David Malukas thought he had it. He could taste it, smell it, nearly touch it.

But in a blink, that first NTT P1 Award in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES eluded him along with the top starting position for Sunday’s Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250, swiped by four-time series champion Alex Palou, a driver who has squashed the hopes of so many drivers this season.

The scoreboard showed Palou’s two-lap qualifying average at 162.971 mph compared to Malukas’ 162.256.

Thus, Malukas (photo, above) was relegated to the second grid position – tying a career best – and resigned to the fact his time atop qualifying must wait for another day.

“Those were two beautiful laps,” he said. “I crossed that line, and I wasn't even looking at the time -- I knew it was fast.

“Sometimes you just know it's going to be good, and I crossed (the timing line), and I was like, ‘That was really beautiful.’ I really think that's going to be the one (to win the pole).

“I just had to wait until the end, and I saw (Palou) come out of (Turn) 4, and I was like, ‘Oh, no.’”

Sure, Malukas was disappointed, but he didn’t sulk.

“It’s still good,” he said. “We have a good race car. We’ll see what we can do.”

This effort continued Malukas’ strong qualifying efforts of the past two seasons. He will start on the front row of a series race for the fourth time in the past 21 events, including Race 1 last year at the Milwaukee Mile.

Malukas scored two second-place qualifying efforts last year while driving for Meyer Shank Racing – at World Wide Technology Raceway and in Milwaukee – and added a third earlier this year for A.J. Foyt Enterprises on the street circuit in Detroit.

David Malukas

Malukas has been particularly fast in recent qualifying sessions. He has earned a top-six starting position for four of the past five races. Adding last month’s second race at Iowa Speedway, the driver of the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet has qualified in the top 10 in five of the past six races. He is 10th in the standings.

Chicago native Malukas appreciated qualifying this well here.

“This almost feels like a home track,” he said of the 1.015-mile oval. “(We had) a lot of people coming up from Chicago and even the Milwaukee area. I grew up around this area, going to Road America, watching races with my dad. So, it feels like a good crowd (for me).”

Malukas didn’t finish as well as he qualified last year at Milwaukee, leaving with results of 15th and 22nd for Meyer Shank Racing. The latter was the result of a mechanical issue with the No. 66 car.

In preparation for this race, Malukas leaned on information generated last year by A.J. Foyt Enterprises teammate Santino Ferrucci, who finished fourth in both races.

“We have a lot of good data from Ferrucci last year, so I've been studying a lot of his video, trying to figure out how he was making passes, even on me, as well as doing some crazy dive bombs,” he said. “So, we have a lot of data.

“I think it's just going to be studying and trying to be studying and trying to get the maximum that we need."

All this has Malukas primed for another run at what could be his first race win in this series. He has twice finished second – in 2022 at World Wide Technology Raceway and in this year’s Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

“It’s going to be a tire (wear) race, and it's going to be a lot of fun,” he said. “From a viewing standpoint, when you put new tires on the car and you're going out and doing some undercuts, it's going to be fun.

“It's going to be a fantastic race, and honestly, it's one of those races that you don't know where we're going to be at until we get a yellow or until the race finishes, and we're just going to go out there and try to be as fast as we can and try to pass as many people as we can.”

The Foyt team had a bit of extra work on Malukas' car to replace a broken halfshaft after the final practice. Malukas' car lurched toward the wall exiting a corner late in the session, and the team diagnosed the broken part as the culprit.

Malukas isn’t likely to be the only driver optimistic about his chance to score his first series race win.

Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Conor Daly (No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet) and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen (No. 21 ECR Splenda Stevia Chevrolet) qualified ninth and 10th, respectively, and they each will move up a position when Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, the No. 5 qualifier in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda), is moved back nine positions for using an engine exceeding the season allotment for a full-time competitor. Dixon will take the green flag (2 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX One, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network) in the 14th position.

Like Malukas, Daly has had some of his best races on oval tracks, and he similarly has been strong on the shorter ones. Daly finished third in last year’s first Milwaukee race. His only series pole came in a 2020 race at Iowa Speedway.

Rasmussen finished third in this year’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway and finished nearly as well in the Iowa doubleheader, finishing sixth and eighth. In none of those races did he qualify as well as he did Saturday. He started 25th, 19th and 17th, respectively, before charging through the field.

In last year’s two Milwaukee races, Daly, Ferrucci and Rasmussen ranked in the top five in positions gained. Daly improved 25, Ferrucci 23 and Rasmussen 19.

Dale Coyne Racing’s Rinus VeeKay (No. 18 askROI Honda) has won a road course race in this series – in 2021 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – but he is also chasing his first victory on an oval track. Like the aforementioned, this Milwaukee Mile race could be his place. He will start 11th.