Scott McLaughlin continued Team Penske’s redemption tour weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, capturing the pole position for Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix (1 p.m. ET, NBC and Peacock).
McLaughlin, whose third-place finish in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was disqualified Wednesday by IndyCar, turned a 1 minute, 5.9490-second lap in his No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet for his sixth career pole position and first since Nashville last year.
McLaughin nipped teammate Will Power (1 minutes, 6.0460 seconds), giving Team Penske a front-row lockout at the 17-turn, 2.3-mile road course that will play host to the third race of the NTT IndyCar Series season.
QUALIFYING RESULTS: Click here for Barber Motorsports Park qualifying speeds | Round 1, Group 1 | Round 1, Group 2 | Round 2 l Round 3
TIRE CHOICES: The field’s picks for primary or alternate compounds
After falling from 10th to 29th in the points standings because of his St. Pete disqualification (for using the push to pass button when unapproved on a restart), McLaughlin entered Barber in need of a strong result to resuscitate his suddenly flailing championship hopes, never mind boost his team’s morale.
“It’s been tough,” McLaughlin told NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee. “The (car) was so good today, and I just wanted to give the guys and girls on the team an opportunity to be back on the front row and back on pole. It’s been tough the last couple of races, and we just haven’t hit in qualifying. I’m so proud of the execution today. This means a lot, but we’ll keep focusing like this the rest of the season and keep working hard.
“I sent it pretty hard the last couple of corners, but anytime you get a chance to get a Team Penske front row, that’s the main objective and a great thing for the team. I’m very proud of everyone.”
Power, who lost 10 points from the St. Pete penalty but kept his second-place finish, qualified second for the second consecutive race, again coming up just short of his first pole since the 2022 season finale (and a chance to extend his record total of 70).
“I’ve said it all year, we’re going to be quick everywhere,” Power told NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch. “We’ve got great cars, great engines. I’m not surprised. It was obviously a pretty rough week for everyone on the team. Pretty disappointing. But we moved forward quickly.
“We’re hitting at such high levels. I keep missing out by the tiniest of margins, but we’re there, man. I’m happy to get in the top six fighting for a pole. It’ll come. We keep knocking on the door. I’m so determined to get a bloody win. It’s been so long, and we’re fighting hard.”
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard qualified third (1:06.0818) as the top Dallara-Honda driver, followed by Pato O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong.
Just missing the Fast Six final round were Graham Rahal and Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who qualified eighth after he paced practice Friday.
The two-time IndyCar series champion and 2023 Indy 500 winner had his St. Pete season-opening victory stripped for illegally using push to pass multiple times on restarts during a dominant win. After 48 hours of post-penalty anxiety, Newgarden said he finally got a good night’s sleep after a tearful news conference Friday morning to apologize for his team’s transgressions.
“Just needed a better lap; I didn’t do a very good job,” Newgarden told Lee. “The team did a great job, and we have a great car this weekend. I’m excited to race. I’m here with my team. I’m ready to rock.”
Rounding out the top 12 were Kyle Kirkwood, Alex Palou, Romain Grosjean and Meyer Shank Racing rookie Tom Blomqvist, who made the second round of IndyCar qualifying for the first time.
Armstrong (sixth) and Palou (10th) were the only Chip Ganassi Racing drivers who made the top 10. Six-time series champion Scott Dixon, who is seeking his first victory at Barber, will start 13th in hopes of replicating his strategic fuel mileage brilliance to win the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach last week.
“We would have been OK, just came up short,” Dixon told Lee. " Maybe Lap 2 and 3, I could have done better. I maybe underdrove it a little bit. It’s frustrating to just miss. As a group, we’ve just been a little off this weekend. Anything’s possible but obviously a lot easier to start up front. We’ll keep working on it.”
Starting last in 27th will be Rinus VeeKay, who turned the fastest lap in Saturday morning practice but had his qualifying session shortened by an electrical issue that caused his No. 21 Dallara-Chevy to lose power on the straightaway.
“We just didn’t have the right fix in pit lane,” VeeKay, who started on pole at Barber in 2022, told Welch. “The best thing to do is fix it overnight and save a set of tires for the race. Nothing’s lost. We’ll go for a great comeback. It just really sucks being fastest in practice, liking this track and definitely going to make it through (to the second round). I would have loved it so much for the guys to give them something back for their hard work.
“We’ll have to do that (Sunday). I’m still proud of them. It’s nothing they did wrong. It’s race cars. They break sometimes.”
Here’s the IndyCar starting lineup for Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on the 17-turn, 2.3-mile road course (qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine, time and speed):
ROW 1
1. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 1:05.9490 (125.552 mph)
2. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 1:06.0460 (125.367)
ROW 2
3. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 1:06.0818 (125.299)
4. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 1:06.2940 (124.898)
ROW 3
5. (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 1:06.4524 (124.600)
6. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 1:06.9022 (123.763)
ROW 4
7. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 1:06.0942 (125.276)
8. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 1:06.2908 (124.904)
ROW 5
9. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 1:06.2959 (124.895)
10. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 1:06.3013 (124.884)
ROW 6
11. (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 1:06.3526 (124.788)
12. (66) Tom Blomqvist, Honda, 1:06.3871 (124.723)
ROW 7
13. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 1:06.1425 (125.184)
14. (20) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 1:06.4803 (124.548)
ROW 8
15. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 1:06.1481 (125.174)
16. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 1:06.5054 (124.501)
ROW 9
17. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 1:06.2751 (124.934)
18. (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 1:06.5846 (124.353)
ROW 10
19. (8) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 1:06.2825 (124.920)
20. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 1:06.6706 (124.193)
ROW 11
21. (51) Luca Ghiotto, Honda, 1:06.4788 (124.551)
22. (18) Jack Harvey, Honda, 1:06.7969 (123.958)
ROW 12
23. (4) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 1:06.5267 (124.461)
24. (6) Theo Pourchaire, Chevrolet, 1:06.9052 (123.757)
ROW 13
25. (41) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 1:06.8404 (123.877)
26. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 1:07.4920 (122.681)
ROW 14
27. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 1:07.7392 (122.234)