David Malukas was all smiles after 25 of his 26 rivals completed their qualifying runs for Sunday’s Snap-on 250 at the Milwaukee Mile. The AJ Foyt Racing driver was on pole with a two-lap average of 162.256mph – and with a wide margin of comfort. Then new IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou ventured out for the last run of the session.
Palou proceeded to ruin that smile with a first lap that vaulted past Malukas by nearly a full mile per hour and completed his second lap that left him with an average of 162.971mph and his sixth pole of the year with the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
“I guess I didn’t expect it,” Palou said. “I wanted it, and I felt really good after practice, but there’s been so many times that after practice I feel like we found something … that I have confidence in, and it’s just because you had a clean lap or whatever.
“Knew my lap this morning (in practice) wasn’t a completely clear lap, so I was like, ‘I don’t know if I have much more speed than that.’ We made a couple of small changes to try and get a little bit faster, and yeah, worked out.”
The Spaniard says he pushed the No. 10 Honda to a point of discomfort and was rewarded for the effort.
“For sure,” he continued. “I think I personally took it more than all other times that I’ve been on ovals in qualifying. I knew that, for me starting P8 today or P3 didn’t really change much. But getting the pole or not getting the pole, it was everything. I for sure carried a bit more speed than my brain thought I could… It’s probably always there, so I might need to do it more often.”
Behind Palou and Malukas, the top six was completed by Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Chevy (162.078mph), Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 Chevy (161.758mph), Ganassi’s Scott Dixon in the No. 9 Honda (160.951mph) and Penske’s Will Power in the No. 12 Chevy (160.819mph).
The early runners fared well as Josef Newgarden set the standard for the first half of the field with a 160.330mph blast. Behind him at the time was Conor Daly at 160.181mph and Graham Rahal at 159.995mph.
McLaughlin would get in front of Newgarden with a 161.758mph, but it was the big-time performance of Malukas as the first driver to crack the 162mph barrier with a 162.256mph blast who set the new standard and sat on pole.
Once the runs were over, Daly’s speed was enough to hold on for ninth and Rahal was 11th. Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen split them in 10th.
A few surprises emerged during qualifying, starting with Santino Ferrucci – one of IndyCar’s major oval performers – who was relegated to starting 23rd in the No. 14 Chevy with a 156.862mph run. Colton Herta will join him with a back-to-front mission after getting loose and nearly spinning his way through Turn 2. Herta held onto an impressive slide and prevented a full rotation, but did come to a stop before driving away to complete an average of 112.717mph that left him in last place with the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda.
Well, that was until Felix Rosenqvist executed a half spin and backed the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda into the Turn 4 SAFER barrier before completing a lap. The incident for one of IndyCar’s best oval qualifiers left Rosenqvist 27th, promoting Herta to 26th.
UP NEXT: Final practice, 5:30 p.m. ET.
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