IndyCar News: Penske teammates split pole positions in Milwaukee

Penske teammates Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden won pole positions for the two Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 doubleheader IndyCar races.

McLaughlin’s fast lap of 162.341mph in the #3 Penske Chevy was good for pole for Milwaukee race one later today, while his teammate Newgarden nipped him for pole for Sunday’s Milwaukee Race 2 with a lap of 160.983mph in his #2 Penske Chevy.

Scott McLaughlin has been driven to be on the pole and take wins this season.

” You’re employed to drive the car as fast as you can. So you’re meant to risk and that’s part of the game. If you muck up, you’ve got a crew that can fix it.”

“But at the same time I don’t think, RP (Roger Penske) will be happy with us.   Sure it’s going to hurt the bill. But ultimately they want us to push as hard as we can. Push each other, push the team, be out in the front and that’s kind of expected.”

“I love this track.  It’s sick. It’s awesome. ”

“I love it because it is just fast. You’ve just got to drive it. It’s not just flat and a couple of lifts. It’s like you’re wheeling it, which is fun.”

” I mean, the difference between yesterday and today, just with UV on the track and the feeling we had out there was certainly different.  So it’s a unique surface, but hopefully it races well. I think it’s going. It felt like it would race good yesterday, but we’ll see what the tire deg is.”
Josef Newgarden

Josef Newgarden continues to dominate the ovals races in the series.  Coming off a win at World Wide Technology Raceway, Newgarden will start second tonight and on the pole tomorrow.

When asked about the track condition during qualifying, the American replied, “I agree. We are working the wheel out there. The laps are hard around Milwaukee. They make you work for it. We probably overshot a little bit, but we weren’t going to undershoot today. I can promise you that. We’ve been on the wrong side of it too often this year.”

“We were going to go the other way, if anything, probably put it in the fence. But the car was great. It’s been really good since we rolled off, similar to Scott.”

“So the race is going to be a different animal, but this is great to get the front row with Team Penske here, the first to start out for both races. Excited to get into race conditions this afternoon.”

“Yes, for sure, it will be different than what you experienced here. I think it will cool and
you’ll have some changing condition within the car. Yeah, it always matters. Today might be different than what we experience tomorrow in the middle of the day.”

Grid Penalties

There are two additional grid penalties for an unapproved engine change.  No 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet and No 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet will both give up nine positions for tonight’s race.

Championship Points

The series points leader, Alex Palou, did not have the best qualifying runs today.   The Spaniard qualified 13th for tonight’s race and tenth for tomorrow.

If Palou has a 108-point lead after the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s Race 1 today, he will clinch the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship, the third championship in the last four years.

Milwaukee Saturday (Race 1) Starting Lineup

(R) Rookie

Milwaukee Sunday (Race 2 ) Starting Lineup

(R) Rookie

Lucille Dust reporting live from the Milwaukee Mile