Scott McLaughlin defends Music City Grand Prix pole
NASHVILLE – Winners of the first two editions of IndyCar’s Music City Grand Prix have won from 18th and 14th. Scott McLaughlin will enter Year 3 on Sunday with the hope that the third time might finally be the charm for a dominant qualifying performance to be rewarded on the streets of Nashville.
Because among those in the Fast Six on Saturday, at the end of a qualifying session delayed more than three hours due to Saturday storms, there was no one anywhere close to matching the No. 3 Chevy – the car that a year ago started on pole and that came within IndyCar’s tightest-ever street course finish from winning.
“You’ve got to do the big laps when you really need to do them, and we did it twice in that session. I’m really proud of that,” McLaughlin said on Peacock after grabbing his first pole of 2023, Team Penske’s first of the year on a road or street course and the driver’s fourth of his IndyCar career. “And who knows with this place. Scary yellows can happen out of the blue, and strategy can be thrown everywhere, but we start in the No. 1 spot, and that’s the main thing.
“We basically used the same car we had last year, and to put it on pole two years in a row is unreal.”
McLaughlin’s day was nearly derailed by a caution Saturday when, in the Fast 12, Scott Dixon clipped the inside of the Turn 11 wall, sending the No. 9 Honda into the outer wall where he came to a stop with just under 30 seconds to go in the second round of qualifying.
At the time, McLaughlin sat just outside the top-6 that would qualify for the final round, though he was on a lap that, according to Peacock’s timing chart, was trending toward a jump up from 7th. From watching the Peacock broadcast, which was showing Will Power’s onboard camera at the time of the incident while he was conveniently trailing Dixon on-track, race control seemed to have taken roughly nine seconds between Dixon’s contact and when a red flag was issued to the field with 18 seconds to go.
The Peacock broadcast showed McLaughlin’s name on the timing chart jump from 7th to 4th just as the warning lights on-track flipped from green to red, though it’s unclear exactly when in that 9-second sequence between Dixon’s contact and the red being issued that McLaughlin actually crossed the timing line that would have registered his lap time that allowed him to advance to the Fast Six.
IndyStar is awaiting comment from the series on the situation.
A very curious series of circumstances here in qualifying that happened around Dixon's crash in the Fast 12 on when race control called the red flag and what the standings were when Dixon crashed vs. when the red was called (saw first from @fauxWillPower).
Thread to follow:— Nathan Brown (@By_NathanBrown) August 6, 2023
When cars in the Fast 12 were given one more timed lap to complete the session, no cars changed positioning, meaning McLaughlin’s lap that slated him 4th was enough to bounce Team Penske teammate Will Power from a Fast Six spot.
In those closing minutes, with 2021 Nashville polesitter Colton Herta sitting atop the time charts with under 1 minute to go, McLaughlin threw down an untouchable lap more than six-tenths faster than Herta’s best (1:14.6099 vs. 1:15.2416) to bump the Andretti Autosport driver back to the outside spot on the starting grid. In the closing seconds of the session, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward inched ahead of Herta to take the No. 2 spot (1:14.9395).
Points-leader Alex Palou, who entered this weekend 80 points ahead of 2nd-place Josef Newgarden, picked up an additional advantage in his quest for his second title in three years, landing the 4th starting spot for Sunday. Newgarden, who swept the last two races of the season at Iowa Speedway and who has matched Palou’s four wins on the year – but who’s only logged two top-5 finishes on road or street courses in eight starts in 2023 – will start 9th.
“It’s just been OK, not great (this weekend),” said the two-time champion after his qualifying run Saturday. “We’ll try and make some magic in the race. It’s Nashville. You never know what can happen."
Elsewhere near the front of the grid, Dale Coyne Racing’s David Malukas will start 5th, with Dale Coyne Racing the fifth team represented in the top-5. Romain Grosjean rounded out the Fast Six, with Power (7th), Kyle Kirkwood (8th), Newgarden (9th) and Alexander Rossi (10th) rounding out the top-10 for Sunday.
In his first IndyCar weekend, rookie Linus Lundqvist – stepping in for the still-injured Simon Pagenaud – gave Meyer Shank Racing its first top-12 start of the year on a road or street course in his first IndyCar qualifying appearance. He’ll start 11th Sunday, with Dixon, who sits 3rd in points 120 back of his teammate, in 12th.
Music City Grand Prix qualifying results
1. Scott McLaughlin
2. Pato O’Ward
3. Colton Herta
4. Alex Palou
5. David Malukas
6. Romain Grosjean
7. Will Power
8. Kyle Kirkwood
9. Josef Newgarden
10. Alexander Rossi
11. Linus Lundqvist
12. Scott Dixon
13. Christian Lundgaard
14. Felix Rosenqvist
15. Graham Rahal
16. Marcus Armstrong
17. Helio Castroneves
18. Callum Ilott
19. Rinus VeeKay
20. Marcus Ericsson
21. Santino Ferrucci
22. Jack Harvey
23. Agustin Canapino
24. Sting Ray Robb
25. Benjamin Pedersen
26. Devlin DeFrancesco
27. Ryan Hunter-Reay
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: Scott McLaughlin defends Music City Grand Prix pole
