Mclaughlin, Palou Earn Poles

Scott McLaughlin won the pole for Race 1 at Milwaukee and Alex Palou willstart on the point in tomorrow’s race. For race 1 McLaughlin, second place Palou, and third place David Malukas will serve nine place grid penalties.

Qualifying started under overcast skies, but as the session went on skies got a bit brighter although never sunny.

Pato O’Ward and Josef Newgarden will star on the front row in today’s 250 mile race.

Dennis Hauger held the pole for a long time. He finished seventh and he will start fourth.

In Sunday’s race. Palou will start on pole alongside O’Ward. Newgarden will start third and Mick Schumacher fourth. Like Hauger for race 1, Schumacher hung onto the pole for race 2 for quite a bit of time.

The speed differentials for both contests is huge. The leaders should encounter slower traffic very quickly.

Kyle Kirkwood, second in the standings, qualified 22nd and 24th, the slowest of the Andretti cars. It might be difficult for him to prevent Palou from clinching t5he title today.

I will post the official starting lineup when it is available..

Greetings from Milwaukee

The trip to the Milwaukee Mile was very smooth as traffic wa slight through Chicago.

The big story concerns an erroneous announcement from Baranquilla, Colombia, confirming an IndyCar race in that cit5y in 2028. IndyCar issued the following statement refuting confirmation.:

It is always good policy to wait until IndyCar announces a race and its date before believing it will be on the schedule. With rumors of a race in Brazil for 2027, I am skeptical that two South American races will be on the calendar.

IndyCar practice isn’t until 5 pm Central time this evening. The timing is puzzling since both races will finish well before that hour. I’m not sure what teams can learn at that hour that will help them for the race or qualifying.

I will have a post practice wrap up this evening.

Milwaukee Schedule

Times are Eastern. Milwaukee is in the Central Time Zone

Friday

6-7:30 p.m. IndyCar Practice FS1

Saturday

9-9:50 am: NXT Practice FS2

11 am: IndyCar Qualifying FS1

12:30 pm: NXT Qualifying FS1

2:30 p.m. ET: IndyCar Race FOX 250 laps 250 miles

Sun

10:15-10:30 am: IndyCar Warmup No TV

11 am: NXT Race FS1

1 pm: IndyCar Race FOX 250 laps 250 miles