CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500
WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY
MADISON, ILLINOIS
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT
AUGUST 16, 2024
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN AND TEAM PENSKE CAPTURE BACK-TO-BACK NTT P1 POLE AWARDS WITH CHEVY POWER AT WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY
- Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet, will start on pole in Saturday evening’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 after capturing his fourth NTT P1 Pole Award of the season with Chevrolet power and second in a row at World Wide Technology Raceway.
- McLaughlin’s pole award Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway is Chevrolet’s fifth of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season and sixth at the 1.25-mile egg-shaped oval.
- Team Chevy will start tomorrow’s 500-kilometer, 260-lap race with four drivers in the top-10 starting grid, including McLaughlin (first), his Team Penske teammates Josef Newgarden (fourth) and Will Power (fifth), and Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean (eighth).
- The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 takes the green flag at World Wide Technology Raceway Sunday near St. Louis live on USA Network at 6 p.m. ET. Additional coverage of the 500 kilometer, 260-lap race will broadcast via Peacock, as well as INDYCAR Radio and SiriusXM Channel 218.
TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULT:
Pos. Driver
1st Scott McLaughlin (179.972 mph)
4th Josef Newgarden (179.434. mph)
5th Will Power (179.262 mph)
8th Romain Grosjean (178.321 mph)
TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 FINAL PRACTICE RESULT:
Pos. Driver
1st Pato O’Ward (174.708 mph)
4th Josef Newgarden (173.685 mph)
6th Alexander Rossi (173.327 mph)
7th Conor Daly (173.304 mph)
8th Nolan Siegel (173.266 mph)
10th Will Power (173.188 mph)
TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 FIRST PRACTICE RESULT:
Pos. Driver
3rd Scott McLaughlin (178.830 mph)
4th Will Power (177.785 mph)
6th Romain Grosjean (177.267 mph)
9th Nolan Siegel (176.792 mph)
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (Quotes):
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:
“Actually, thought I put together two solid laps. driving-wise. I felt very comfortable and very in control, and then just see the number on the dash, and it’s slower than what I had felt we were going for. That’s never a good thing. We have an issue that will take some work to figure out but I’m confident we’ll have a good car for the race.”
Sting Ray Robb, No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:
“We were middle of the road. Balance felt great. Car felt very good and consistent. I have a lot of confidence rolling speed into (turns) one and two. I tried to change some stuff up in my driving for (qualifying) and the car just wasn’t there. Conditions did change a little bit, and way more than I was expecting, so that’s a bit frustrating and I feel like we could’ve done a much better job than that. Hopefully, it’s not the worst of the day, but it seemed pretty bad at the end. We’re going to do what we can. This track is very limited on what kind of passing we can do similar to Iowa it seems like. It seems like a single-lane track right now and the tire (degradation) seems fairly low. Not good in a race for the front.”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“I think tomorrow will be a different show just like it is every single year. I’m super happy with where we put our race car in the final practice. I think we’re in decent shape to be in the fight tomorrow.”
Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“Overall, I think it was a positive day. The car has very good race pace, and I think we’re going to be able to follow close and pass some people tomorrow, which is good. It was a disappointing Qualifying, obviously, but I think we can make up for it and I’m very happy with where we ended in Practice 2. There are a lot of positives to take away, and we’ll make it count tomorrow when it actually matters.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“Today was the Outback Steakhouse of qualifying and practice. You’re not going to get food poisoning because it’s so horrible, but you don’t really want to go back. I think we were pretty average all the way until Practice 2. It was one of the bigger misses we’ve had in Qualifying in terms of not really understanding what we need to make the car go quick. I think in Practice 2 we made several steps in the right direction. I think as three cars we made steps in the right direction. The caveat to that is it was dark, so the race will end similar to this, but certainly in the beginning it will be more like how the rest of today was. We’ll need to understand very clearly how the ambient conditions for the majority of the race tomorrow are going to affect the car that we’re happy with now.”
Ed Carpenter, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“We’re definitely in a better place than we were this race last year. You know, it will be curious to see what it’s like tonight in race trim. The team did a good job bringing us something better than what we had last year. Christian (Rasmussen) did a test here at rookie day and did a really nice job getting us more prepared. I’m definitely much happier and more comfortable than I’ve been here in the past couple the past couple years. Looking forward to practice too, to see what type of race we’re going to put on. I thought it felt pretty decent with the changes that we made. I think with the way people are qualifying, everyone’s trimming a little bit, and it’s really just going to be how you hit the balance.”
Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:
“Felt quite similar between the two, both practice and qualifying. The car felt good. Happy with the balance. There are guys trimming a bit more, some a bit less. It’s kind of a question mark today, but I’m happy. I did what I needed to do in that run. The ECR No. 21 crew gave me a good car that gave me confidence to push those entries, to push flat in (turns) three and four. Chevy gave us some great power, too, so hopefully it hangs in there. But I’m satisfied and hopefully we can race well.”
Romain Grosjean, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:
“It’s been really good, to be fair. I think we have great speed. David Malukas’ lap was pretty impressive, to be honest. I was kind of happy where I was, but he’s definitely done a hell of a job there. We’ll see where we are at the end. The race will not be easy to pass, so starting up front will be good. I think Conor (Daly) being with the team with his experience on ovals has been very valuable for all of us. For me, I’m still a young guy on ovals, so still trying to learn from those guys, and I think we’ve been working well together. We tested here ten days ago, and it worked. It went well, it worked well. We’ll see today, but happy with our qualifying.”
Conor Daly, No. 78 Juncos Holilnger Racing Chevrolet:
“First qualifying session with the hybrid. It’s kind of cool to learn how to pick out exactly what percentage you need to use and then how much you can get back in one lap. Here, it’s really interesting because you are almost flat in (turns) three and four. I should have been flat in three and four, but I was scaring myself so…It’s just interesting. Good learning experience for us from the practice session. Not going to be quite enough, but hopefully it keeps us around mid-pack and we should be alright.
“A qualifying run with the hybrid is different. You have to try and be super optimal on that. I didn’t get to qualify at Iowa, so I hadn’t really experienced that yet. We made a good step forward from our practice. I mean, is that enough? I don’t know, but the conditions seem to be very, very volatile. So, I was easy flat in three, four earlier, and (during the qualifying) run, I was like man, that’s a bit a bit different. So we’ll go to work on it. I don’t think we’re going to be in a bad spot, so we’ll see. Just got to thank Chevrolet and Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger, everyone that’s allowed me to be here. It’s really cool.”
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“Good. Man, my car was great. I was a little bit shy. We made a really big jump from practice. We kind of went on the safer side of a trim step. Probably could have taken more. Just felt like we were a little behind the eight-ball coming out of practice. Super happy with the PPG Chevy. The team did a great job.”
“It’s a different landscape right now. It’s a totally different car, which I think changes things. Iowa was a different track, plus a different car, and you saw a very different product. So, I think it’s hard to say how the season is going to end, but I certainly believe we can figure it out. It’s just a matter of do we have it fully sorted right now or not? I think we’re pretty close. But we’ll see what time says, but it might take us a little bit more time to get where we want to be.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“We rolled out of the truck great today. The DEX Imaging Chevy has been great. I’m very proud of the team. We had a procedure and went through it and got it done, and just makes me proud of everyone. But end of the day tomorrow is payday, and we’ll make sure that we were on top of things. But proud of this whole group. And, yeah, we just want them to sleep on us. 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 going, you know, having an engine penalty as well as a big deal. So that’s what happened last year. And we found out the hard way. You know, being stuck in the middle there is really tough, but we’ll do our best for strategy, find our way forward. And yeah, hopefully we can bring home the win.
Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet:
“Qualifying on these short ovals is bloody tough. You get about a lap and a half to get up to speed and then you need to absolutely nail the lap. It’s intense but that why we love it. The Verizon Chevy has been very solid all day. We’ll get some time this evening to work on race setup in conditions that will be similar to tomorrow. These Team Penske Chevys have speed. Just need to hit on the execution tomorrow.”
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN, No. 3 DEX Imaging Chevrolet – End of Day Press Conference:
THE MODERATOR: Joined by the NTT P1 award winner for the second straight year here at Worldwide Technology Raceway, Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Dex Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet. Fourth NTT P1 award of 2024, ninth of his career, back-to-back here at Worldwide Technology Raceway.
Good news is you get to actually start and enjoy pole position tomorrow. Your thoughts on today?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, that’s absolutely a bonus, but the Dex Imaging Chevy was just great from the jump. We had a focus this morning, well, early noon, just to focus on the qualifying car because we knew we only had a short run before qualifying, and we knew how important it is to be at the front here. It went to plan. The car has been great from the jump. We’re in a really good spot, obviously, for tomorrow.
As we know, this is INDYCAR. Anything can happen. But we’ll try to stay on our toes and focus on this last practice session tonight just to get our race balance right, and hopefully we can come with a pretty fast printer wagon for tomorrow.
Q. What was the feel of the car for practice, and now that you have pole, how relieved are you for starting up there with how difficult it seems everyone is thinking it’s going to be tough to pass here tomorrow?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, look, we’ll find that out in race balance here in a little bit, but I think it’ll be pretty reasonable. Car, as I said, straight out of the hauler was awesome. I think we’re in a really good spot, obviously, for tomorrow, to maybe make some points back here, and there’s no doubt in my mind that we can put ourselves back in the hunt with a good result tomorrow. That’s our big focus right now.
But yeah, proud to get the pole, and I actually forgot the last half of your question.
Q. For high line practice later on, do you think that’ll create a big difference for tomorrow?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: We’ll see. I mean, it can’t hurt, that’s for sure. More downforce on the cars this year. I think they’ve made all the necessary steps to help that.
You certainly hope so for the race sake.
But I still think it’s going to be somewhat of a track position race, but I think if we can do this high line practice and then with the extra downforce, who knows what will happen, and I’m sure the restarts are going to be pretty hectic, as well, so that’s always good fun.
Q. Looking at this championship, you’ve got a good amount of ground to make up but also four short ovals where you’ve run particularly well over your career. Do you still feel like you’re part of this championship run at 83 back?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, 100 percent. There’s no doubt I’ve come from basically the back at the start of this year, and we’ve found ourselves in position in less races. There’s anything that can happen in this sport. It takes one bad race from Palou, and everyone is jumping down his neck.
I think we’re well in reach to get there if we can perform well on the ovals, which I know I feel comfortable on the ovals now. There’s no doubt in my mind we can get there. Yeah, 100 percent confidence.
Q. Do you feel like this is the track that you feel most confident among the three ovals? I know Nashville, Milwaukee, a lot of folks, including you, have never run at. Is this an extra important one given your history and experience here?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, Milwaukee we finished quickest at the test. I felt pretty good there. I feel like from an oval perspective, it’s a very comfortable position. It doesn’t take thankfully too long to learn some ovals, so Nashville — I think a lot of people are going to be learning it, and I feel like I can get on top of it as best as anyone, but you’ve got to have that confidence in yourself, that ability, and hopefully we can put ourselves in position over these next coming races.
This one, we take it bit by bit. I don’t really care. I just drive the car and hopefully we’re quick, and I think we’ll be okay.
Q. It seems like you guys have adapted to the hybrid on the ovals better than anyone else. Is that because you guys have pretty much tested it more than a lot of people? You were a key team for Chevrolet during the off-season.
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I didn’t think there was much to adapt to, to be honest. The hybrid is there, yes, but we’re not using it probably nearly as much as the road courses, street courses, and from the looks of it, from what you see on TV and data and all that stuff, everyone has got the same process, the way they go about it.
No, I don’t think we — for sure from a driving perspective, it was nice to feel the weight of the car and stuff and having that opportunity to do that, but I think as a team, it’s very well documented — I think INDYCAR have been great, very fluid with the situation and transparent to all the teams up and down pit lane, and I think it’s why you’ve probably seen it run reasonably smoothly.
Q. But it seems your team has adapted to it better with the weight, the extra weight. The setup seems to be better than everybody else.
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I debate that. Look, on the oval, yeah, maybe. We’ve always been strong at Iowa. But Herta got a pole there, I got a pole there. Here we got pole. We got pole last year.
I always feel like we’ve got fast cars, which is an added bonus at the start, and then you add the weight. It’s just weight. You’ve just got to try and adapt to it, and everyone has got very smart engineers up and down pit road that can adapt to that and understand what we need to do to get to that point.
Sure, it was nice to drive the car a little bit over the off-season, but I think when we got to this point, it’s every man for themselves.
Q. I believe the last four visits on ovals you’ve taken at least one of the poles. What has clicked for you in the last year with regards to qualifying on ovals?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, me and Benny were talking about it, my engineer. Our average must be pretty cool since we’ve started working together. From ’22 onwards, even ’21, I’ve felt strong, but it’s just nice to have the confidence in the race car you’re driving. The team give me a great car, and I’m able to just execute the way I want to.
I think I like oval qualifying because it replicates a little bit — might sound weird, but it does replicate Supercars in some ways and the top-10 shootouts we used to do back there and all that sort of stuff. Getting my tires up to temp and trusting the tires into Turn 1 or whatnot, it’s been a strong suit of mine in the past, and probably a little bit more aggressive in that regard, but yeah, I really enjoy it.
Love ovals. I think it’s the backbone of our series, and I’ve enjoyed having a lot more on the schedule, or at least a couple more this year.
Q. You said you have some sort of procedure you run. Can you go into detail a little bit more?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I cannot go into detail, but I made a mistake, but I thankfully held on. I thought that was probably going to what what maybe Will or Palou could have got me on, but yeah, it was just something that — it’s part of my process just with the car.
Q. These procedures you’re talking about, and I’m watching drivers, does it feel like you’re doing the AABB up-down-up-down thing like it’s a video game?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, lucky I play a lot of Call of Duty, so I sort of feel like I’m pretty good with hand movements and looking around. For sure. It’s a lot going on, especially short oval qualifying. But even like in street courses at Toronto and stuff.
But I think if you talk to people up and down pit road we’ve actually enjoyed that. It’s been quite fun, and it’s rewarding when you do a good job or it works out in your favor.
Yeah, I’ve enjoyed it, but there’s a lot more to do than there used to be.
About Chevrolet
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