- Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin lands series-best fourth pole of the season and second in a row at World Wide Technology Raceway
- Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist qualifies on front row for third time this season but will start 12thdue to starting grid penalty
- INDY NXT by Firestone championship leader Louis Foster secures series-leading fourth pole for OUTFRONT Showdown.
MADISON, Ill. (August 16, 2024) – Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin captured his second consecutive pole at World Wide Technology Raceway and series-leading fourth of the season during Friday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
McLaughlin posted a two-lap average of 179.972 miles per hour (50.0079 seconds) on the 1.25-mile oval to unseat Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist by .0489 of a second for the top starting position in Saturday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline (5:30 p.m. CT, TV: USA Network, Peacock. Radio: INDYCAR Radio Network, SiriusXM Radio).
McLaughlin extended his dominance this season in oval qualifying with his fourth front-row start in as many races, including two other poles. Previously, he won the NTT P1 Award at the Indianapolis 500 and first race at Iowa Speedway before settling for second at the finale of that doubleheader.
“From ’22 onwards, even ’21, I felt strong (on ovals), but it’s just nice to have the confidence in the race car you are driving,” said McLaughlin, who arrived at INDYCAR in 2021 with no oval experience after winning three Australian V8 Supercars championships. “The team gave me a great car. I’m able to just execute the way I want to. I think I like oval qualifying because it replicates – it may sound weird – Supercars in some way and the Top 10 Shootouts we did back there. You know, getting your tires up to temp and trusting the tires into Turn 1 or what not. It’s been a strong suit of mine in the past and probably a little bit more aggressive in that regard.
“I really enjoy it – love ovals. I think it’s the backbone of our series.”
Meyer Shank Racing took the next two positions with Rosenqvist qualifying second (179.796 mph / 50.0568 secs.) and teammate David Malukas third (179.503 mph / 50.1385 secs.). Rosenqvist earned his third front-row start of the season, which includes a pole at Long Beach, but will start 11th due to a nine-position starting grid penalty. The penalty was for an unapproved engine change penalty at the previous race in Toronto. Malukas matched his season-best qualifying performance, which came at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
“We had 12 cars after we rolled out so, obviously, I was kind of expecting someone to break through,” Rosenqvist said. “It always seems like me and Scott are fighting for it. I think it is the fourth or fifth time we’ve been fighting for the pole.
“It was a really good run. You could feel it was well executed, good balance, everything was good with the tools and the car feeling.”
McLaughlin’s teammates closed out the top five with Josef Newgarden, a four-time winner at WWT Raceway, qualifying fourth (179.424 mph / 50.1605 secs.) and Will Power, who won at this venue in 2018, taking fifth (179.262 mph / 50.2059 secs).
Click HERE to watch the NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying highlights from World Wide Technology Raceway. Click HERE for INDYCAR’s qualifying VNR package for media outlets.
In the INDY NXT by Firestone development series, championship leader Louis Foster of Andretti Global continued his dominant season by claiming his series-high fourth pole during qualifying for Saturday’s OUTFRONT Showdown (3:05 p.m. CT, TV: Peacock. Radio: INDYCAR Radio Network, SiriusXM Radio). Foster, a five-time winner this season, won the pole with an INDY NXT by Firestone track-record, two-lap average of 164.109 miles per hour. Foster will be joined on the front row by his teammate, fellow English driver Jamie Chadwick. She posted a two-lap qualifying average of 163.505 mph.
For more information on the INDYCAR race weekend, please visit www.wwtraceway.com.
