Malukas takes first career IndyCar pole at Phoenix

David Malukas will lead the NTT IndyCar Series field to the green for Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix International Raceway, while the man he replaced at Team Penske, Will Power, will start from the back row after hitting the wall in qualifying.

Malukas was the first driver to break the 175mph barrier, with an opening lap of 175.671mph and backed it up with a 175.096 to set a two-lap average of 175.383mph. That was over 0.8mph faster than teammate and short-oval expert Josef Newgarden, who nonetheless will start from the front row.

It marks the first pole of Malukas’s 45-race IndyCar career, and it comes on a short oval, where he scored two of his three career podiums (both earned at Gateway).

Pato O’Ward looked like he might join Malukas on the front row when he produced a 174.757mph opening lap but dropping into the 171s on his next lap consigned the No. 5 Arrow McLaren-Chevrolet to seventh. Scott McLaughlin appeared capable of making it a Penske 1-2-3 but he, too, suffered a severe drop on lap 2, and will start fifth.

Power’s difficult start to the Andretti Global chapter of his career continued, with the No. 26 car looping into a spin on his second lap, having set a strong 174.137mph on his opening tour of the one-mile course.

The two-time champion backed the car hard into the Turn 2 wall, but was checked and cleared by IndyCar Medical. He will start from the rear of the field along with Felix Rosenqvist, who crashed in morning practice and whose Meyer Shank Racing entry didn’t take part in qualifying.

Which all means that the second row for tomorrow afternoon’s race will comprise two Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Hondas. Graham Rahal was a highly encouraging third with an average of 173.993mph, while rookie teammate Mick Schumacher completed his first oval qualifying session with fourth-best speed.

Alongside McLaughlin on Row 3 will be the Ed Carpenter Racing car of Alexander Rossi, who was fast in preseason testing here, although his teammate Christian Rasmussen was understandably gutted to lose balance from the morning session and qualify only 18th.

Juncos Hollinger Racing will be pleased to see Rinus VeeKay and Sting Ray Robb starting eighth and 12th, sandwiching Nolan Siegel (Arrow McLaren), reigning champion Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) and top Andretti qualifier Kyle Kirkwood.

Scott Dixon was only 15th, two spots ahead of McLaren’s St. Petersburg podium finisher Christian Lundgaard.

Also disappointed were two of the stars in the season opener in St. Pete, Dale Coyne Racing’s pair Romain Grosjean and rookie Dennis Hauger who were left languishing in 20th and 22nd, respectively, both drivers complaining that they missed the gearing and were thus hitting the rev limiter on both straights.

UP NEXT: Second practice commences at 4:30pm ET.

RESULTS