Scott McLaughlin delivers milestone pole to Chevy at Laguna Seca
What a machine. went out and bagged Chevrolet its landmark 250th IndyCar Series pole position with a stunning lap of 1 minute, 9.1363 seconds in the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet at Laguna Seca.
That is how you start a weekend. McLaughlin grabbed his third NTT P1 Award of the season by nailing the Firestone Fast Six, adding to previous poles at St. Petersburg and the Milwaukee Mile. It also marks his first pole on a road course since April 2024 at . Speaking about the car, McLaughlin noted, “Since the thing left the hauler, this thing has been unreal.” He also credited race engineer Raul Prados and the team for helping him recover road course pace after feeling a little bit lost.
Now comes the hard part. McLaughlin has a 36-race win drought hanging over him, with his last NTT IndyCar Series victory coming all the way back in August 2024 at the Milwaukee Mile. Sunday's 95-lap race starts at 2:30 p.m. ET, broadcast live on FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls. History offers a friendly hand here, as the pole sitter has won this race in 18 of the 28 visits to this iconic Central California Coast road course.
Dethroning five-time series champion and Laguna Seca master is no small task, but McLaughlin managed it after topping practice earlier in the day. Palou qualified second with a time of 1:09.1540 in the No. 10 DHL Lightning Bolt Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. The reigning series champion has an intimidating record here, winning three of the last four years, including victories in 2024 and 2025 from pole. Palou's consistency was frankly terrifying: just 0.0142 of a second separated his three best laps across all qualifying rounds, handing him his 12th front-row start in 18 races this season. “It’s not the race, so consistency doesn’t matter much,” Palou said. “But honestly, happy. We went for it.”
Behind the front row, kept his strong weekend rolling by taking third at 1:09.1931 in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Honda, following up on two second-place finishes in practice sessions on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile circuit. locked down fourth at 1:09.3247 in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet, securing his best non-oval qualifying position of the season. put his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet fifth at 1:10.2227, though an unapproved engine change following the Milwaukee doubleheader drops him down to 11th on the grid. rounded out the Fast Six at 1:12.8461 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
