Malukas questioning recent form after another rough run at Freedom 250

David Malukas was the breakout star for the first half of the IndyCar season.

With four podiums in the No. 12 Chevy and eight finishes inside the top 10, he served as Team Penske’s best chance to challenge Alex Palou and Kyle Kirkwood for the IndyCar Series championship.

Teammates Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin also delivered standout performances, which included two wins for Newgarden, but both endured highs and lows of their own which blighted their title aspirations and made Malukas’s consistency the most remarkable aspect of his first season with Penske.

Malukas hovered between second and third in the Drivers’ standings through Nashville, where he added a fifth podium to his tally, and then the consistency started to unravel.

An engine penalty at Portland made his race a challenge from the outset, and a blocking penalty assessed for impeding Alexander Rossi didn’t help. Malukas finished a distant 12th on a rare day when he and the No. 12 entry weren’t overly competitive.

Next it was Markham, and a chance to recover and shorten the 118-point deficit to Palou, who was facing struggles of his own. Running sixth with six laps to go and under no immediate threat from behind, Malukas ran wide and hit the wall, which bent the right-rear suspension and led to his finishing 17th. The gap to Palou swelled to 137 points.

Starting sixth on Sunday at the Freedom 250, it was another error for Malukas with a hard impact that entangled Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Sting Ray Robb, who had no chance to avoid hitting the No. 12 car after it struck the wall and stayed on the racing line.

Relegated to 24th in the results, Malukas’s run of 12th, 17th, and next-to-last in Washington D.C. has dropped him to fourth in the championship and ended any hope of vying for the title, with Palou now 142 points clear.

After producing unforced crashes at back-to-back events, the 24-year-old admits to experiencing a crisis of confidence.

“First, I want to apologize, Sting Ray (Robb), there was nothing you can really do there,” Malukas said. “It was just me. I just want to apologize to the teams, the sponsors, everybody. Obviously, big race here (in Washingtin DC), but I don't really know what's been going on with me. Just in a bad run of form here in the past few races. So, need to get back to work, and figure out what's going on, if it's mentally, if it's physically, I don't really know, but I got to work on myself here.”

It’s a short turnaround from Washington D.C. to this weekend’s short-oval doubleheader in Milwaukee. As one of IndyCar’s finer oval performers, Malukas has a prime opportunity to put a rough three-week run behind him and get back to a familiar place towards the front of the field.

“Got a few more races to finish off the season,” he said. “And (I) have to make sure I can put myself back on form."