There was dust. There was smoke. Five cars, incuding Colton Herta ,lost laps in qualifying. In the end, Herta survived to win his first pole of the season. It was the fourth pole in eight races for Andretti Autosport.

Herta had three off track excursions today. Two were in the morning practice, includin sending a Weather Tech sign to an untimely death.

He spun in qualifying, losing his fastest lap in round 2, yet still advancing to the Fast Six. His teammate Kyle Kirkwood was not as fortunate. On the last lap of round 2, kirkwood had secured a spot in the Fast Six, only to have his engine let go on the backstretch. The car stopped after the checkered flag came out, avoiding a penalty. Still kirkwood had another superb qualifying effort ruined by misfortune. This time it wasn’t his fault, but other than winning the pole at Long Beach, his luck after advancing has been abysmal.

Herta siad, “This place with the repave is not easy. To have a car that was stable enough to really attack in that last Fast Six was impressive. It’s been way too long this year for us to get a pole, so it’s nice to finally get one.”

From earlier:

Rossi Stays on Top

https://thepitwindow.blog/2023/06/17/rossi-stays-on-top-says-car-has-more-left/

Speaking of abysmal, Will Power would love to turn the clock back and start this day again. Power was involved in a crash near the endof practice with Scott Dixon, who moved in front of Power to avoid Romain Grosjean. Power angrily got out ofm his car and confronted Dixon, even givng him a shove. Before getting to Dixon he gave the Loudon salute..

Neither repaired car was up to qalifying. Power will start 22nd and Dixon 23rd. Power’s attempt to advance ended with a wild ride off track min turn 2.

Pato O’Ward will start second, just 0.17 seconds behnd Herta.

Some Positives

The day was not all bad. A. J. Foyt Racing advanced both cars to the second round for the first time since St. Pete in 2018. Benjamin Pedersen will star 10th and Santino Ferrucci lines up 11th tomorrow.

Marcus Armstrong starts eighth. The fourth ganassi driver has been getting closer to a Fast Six appearance each time out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the final round at Mid Ohio or Toronto.

Christian Lundgaard just missed the last round and will start seventh. Lundgaard has been carrying the RLL team in qualifying this year.

Notes

Eight races into the season and Team Penske has yet to win a pole. The team has won three races. It’s the first year in some time Ithta I can remeber when Penske drivers have not won the majority of the races.

Alexander Rossi fell to fifth after leading both practice sessions. David Malukas, strong in the two practices, failed toadvance and will start 13th.

Points leader Alex Palou recovered froma morning spin into the turn 14 tire barriers and will start third. Tomorrow will be Palou’s sixth straight top four start. Texas was the last time Palou started outside the second row. He has not started lower than seventh in 2023.