Paddock Buzz: David Malukas More Content With Second This Time

On this day, second place wasn’t the disappointment that David Malukas experienced last month at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Firstly, this wasn’t the ending of the prestigious Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge; it was qualifying for Sunday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at World Wide Technology Raceway. Secondly, it was the last driver in the qualifying line that edged him.

Timing was everything in this two-lap qualifying session, and Malukas (photo, top) knew it. The order for attacking the 1.25-mie short oval was based on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES standings, where Malukas ranks third. That means two other drivers got to qualify after him, and he rightly predicted the track would get incrementally faster.

That it was four-time series champion Alex Palou who outqualified him didn’t matter.

“It’s just the temperature change,” Malukas said of the improved conditions with each late-afternoon qualifying attempt. “Everything was so drastic.”

Malukas said he was “very fortunate” to be one of the session’s final qualifiers, and starting second still gives him an excellent chance to score his first series race win. Of course, he nearly had it at IMS when Felix Rosenqvist outran the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet by .0233 of a second for the narrowest margin of victory in the event’s 110 years.

Chicago-area native Malukas also can take confidence in knowing WWTR has seen some of his best results. In fact, the first two top-three finishes of his career in this series came here as a Dale Coyne Racing w/HMD Motorsports driver.

“I don't know if it's my best (track), but to me it's one of my favorites or probably the favorite,” he said. “To be honest, looking at the history of it and my (first second-place finish in 2022), getting podiums, getting my name out there, this is my favorite race of the whole season.”

WWTR Is Not Palou’s Best Track

Actually, just the opposite, he said.

“Probably my worst,” the driver of the No. 10 HRC Chip Ganassi Racing Honda said prior to winning the NTT P1 Award on Saturday. “I’ve always struggled here. I think we’ve had good cars, but (I’ve) never been able to run up front.”

Asked why that is, Palou gave a tongue-in-cheek response.

“Talent,” he said. “I lack talent here.

“I don’t know what to say. If I knew, I’d fix it right away. Just confidence-wise, I struggle here.”

The Spaniard’s history at this track shows an average finish of 10.7 in seven races, with no top-three finishes and no laps led. Meanwhile, he has won 23 races in 99 starts elsewhere.

Palou didn’t just benefit Saturday from being the last driver to qualify. Chip Ganassi Racing was the only team to bring all its cars to WWTR for a pre-race test.

McLaughlin Repping Castroneves in 2009

The car Scott McLaughlin is driving this weekend (photo, above) has a livery that pays homage to the one Helio Castroneves used to win the 2009 Indianapolis 500 for Team Penske.

Yes, Roger Penske’s organization is celebrating its 60th anniversary in the sport this season, but the choice to use the distinctive red-and-white design that the team had during a long era with Philip Morris sponsorship was McLaughlin’s idea.

“It was the first full ‘500’ I watched at 1 a.m. in the morning Down Under,” the New Zealander said in a social post. “I watched (that) race due to Scott Dixon winning (Indy) the previous year and meeting him in Auckland when I came home. What a story it was for Helio.

“I wanted (this car) to be the proper day-glo colors, everything perfect, (and the team) killed it. As Gil de Ferran said, ‘I’m proud to wear this uniform because I’m aware of the people who have worn it before me.’”

Coincidentally, former Team Penske President Tim Cindric was Castroneves’ strategist that day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he is McLaughlin’s strategist this year, too. Both cars carried No. 3.

Lundgaard Leads Final Practice

Christian Lundgaard led the one-hour final practice with a top lap of 169.791 in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Lundgaard will start 16th in the race Sunday.

Six-time series champion Scott Dixon was second at 169.614 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, followed by Marcus Armstrong at 169.576 in the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Honda.

Pole sitter Palou was fourth at 169.445, and fellow front-row qualifier Malukas rounded out the top five at 169.375. 

One of the early highlights of the practice, which was preceded by a session to work in the high line of the track, was a lurid slide and save off Turn 2 by Pato O'Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. O'Ward ended up 16th at 168.161.

Poles Honored by Poland’s INDY NXT Race Winner

INDY NXT by Firestone driver Tymek Kucharczyk, who is third in the standings, is honoring legendary figures from his native Poland with his car’s liveries.

This weekend, Kucharczyk’s car features Nicolaus Copernicus (photo, above), the Polish astronomer whose discoveries revolutionized humanity’s understanding of the universe.

Last month, Kucharczyk became the first Pole to win a race at Indy and in the INDYCAR development series when he won last month’s Race 2 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. He will try to finish on the podium for the sixth consecutive race in Sunday’s INDY NXT by Firestone at World Wide Technology Raceway (5:30 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX One, INDYCAR Radio Network powered by OnlyBulls).

VeeKay Bangs Turn 3 Wall, Rebounds in Qualifying

Rinus VeeKay saw his afternoon practice cut short by 20 minutes due to spinning and hitting the SAFER Barrier in Turn 3 in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Chevrolet. He had the fourth-fastest lap at the time of the incident. He qualified in the 13th position.

This has been a good track for VeeKay (photo, above). He has finished 10th in each of the past two Gateway races, and he finished fourth and sixth in the doubleheader in 2020.

Odds and Ends

• Only about one-third of the INDYCAR SERIES field tested at this track in advance of the event weekend. In addition to Chip Ganassi Racing, the series’ three rookies (Caio Collet, Mick Schumacher and Dennis Hauger) also tested. Kyle Kirkwood (for Honda) and Malukas (for Chevrolet) tested Firestone tires in October.

• Rosenqvist has produced a strong month of qualifying. Saturday’s fourth-place effort in Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian’s No. 60 Honda was his fourth top-four qualifying run in the past five events.

• It’s been a painful stretch for several drivers. Josef Newgarden (foot), Alexander Rossi (foot), Collet (ribs), Schumacher (wrist) and Romain Grosjean (hand) are among those still hobbled by injuries suffered in accidents. Grosjean had surgery following last weekend’s wall contact in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear.

• If Newgarden is to win this race for the fifth time in the past seven years (and sixth time overall), he will need to drive the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet from the eighth starting position.

• Last year, Chevrolet drivers earned the top six starting positions. This year, Honda scored four of the top six, including the pole sitter.