McLaughlin, Palou split Milwaukee IndyCar poles, but only one will start from the front

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin captured pole position for today’s Snap-On-sponsored IndyCar race at the Milwaukee Mile and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou completed the front row.

Behind them, Penske’s David Malukas qualified third, which makes for an interesting development when it’s time to go racing for 250 laps this afternoon, all thanks to the unapproved engine change penalties the three carried into Race 1, which means all three will be demoted nine positions apiece on the grid.

McLaughlin will start 10th with Palou in 11th and Malukas in 12th, which means Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Chevy goes from fourth to de facto pole and he’ll have Penske’s Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 Chevy on the front row after being shifted from fifth to second. Andretti Global’s Will Power in the No. 26 Honda jumps to third next to Dale Coyne Racing’s Dennis Hauger in the No. 19 Honda in fourth, Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 Honda in fifth, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Louis Foster in the No. 45 Honda in sixth.

"Very proud, great for Chevy,” McLaughlin said of his performance. “I love the Milwaukee Mile. I love coming here. Wisconsin fans are so nice to me and now I'm very excited.”

Chasing his fifth championship, Palou will deal with moving from the first to fifth row.

“I would prefer not to have that penalty but this is probably the only place if you have a fast car and you feel good with the car, you have plenty of laps to make your way forward. I was really comfortable with the car,” Palou said.

The two-lap format used by IndyCar applies speeds from the first lap for Saturday’s 250-lap contest and the second for tomorrow’s 250-lap race, and in that format, Palou is starting first (164.658mph) next to O’Ward (164.655mph), Newgarden (163.767mph), the mightily impressive Mick Schumacher in the No. 47 RLL Honda (163.244mph), Power (163.243mph), and RLL’s Louis Foster in the No. 45 Honda (162.910mph).

McLaughlin was disappointed to qualify eighth for Sunday, but nobody was more frustrated than championship contender Kyle Kirkwood whose repaired Andretti Global car was only capable of taking 22nd for Race 1 and 24th for Race 2. Christian Rasmussen, in his new ECR entry, will start 18th today and 17th tomorrow.

UP NEXT: Milwaukee Race 1 gets underway at 2:45pm ET

RACE 1 QUALIFYING RESULTS

RACE 2 QUALIFYING RESULTS