CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500
WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY
MADISON, ILLINOIS
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT
AUGUST 27, 2023
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN AND CHEVROLET WIN POLE FOR THE BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500 WITH AN ALL-TEAM CHEVY FRONT ROW
- Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet, earned his first oval NTT P1 Pole Award at World Wide Technology Raceway in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
- Earning his fifth career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole award, McLaughlin will be joined by teammate Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, for an all-Chevy front row near St. Louis.
- Newgarden, qualifying second for today’s race, followed McLaughlin closely with a difference in his two-average lap speed of 0.561 MPH, or 0.1512-seconds.
- The Bowtie brand qualified four in the top-10 for today’s 260-lap, 500-kilometer race at World Wide Technology Raceway.
- Qualifying for this weekend’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 was moved from Saturday to today pre-race due to inclement weather faced for the majority of yesterday near St. Louis.
- First practice Saturday saw both Newgarden (first) and McLaughlin (second) top the charts in what turned into a night practice under the lights after the rain and strong storms cleared.
TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULT:
Pos. Driver
1st Scott McLaughlin
2nd Josef Newgarden
4th Pato O’Ward
6th Felix Rosenqvist
Green flag for the 260-lap, 500-kilometer Bommarito Automotive Group 500 waves live from World Wide Technology Raceway today at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Additional coverage of the race can be found on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 160.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES)
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:
“One minute you’re feeling like you’re in a good spot and the next, and then all of a sudden, the race is taking a different shape. We’re just going to be prepared to react. It’s obviously a great starting position. We’ll like to control the race from there. I think just being able to react with anything that’s unforeseen is really important on a day like today. Excited for it. I think Team Chevy has done a phenomenal job. Hopefully, we can get the PPG car in Victory Lane.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:
“I’m really pumped. Just really proud of the Odyssey Battery crew. Car was awesome. Just really, really proud. My first oval pole is really cool, but it’s too bad we have to take a penalty. I’ll take it, we’ll get the sticker and move forward.”
“It’s a nice feeling. You want to beat your teammate. I’m so competitive. We all are. We just want to beat our teammates all the time. I’m pumped. First oval pole. We got an engine spot penalty but we’re going to come through and have a lot of fun doing it.”
At a track that’s deemed hard to pass on, and you do start 10th, what will be the challenge with that?
“I think we’ll be okay. We’ve got a great strategy team that sees through on the Thirsty 3’s with (Ben Bretzman) and Kyle (Moyer). Really excited for this Odyssey Battery Chevy to come through. I think it’s going to be a lot of exciting passes. I’m going to have to really nail the start, and just probably put it on the (cushion) and have a lot of fun.”
Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet for Team Penske:
“It was pretty good. Good balance. I don’t know where the time was. I think we kind of changed gears a little bit last night. It was a good run. I don’t know what else I could’ve done.”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
“Not that you have to go conservative in these situations, but this track will bite if you get too greedy. So today, for us, the most important thing is having a good starting position and I think we’ve done that. We’ll see what Josef (Newgarden)’s got, and both Alex (Palou) and (Scott) Dixon. I think we’ll be in good shape.”
Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
“I changed it a little bit from lap one to lap two. I think I lost a little bit in (turns) three and four on my first lap. The second lap, I wasn’t super stoked about how it came together. I think it was a pretty good run, but track conditions are getting better and better so I think I needed a little bit more rolling out so early to fight with the big dogs. We’ll see. I think if we come out with a top seven or eight, I’ll be really happy with it.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
“It was a good car. I think we missed the gear a little bit, unfortunately. I’m surprised we beat Will (Power) there so that’s a good thing. We’ll see how it goes. It’s still difficult to pass around here, obviously. The overcast and cool temperatures should make it pretty racy like it was a lot of grip here even compared to the night last night, so I think it’ll be a good show.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20 Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing:
“I mean it’s so close here. When you’re lacking a little bit, you’re lacking a lot of bit. It’s just lacking some overall kind of rear grip. It’s a little bit off. That second lap was okay, not quite about where we want it, but the first lap just missed the balance a little bit.”
Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing:
“The conditions are quite a bit better than yesterday. Definitely went faster. Felt a lot better than yesterday, but just not good enough. I got good guidance from Ed (Carpenter) and Ryan (Hunter-Reay) going ahead of me. That helped with a few changes. It’s tough. Guys are really fast here, and we’ve got to work hard. The BITNILE.COM team is working hard. The points are given in the race, so that’s where we’re focusing on.”
Ed Carpenter, No. 33 Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing:
“We’ve been struggling as of late. This hasn’t been our strongest place the past couple of years. Unfortunately, I’m not doing a good enough job. As a group, we’re not doing a good enough job right now. So hoping my teammates can learn something from that and get a better starting position for themselves.”
If there is speed just missing a little bit, are you able to determine where exactly that is?
“No. I mean, we wouldn’t be in the situation that we’re in if we had all the answers. We’ve been searching in the back half of the season. I’m not trying to sound super critical because this whole group is working very hard, but we just haven’t found what we’re missing or what the common denominator is in some of our struggles. We’ll keep fighting. Definitely no quit in our team. We’ll be back.”
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet for AJ Foyt Racing:
“It was really good. I felt really comfortable. We made a few changes overnight. It’s a really hard racetrack to pass on so I just sent it in there. I should’ve trusted my instincts a little more. I only moved the bar one click back for turns three and four. I thought about it, and had a little moment on the first lap, and thought maybe I should go to P5. I really wish I trusted my instincts a little more as a racer.”
Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet for Juncos Hollinger Racing:
“There’s a bit more grip overall, but pretty good run on my part, I feel. I think we had a technical issue with the weight jacker. That was everything I could get out of it, I feel. My first INDYCAR qualifying here; pretty different from qualifying in an IndyNXT car. We’ll see how she rolls here. I felt like I left everything on the table, so that’s all I can do. Honestly, we looked pretty good yesterday on longer runs. Hopefully we can carry our Indy 500 and Texas runs from earlier in the year and deliver a strong result.”
Callum Ilott, No. 77 Chevrolet for Juncos Hollinger Racing:
“We’ve rolled up to the track with a great car, and we’ve been able to build on it. Today, I felt the confidence straightaway out of the box. So that’s not too bad. Hopefully we can maintain that.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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