Photo by Kyle McInnes

Scott McLaughlin seems to have inherited Will Power’s mastery of qualifications, as he earned his fourth pole of the season and will lead the field to green tomorrow night in the Bommarito 500. This Mclaughlin’s third oval pole. he finished sixth and third in the other two oval events where he started first.

In the post qualifying press conference, McLaughlin brushed aside the notion that Penske has an advantage with the hybrid because of their extensive testing with it.

“Debatable,” he said. “Everybody’s doing the same thing.”

Colton Herta, thought to be the only driver to challenge Herta, had a first lap that would have gotten him close to McLaughlin, but he spun and hit the wall in turn 2 of his second lap.

The session got off to a rocky start as first qualifier Jack Harvey pulled to s top at the end of the front stretch just after taking the green flag. Compounding the woes for the Dale Coyne team, Katherine Legge’s car failed ech inspection. and she was not allowed to qualify.

Felix Rosenqvist was second fastest, but he will start 11th due to a grid penalty for an engine change. His Teammate david Malukas will start second.

Points leader Alex Palou qualified seventh but will start16th after serving his grid penalty. Scott Dixon’s penalty will move him back to 19th on the grid.

McLaughlin’s Team Penske teammates, Will Power and Josef Newgarden, will start third and fourth. Each of the team’s drivers have won one of the oval races so far this year.

Notes

Sting Ray Robb in 24th is slowest driver to complete both qualifying laps at speed. Herta completed his second lap at about 97 mph. It’s been aw hile since as many as three cars did not fully complete their qualifying runs at full speed.

Pato O’Ward will be the biggest beneficiary among the title contenders of the grid penalties as he moves to eighth on the grid.

Conor Daly showed some hope for the 78 car as he qualified 12th and will start ninth.

Next on the schedule is high linbe practice at 6:45 Central, followed by the final practice at 7:30 pm Central.

Results

Note- this is not the oifficial lineup.