ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske created an interesting mathematical equation by winning the Verizon P1 Award Saturday at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
It was McLaughlin’s 11th IndyCar Pole. It was also the 699th pole for Team Penske in all forms of racing.
Counting McLaughlin’s stunning Supercars career in Australia, it was McLaughlin’s 70th career pole for Team Penske. That is the most in the storied history of racing’s most successful team.
However, Will Power has the IndyCar record for most poles with 70, but six of those poles were with Team Australia in Champ Car, leaving him with 64 poles for Team Penske.
Break it all down and McLaughlin has won a staggering 10 percent of all poles in Team Penske history.
“It’s actually crazy to think about it for sure, but David Hovis, our media guy, told me about that,” McLaughlin told SPEED SPORT after Saturday’s formal interview session concluded. “It’s a pretty proud stat obviously, but I’m trying to elevate the win stat a little bit more.”
Of McLaughlin’s 70 Team Penske poles, 59 came in Supercars in Australia.
“We had a good run,” McLaughlin said. “We did have a good run with Penske. I had amazing days down in Supercars and I’m just so thankful I’m able to show my ability over here and do what I’m doing here with Penske.”
Although Power remains the king of IndyCar poles with 70, McLaughlin quipped, “He’s been around a lot longer so if he’s going as well as he is I’ll try and get to his level.”
McLaughlin won the pole with the fastest lap in the Firestone Fast Six at 59.4624 seconds around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street course in St. Petersburg for a speed of 108.976 miles per hour in the No. 3 Chevrolet.
Firestone brought a Firestone Red Tire that degrades quicker than in the past, created a big difference between the Firestone Black primary tire and the Reds.
That should create a three-stop race instead of teams gambling for fuel milage and attempt to complete the 100-lap race in only two stops.
That makes starting on the pole a strategic advantage, according to McLaughlin.
“Oh, it’s huge,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s going to be just go, go, go the whole race, I believe. So clear air is going to be king tomorrow and hopefully we can keep control from the front.”
McLaughlin finished third in last year’s NTT IndyCar Series championship, battling back from a disqualification of a third-place finish because of the Team Penske “Push-to-Pass” scandal that also resulted in race-winner Josef Newgarden’s disqualification.
Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren finished second on the track, but was awarded the victory six weeks later after McLaughlin’s disqualification was announced by IndyCar’s then President Jay Frye.
Newgarden advanced into the round of 12 in qualifications, but did not make the Firestone Fast Six. The two-time defending Indianapolis 500 winner starts 10th at 107.744 mph in the No. 2 Chevrolet for Team Penske.
“We’ve had a fast car since we’ve got here,” Newgarden said. “Team Chevy has done an incredible job.
“Hopefully, one of our teammates here will take the ball and get a Chevy on pole.”
McLaughlin checked off that wish by winning the pole.
“We are going to focus on tomorrow now,” Newgarden continued. “You know, 10th isn’t bad; it’s not great.
“Even though we don’t have a good starting spot, I know our car is good. I just want to have a clean race. Of course, I want to be up front, and I want to win the thing. That’s my ultimate dream for tomorrow, but we need to get points on the board.
“We need to have a good, clean day. I think we can do that.”
Power celebrated his 44th birthday on Saturday, but he didn’t have anything to celebrate on the track. He had hybrid failure in Saturday morning’s practice session. His Team Penske crew replaced the hybrid unit in time for qualifications, but Power did not advance into the Fast 12 and will start 13th with a best lap of 108.225 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for Team Penske.
“It was pretty good, I just carried too much speed into the first corner of that lap and understood why I had to lift,” Power explained. “It was enough to get me through. Just frustrating because I know we have a good car.”
“If you push you don’t destroy the front tires. You just don’t have time for another lap. I just pushed wide. I got on the throttle, but I had to back out. That’s more of what happened.”
Last year’s winner, O’Ward, starts way back in 23rd starting position in the 27-car field after he failed to advance out of the First Round at 107.343 mph.
“I just couldn’t get the Firestone alternates switched on,” O’Ward explained. “We had two opportunities, and I don’t have an explanation really. It was just a really tough lap to get together, and it is obviously not ideal for tomorrow.
“I think we can make our way forward and score some solid points tomorrow.”
Colton Herta of Andretti Global will start second in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda with a lap at 108.653 miles per hour. He was followed by the Meyer Shank Racing duo of Felix Rosenqvist at 108.545 mph in the No. 60 Honda and Marcus Armstrong’s 108.311 mph in the No. 66 Honda.
Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard was fifth at 108.241 mph in the No. 7 Chevrolet and Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing rounded out the “Fast Six” at 108.141 mph in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
As for the pole winner, he was able to reward his crew for an extra night of work after he crashed the car in Turn 3 in Friday’s practice.
“Yeah, it’s crazy, pizzas were being delivered late last night,” McLaughlin said of his crew’s late Friday night of extra work. “Kyle’s sick, because he kind of likes that. He likes fixing cars, so he’s a handyman.”
McLaughlin was referring to Team Penske IndyCar Team Manager Kyle Moyer, who guides the No. 3 team.
“It was an improvement on yesterday, for sure,
but we still had to keep working at it,” McLaughlin concluded. “I thought the best the car’s been this weekend, so obviously in qualifying, that was the main thing.
“I was really happy with it.
“The hit that I had yesterday wasn’t as bad as it looked. The theatrics looked pretty crazy, but ultimately, you hate giving the team extra work and go over the garage hours and whatnot. Anything you can do to repay them. They always say, ‘Just go out and get Pole.’
“Yeah, their long hour’s suck, but that’s kind of a passion for them and it’s just nice to repay them in some way.”
