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Scott McLaughlin ended up being the fastest qualifier for this afternoon’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500. He is technically the pole winner, and will take the point that comes with that. Unfortunately, McLaughlin is one of several drivers that will sustain a nine-position starting grid penalty, for an unapproved engine change.

Josef Newgarden was the second-fastest qualifier, but will lead the field to the green flag from the pole position as a result of McLaughlin’s penalty. By my count, McLaughlin should start tenth. As we were leaving the pits, I heard someone say that four of the first eight cars will sustain a nine-grid spot penalty.

One of those is points leader Alex Palou, who qualified fifth and will start fourteenth. Others in the Top-Eight who will be moving back are Scott Dixon, who qualified seventh and will move start sixteenth, and Takuma Sato, who qualified eighth and will start seventeenth. Kyle Kirkwood and Agustin Canapino will also be moved back nine spots from their qualifying spots.

The Top-Ten in qualifying, before taking the penalties into account are Scott McLaughlin with an average speed of 182.951 mph. Newgarden, Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward and Alex Palou were all in the Top-Five. The rest of the Top-Ten were Felix Rosenqvist, Scott Dixon, Takuma Sato, Romain Grosjean and David Malukas.

By default, Malukas should end up starting sixth. I plan on keeping an eye on Malukas all day today. He did so well last year, I think he will have a good day today as well.

Even though he has been penalized, I still feel like my pick of Scott McLaughlin will hold true today. Keep an eye on him. Today was his first NTT P1 Award on an oval. He knows his way around here. (Photo by Susan Phillips)

Susan will have a post here early this afternoon. I will close with a photo I took of her in the pits this morning, during qualifying. She looks better and seems to feel better than she has since her diagnosis over three years ago. Not bad for someone initially given only about ten months to live. Her current condition makes race weekends like this even more enjoyable.

I will have a quick wrap-up after the race, then will have my usual Random Thoughts post on Monday morning. Check back in a little bit for Susan’s post.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on August 27, 2023 at 12:14 pm and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.