Scott McLaughlin earned his second consecutive pole position at Worldwide Technology Raceway-Gateway, but the Team Penske star will lead the starting lineup to the green flag this season while other championship contenders are serving grid penalties.
McLaughlin recorded a lap of 179.972 mph in the No. 3 Dallara Chevrolet to earn his fourth pole position of the season and ninth of his career.
“We left the track in great shape today,” McLaughlin said, “and I'm really proud of the team. But tomorrow is payday so we're going to be there prepared.”
Starting lineup: For a look at Saturday's 27-car starting line, click here.
Team Penske will be looking to maintain its perfect record on oval tracks during the 2024 season.
“We are coming and we want to be able to get back into this championship. Starting position is important and in the end, it's also a big deal to get pole position without an engine penalty. It happened last year and we learned it through bitter experience.”
Due to a penalty for changing his engine, McLaughlin started from 10th place in last year's race despite qualifying first and finished in fifth place.
For Saturday's race (6 p.m. ET, US and Peacock), three drivers were dropped nine positions in qualifying: Felix Rosenqvist (qualified second and started 11th), points leader Alex Palou (qualified seventh and started 16th) and Scott Dixon (qualified 10th and started 19th).
Palou leads the championship standings by 49 points over Will Power, who starts in fourth place.
Colton Herta will start from 25th place after crashing his No. 26 Dallara Honda into the wall on the second lap of qualifying.
“The tire came off,” Herta said. “It's unfortunate. I think the first lap was okay. I don't think I would have been able to get pole position, but I could have been in the top five. On the second lap, I don't know if the tire was too worn or if something happened, but it just came off quite early.”
The IndyCar starting lineup for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Worldwide Technology Raceway Gateway on the 1.25-mile oval in Madison, Illinois is as follows (with qualifying positions, car numbers in parentheses, drivers, engines, times and speeds):
Row 1
1. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 179.972 mph
2. (66) David Marcus, Honda, 179.503
Row 2
3. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 179.424
4. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 179.262
Row 3
5. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 178.417
6. (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 178.321
Row 4
7. (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 178.114
8. (5) Pat O'Ward, Chevrolet, 177.160
Row 5
9. (78) Connor Daly, Chevrolet, 177.126
10th (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 176.696
Line 6
11. (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 179.796 (9 grid penalty)
12. (21) Linus Viekay, Chevrolet, 176.661
Line 7
13. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 175.865
14. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 175.782
Line 8
15. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 175.656
16th (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 178.363 (9 grid penalty)
Line 9
17. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 175.514
18. (8) Linus Lundqvist (R), Honda, 175.510
Row 10
19th (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 177.905 (9 grid penalty)
20. (6) Nolan Siegel (R), Chevrolet, 174.854
Line 11
21. (20) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 174.752
22. (4) Kiffin Simpson (R), Honda, 173.900
Row 12
23. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 173.722
24. (41) Stingray Rob, Chevrolet, 172.782
Line 13
25. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 136.880
26. (18) Jack Harvey, Honda, No Time
Line 14
27. (51) Katherine Legge, Honda, No Time
