the tire. Firestone brought a grippier red (alternate tire) this year, which for me is a lot more fun, but you’ve got to be careful how to get the peak out of it and I mis-timed the peak.”
Alexander Rossi, Christian Lundgaard, Helio Castroneves, Callum Ilott, Felix Rosenqvist, Jack Harvey and Tatiana Calderon were the drivers from group one that failed to advance to the second round of qualifying.
Dalton Kellett, Pato O’Ward, Conor Daly, Takuma Sato, Jimmie Johnson and rookies David Malukas and Devlin DeFrancesco were the cars from Group 2 that failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying.
O’Ward was one of several drivers who had issues throughout the day in Turn 9. O’Ward slapped the outside wall exiting the turn, sending him to pit road with a bent toe link.
Dixon said he caught the wall with the tire in Turn 9 and said he was surprised the hit didn’t damage the suspension. Kirkwood caught Turn 9 with the floor of his car and was surprised his car wasn’t damaged. In the morning practice session Jack Harvey and Alex Palou both had incidents in Turn 9 where both cars sustained heavy damage but were repaired in time for qualifying.
Sunday morning starts with a half-hour warm-up for the INDYCAR Series at 8:45 a.m. followed by the IndyLights race at 9:30 a.m. followed by the USF 2000 race at 10:45 a.m.
Driver introductions start at 11:50 a.m. with the green flag dropping at 12:30 p.m. for the 100-lap event.
MONTEREY, CA (September 5, 2026) – Scott McLaughlin is on the pole position for Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey after blasting to a quick lap of 1-minute, 9.1363-seconds in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Chevy in Firestone Fast Six qualifying at the picturesque permanent road course.
“I felt like from the jump this weekend, we’ve come with a philosophy we’ve been working on the last, I don’t know, four months or something like that, basically since our Mid-Ohio test,” explained McLaughlin. “Been feeling better and better. Put it all together today.”
McLaughlin edged Alex Palou, whose lap of 1-minute, 9.1540-seconds in the No. 10 DHL Lightning Bolt Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, was a mere o.o177-seconds off the top spot.
“It’s so tough to put a lap together, especially at this place,” said Palou. “I think it’s so great to see that we’re all so close. I’m sure that Scott feels like he could have got another 10th if he puts like a perfect lap. I feel the same way.”
Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist clocked in third fastest at 1:09.1931 in the No. 60 SiriusXM Nickelback Honda.
“Good qualifying for us,” said Rosenqvist. “We’ve been in the top three in every session, so I think we would have been disappointed if we didn’t end up in the top three. Always tough to get through with all of the sand and traffic. I missed it a bit in the corkscrew, so maybe there was a pole in there. I’m not sure.”
Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi lines up fourth after a fast lap of 1:09:3247 in the No. 20 Java House Chevrolet.
“The No. 20 Java House Chevrolet has been through a lot this season so it’s nice to get a decent qualifying on the books before the year comes to a close,” said Rossi. ““Road courses have been a big struggle for us, really all season. At a test we had a couple of months ago, we really understood something we hadn’t prior to that and have just been building off of it.”
Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard will start fifth and Team Penske’s David Malukas will start sixth as Chevrolet took four of the Fast Six qualifying spots en route to it’s 250-career IndyCar Series pole.
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Kyffin Simpson will start 9th in the No. 8 Sunoco and Scott Dixon will start 17th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. The race will be the last for Dixon at CGR after 25-years with the team.
Live coverage of the 95-lap race starts at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls.
WEST ALLIS, WI (August. 30, 2026) – The NTT IndyCar Series history book got a workout after Pato O’Ward won the completion of the Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250 on Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile.
O’Ward swept both races Sunday in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet on the historic 1.015-mile oval, winning the race that was suspended due to weather Saturday just a few hours after taking the checkered flag in the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250. The Mexican became the first driver to win two IndyCar Series races on the same day since Rick Mears swept a doubleheader June 28, 1981, at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“I’ve dreamed of weekends like this before, having doubleheaders just a couple of times in my career, wishing I wanted to win both of them in a weekend,” O’Ward said. “We got to win both in a day. That’s definitely a dream come true for myself and the team.”
O’Ward, who started first Saturday and led when the race resumed today, crossed the finish line 1.7535 seconds ahead of David Malukas in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Rinus VeeKay scored his first podium finish of his strong season in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet.
Scott McLaughlin finished fourth in the No. 3 Clarience Technologies Team Penske Chevrolet, while 2025 Milwaukee winner Christian Rasmussen rounded out the top five in the No. 21 Splenda Stevia Chevrolet of ECR.
Chevrolet-powered drivers took the top seven spots in the finishing order on a day that Honda clinched its 12th IndyCar Series manufacturers’ championship.
O’Ward grabbed the lead for good on Lap 226 on a breathtaking final restart. Malukas led the field to the green flag, but his car was sluggish on the restart. O’Ward dove low and McLaughlin moved high, with the trio going three-wide into Turn 1.
The Mexican pulled ahead for the lead, making one of the track-record 372 on-track passes for position, and never trailed thereafter. Malukas stayed within a second of O’Ward for 10 laps after the restart but faded in the last 10 laps.
It was the sixth career runner-up finish without a victory for Malukas. Four of those second-place finishes have come in his first year for Team Penske, which he joined this year for his fifth season in the series.
“I’m just so frustrated,” Malukas said. “We had the car; we did everything right. We’re just cursed. I literally believe I have some sort of curse. Everything was in our favor there.
“This weekend, both races we were having issues with the engine on restarts and coming out of the pits, needing to lift and having these events where we just lose power. That really let us down.”
O’Ward and Malukas were the dominant drivers of the race, which was suspended after 90 laps Saturday due to rain and wet track conditions. They combined to lead 212 of the 250 laps, with O’Ward out front for 119 and Malukas 93.
“David was so quick, he was so good in traffic,” O’Ward said. “I was just going to have to wait for something like that (slow restart) to happen in order to have a chance on him. Otherwise, it was just going to be pedaling it to the end.”
Rasmussen and Christian Lundgaard, who ended up sixth in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, both led laps during the completion of the race today but only during pit cycles. Otherwise, it was the O’Ward-Malukas show.
The next race is the season-ending Mission Grand Prix of Monterey this Friday through Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. Alex Palou has won that race three of the last four years, including two in a row. He will race in a special livery saluting Chip Ganassi Racing legend and two-time IndyCar Champion Alex Zanardi, who passed away May 1.
WEST ALLIS, WI (August 28, 2026) – Josef Newgarden is atop the speed charts after the first NTT IndyCar Series practice in preparation for the Milwaukee doubleheader.
Newgarden’s fast lap of 159.430 mph (0:22.9191) in the No. 2 Snap-On Team Penske Chevrolet was 0.0075-seconds quicker than rookie Dennis Hauger in the No. 19 Ault Block Chain Honda of Dale Coyne Racing.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou is third fastest after blasting around the historic Milwaukee Mile at 158.890 mph in the No. 10 DHL Honda.
Palou could clinch his fourth consecutive Championship this weekend and fifth overall if he leads by 108-points after Saturday’s Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250 (2:30 p.m. ET on Fox and IndyCar Radio). Palou leads Kyle Kirkwood by 91-points going into Saturday.
Palou will have to overcome a 9-grid starting spot penalty for an unapproved engine change.
Palou is not the only victim of this rule as the Nos. 3 and 12 Team Penske Chevy’s, and the Nos. 76 and 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy’s will also lose 9-starting spots.
Palou’s CGR teammates Kyffin Simpson and Scott Dixon both were in the Top 15 on Friday. Simpson is continuing to improve posting the 11th quickest speed (157.431) in the No. 8 Sunoco Honda and Dixon placed 15th (156.371) in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.
Friday’s session was slowed by two on-track incidents.
Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel backed the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet into the SAFER Barrier in Turn 2 about 16 minutes into the session. Siegel was not hurt but the car suffered significant damage.
Late in the session Kirkwood and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen were running side-by-side through Turn 2 and down the backstretch and got together in Turn 3, sending both cars into the outside wall.
Neither driver was hurt but both cars suffered extensive damage.
Kyle Kirkwood’s No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda and Christian Rasmussen’s No. 21 Stevia Splenda Chevrolet crash at the end of the first NTT IndyCar Series Practice at The Milwaukee Mile (Photo: James Black/Penske Entertainment)
“It felt like he kind of never turned in,” said Rasmussen. “I was on the outside, and it didn’t feel like I turned in early. But I think his rear tire probably touched mine. I didn’t feel like I could have been much higher than I was. It’s really unfortunate because we have a really fast race car.”
“I was just giving him some space there,” explained Kirkwood. “I don’t know if his spotter didn’t tell him I was still there on the inside or he expected me to turn down early or what, but he just started his turn-in too early. That’s not the way you want to end practice.”
Unfortunately for both drivers there is no Saturday morning practice due to the doubleheader format. The next on-track activity is Qualifying at 11 a.m. ET.
Scott McLaughlin edges Alex Palou to win IndyCar pole at WeatherTech raceway Laguna Seca
Hammaker Defeats Rahmer In Williams Grove Thriller
Patience Pays Off For Blair In Yinzer 100
O’Ward sweeps IndyCar doubleheader at Milwaukee
Sieg wins first career O’Reilly Series race at Daytona, Caruth grabs last spot in the Chase
Newlywed Reft Wins At PPMS
Troutman Gets First Win For Foster In Schaltenbrand Memorial At Lernerville; Cipriano, Flick, and Schneider Also Win.
Slack Gets BRP Win At Lernerville, Bova And Schaltenbrand Also Score
Palou quickest in first Markham practice
