Scott McLaughlin and P1 Award – Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey – Photo by Chris Owens

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

Winless in the NTT IndyCar Series since 2024, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin will confront his road-course gremlins from pole position during Sunday’s season-ending Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey.

McLaughlin delivered Chevrolet its landmark 250th INDYCAR pole on Saturday with a hot lap of 1-minute, 9.1363-seconds/116.535 mph in the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet.

SEE: Qualifying Results

McLaughlin is mired in a 36-race winless streak since his most recent series victory in August 2024 at The Milwaukee Mile. On the upside, the pole-winner at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca has driven to victory in 18 of 28 INDYCAR races conducted on the iconic Central California Coast road-course.

“Absolutely, I want to win the race,” McLaughlin said during his post-race presser. “I want to win races in the future. I know we can. We have the speed. It’s all about getting that consistency back, which I think we’re slowly getting back.

“We were a little bit lost there, but to finally get back a little pace on road-courses I’m really proud of Raul (Prados, race engineer) and the team. Yeah, he’s just a lot more comfortable with the tire, with the car, how the tracks change. Yeah, temperature adjustment. So finicky in INDYCAR, you can miss it just by a bee’s thing. If you just miss it, you’re off, you’re out.

“I’m so happy to have qualified well for him today and prove that the trajectory, where we’ve been going with the car, is great. This is his pole more than anything.”

McLaughlin will share the front row with Alex Palou, who clinched his fifth series championship last Sunday at The Milwaukee Mile. Palou placed second via his lap in 1:09.1540-seconds/116.505 mph in the No. 10 DHL Lightning Bolt Honda of Chip Ganassi Racing. Palou has won this race three of the last four years, including in 2024 and 2025 from P1.

“You’re chasing Alex,” said McLaughlin, a 33-year-old native of New Zealand. “You’re chasing what they do. Their excellence is high. They don’t miss a beat. He’s qualified on the front row again, he’s going to be a contender. He does that week-in, week-out. We need to get to that level. It’s nice to win a race here or there, but I want to be competing week-in, week-out. That’s the only way to win a championship.

“Since the thing (his car) left the hauler, this thing has been unreal. So stoked for Chevy to get the 250th pole, but I’ve got to try and transition this into a win.”

Jim Hurtubise was INDYCAR’s first Chevrolet-powered pole-winner, using a Chevy small-block originally built for the Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport at the one-mile dirt oval at Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway. Native Australian Will Power (47 poles), Team Penske (160 poles) and Iowa Speedway (15 poles) lead the driver, team and tracks on Chevrolet’s all-time earned-pole list. Since introduction of the 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 in 2012, Chevrolet drivers have won 58.2 percent/146 poles. 

“Proud for Chevrolet. That’s fantastic,” McLaughlin said. “To be the guy that’s won (poles) 249 and 250 as well. We’ve had some good times together, for sure. Here’s to many more.”

Live coverage of the 95-lap/212.61-mile race is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. (EDT) Sunday on FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls.

McLaughlin used his final lap in the Firestone Fast Six to earn his third NTT P1 Award of 2026, as he previously qualified P1 for the season-opening street race at St. Petersburg, Fla., and last weekend on The Milwaukee Mile oval. This was “Scotty Mac’s” first pole on a road-course since April 2024 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala.

McLaughlin also led Saturday morning’s practice en route dislodging Palou from the top spot and what would have been the Spaniard’s series-leading ninth pole of 2026. Palou led the first round of qualifying at 1:09.1398-seconds and the Fast 12 round at 1:09.1496-seconds. A mere 0.0142-seconds separated Palou’s three best laps from each round of qualifying. He settled for his 12th front-row qualifying position in 18 races.

“It’s not the race, so consistency doesn’t matter much,” said Palou, a 29-year-old native of Barcelona, Spain, and a six-time race-winner this season. “But honestly, happy. We went for it. We tried to get the pole. Really happy with another front-row start. Scott did a great lap.”

Palou clinched his fifth championship after finishing 10th in the Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250 at The Milwaukee Mile. He placed fifth in the first race of the double-header. It was the mercurial Palou’s fourth straight title since open-wheel reunification in 2008, tying a series record set by Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais from 2004-07.

Palou is the youngest driver in series history to win five titles. Open-wheel icon and Houston native A.J. Foyt Jr. was 32 when he earned his fifth championship in 1967. Only “Super Tex,” with seven, and native New Zealander Scott Dixon, with six, have won more INDYCAR titles than Palou. Dixon was 38 when he won his fifth title.

Reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Felix Rosenqvist continued his consistent weekend by qualifying third at 1:09.1931-seconds/116.439 mph in his final series start in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Honda. Rosenqvist, who will move to Arrow McLaren next season, was second in both practice sessions preceding qualifying on the 2.238-mile/11-turn circuit.

“Good qualifying for us,” said Rosenqvist, a 34-year-old native of Sweden. “We’ve been in the top-three in every session, so I think we would have been disappointed if we didn’t end up in the top-three. Always tough to get through with all of the sand and traffic. I gave it a good try in the end. I missed it a little bit in the Corkscrew (turn complex), so maybe there was a pole in there, I’m not sure. P3 is a good starting point.” 

Alexander Rossi produced his best non-oval qualifying position of the season with ease, as he will join Rosenqvist in Row 2 after earning the fourth spot at 1:09.3247-seconds/116.218 mph in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet. Rossi’s previous best start this year on a road or street circuit was eighth at Markham, Ontario, Canada.

“Road-courses have been a big struggle for us, really all season,” said Rossi, a 34-year-old native of Nevada City, Calif. “At a test we had a couple of months ago, we really understood something we hadn’t prior to that and have just been building off of it. This sport is so challenging, there’s no magic pill or overnight fix, it’s just a process. Sometimes we have to really go through it before we find our way out.

“The No. 20 Java House Chevrolet has been through a lot this season so it’s nice to get a decent qualifying on the books before the year comes to a close. The group behind me is an amazing group who just keeps pushing forward each weekend. Huge thanks to the whole ECR organization, and congrats to Team Chevy on their 250th pole.”

Christian Lundgaard qualified fifth at 1:10.2227-seconds/114.732 mph in the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. However, he will line up 11th due to a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change after the double-header last weekend in West Allis, Wis.

“We just kept improving the car through the weekend so far,” said Lundgaard, a 25-year-old native of Denmark who will become a free agent after this event. “I actually thought we had a chance to pull off the pole on the used Firestone reds (alternate tires) that were on the car. We wanted to save an extra set of new reds for the race.

“I think ultimately it’s going to be a tire-degradation race, and maybe the alts are faster but we don’t really know quite yet so we wanted the option. We know we need to finish ahead of the No. 27 car (of Kyle Kirkwood) and No. 5 car (of Pato O’Ward) to secure second in the championship, and we felt that was the best route to have both sets on deck for the race. I’m proud of the team with what we pulled off in qualifying.”

David Malukas completed the Firestone Fast Six at 1:12.8461-seconds/110.600 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

“With this injury flair-up with the wrist coming out of Mid-Ohio, this past month we’ve had this drop in form and all these races,” said Malukas, a 24-year-old native of Chicago in his first season with Team Penske. “It’s more just surviving. We’re testing a lot of good stuff with the Verizon Chevy. Qualifying is easy on the wrist. You only push for two laps and then it gets to recover. But these races take a toll. We’re doing what we can.

“Hopefully this wrist can take one more. This is a tough one on it. The team has done a good job and hopefully we can finish it off on a high note.”

Lundgaard and Malukas are locked in a four-driver fight for second place in the final standings behind Palou. Lundgaard is second with Kirkwood of Andretti Global two points behind in third, O’Ward of Arrow McLaren four points back in fourth and Malukas 23 points behind Lundgaard.

Kirkwood qualified seventh at 1:09.5726-seconds/115.804 mph in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda. O’Ward was narrowly eliminated in the first round and earned the 13th spot at 1:09.5544-seconds/115.835 mph in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

“We’re focused on the race now,” said O’Ward, a 27-year-old native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas. “Today was a bit underwhelming based on what I thought we could accomplish in qualifying. We just missed it there by a smidge to transfer. Bummer.”

Rookie Caio Collet paced the two-car contingent from Waller, Texas-based A.J. Foyt Racing in 12^th at 1:10.1446-seconds/114.860 mph in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet.

“I think it was a pretty decent qualifying. Another Fast 12,” said Collett, a 24-year-old native of Brazil. “We were really happy in Q1 with the strategy, and also I did a really good lap. Then in Q2, we tried to make the car better but I think it didn’t really work well. Also we got a bit out of sequence with the guys in front so I didn’t really have a clean lap, which is a bit unfortunate. But I think it would not have changed much because I have the engine penalty anyway. I think we have a pretty decent race car, and hopefully we can move forward.”

Foyt teammate Santino Ferrucci qualified 21^st at 1:09.9460-seconds/115.186 mph in the No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet. “Just really standard qualifying. Nothing to really say about it,” said Ferrucci, a 28-year-old resident of Dallas. “Just obviously missing speed. So we’ll figure out what’s going on and go from there.”

Josh Pierson – Grand Prix of Monterey – INDY NXT By Firestone – Photo by Chris Jones

This time out, Josh Pierson absolutely left no doubt. Pierson earned his first career INDY NXT by Firestone victory in his fourth season in INDYCAR’s developmental series, taking the checkered flag in Saturday’s opening race of the Grand Prix of Monterey double-header at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The breakthrough and dominant victory _ Pierson led all 35 laps/78.33-miles from pole _ came in his 53rd career series start and less than one week after the anguish of crashing-out of the lead after starting on the pole at The Milwaukee Mile.

SEE: Race Results

“Big relief,” said Pierson, a 20-year-old native of Portland, Ore. “I think the pole position did a lot for me at Milwaukee. It was really great for my confidence level. I feel like this series has really mentally destroyed me over the years, especially coming from the World Endurance Championship and everything I was able to do there. It’s tough here. Coming back into a formula car wasn’t easy.

“I put so much hard work into this, and I can’t thank everyone at Andretti Global enough. These guys, they kept believing in me. Nobody ever doubted me even when I doubted myself. Super-grateful. It’s such a relief to finally be here.”

Andretti Global driver Pierson endured three restarts and drove his No. 29 Starchive Andretti car to victory by 2.6294-seconds over championship leader Nikita Johnson in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR entry. Max Garcia completed the podium in the No. 12 Abel Motorsports car six days after earning his first career victory on The Milwaukee Mile.

J.M. Correa finished fourth in the No. 68 Cusick Morgan Motorsports machine, while Niels Koolen of the Netherlands completed the top-five in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing entry.

Rookie Johnson’s smooth, composed drive from the fifth put him in good position to earn the INDY NXT championship and the accompanying INDYCAR career enhancement package in the season-finale Sunday at 12:30 p.m. (EDT, FS1, FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls). The race is booked for 30 laps/67.14-miles/50 minutes.

Johnson expanded his lead from three to 19 points over fellow-rookie Enzo Fittipaldi of Miami in the standings, as Fittipaldi finished eighth in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports car. Johnson needs to finish third or better Sunday to clinch the title regardless of Fittipaldi’s result. Johnson will start sixth, Fittipaldi 12th.

“Yeah, it’s pretty good job done,” said Johnson, an 18-year-old native of St. Petersburg, Fla. “We still have work to do. We still have another day of this. We just have to go continue the pressure (Sunday).”

Rookie Tymek Kucharczyk of Poland entered this race in the title fight, 29 points back. But his championship chances ended with his 10th-place finish in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports car after contact from Myles Rowe in the No. 99 Abel Motorsports with Force Indy machine sent Kucharczyk into a spin and to the bottom of the field on the first lap. Kucharczyk remains third in the standings but dropped 48 points behind Johnson and will be eliminated from title contention when the season-finale starts.

Pierson showed complete control during the race. His lead grew to 4.5-seconds when the first caution flag flew on Lap 13. But Pierson pulled away from Johnson on the restart on Lap 15 and did the same on subsequent restarts on Laps 20 and 27.

Pierson became the 10th different winner in the series this season, tying a record set in 2008. He also is the seventh first-time winner this season, tying a record set in 1998, 2008 and 2011.

“I knew we had a fast car,” said Pierson, who will start second Sunday alongside pole-sitter Kucharczyk. “I knew if we timed the restarts right, I knew we would be in good shape.”

NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 607*; 2, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 507; 3, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 505; 4, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 503; 5, David Malukas, Team Penske, 484; 6, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 428; 7, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 408; 8, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 407; 9, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing; 10, Rinus VeeKay, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 364;

11, Will Power, Andretti Global, 351; 12, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 318; 13, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 307; 14, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 293; 15, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 291; 16, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 271; 17, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 262; 18, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 253; 19, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 251; 20, Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing, 247;

21, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 236; 22, Dennis Hauger, Dale Coyne Racing, 223; 23, Mick Schumacher, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 205; 24, Caio Collet, A.J. Foyt Racing, 193; 25, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 175; 26, Derek Daly, Dryer & Reinbold Racing, 24; 27, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 20; 28, Jack Harvey, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 8; 29, Jacob Abel, Abel Motorsports, 6; 30, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian, 5;

31, Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 5; 32, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Arrow McLaren, 5; 33, Katherine Legge, HMD Motorsports with A.J. Foyt Racing, 5.

Note _ *Clinched series championship

FOX SPORTS’ 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST SCHEDULE/(RACE WINNER)

Note _ All times Eastern

Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, March 7 _ Phoenix Raceway, Avondale, Ariz., (Josef Newgarden, Team Penske)

Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, April 19 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course, (Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, May 24 _ 110^th Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval, (Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian)

Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Downtown Detroit, (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill., (Josef Newgarden, Team Penske)

Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., 2 p.m., (Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, (Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren)

Monday, July 20 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway, (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, Aug. 16 _ Streets of Markham, Canada, (Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global)

Sunday, Aug. 23 _ Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 1, West Allis, Wis., (Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 2, West Allis, Wis., (Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, Sept. 6 _ WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., 2:30 p.m.

Note _ Dates and times subject to change.

2026 INDYCAR NXT BY FIRESTONE SCHEDULE/(RACE-WINNER)

Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)

Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Max Taylor, Andretti Global)

Saturday, March 28 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)

Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alessandro de Tullio, A.J. Foyt Racing)

Friday, May 8 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 1, (Enzo Fittipaldi, HMD Motorsports)

Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 2, (Tymek Kucharczyk, HMD Motorsports)

Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Downtown Detroit, (Enzo Fittipaldi, HMD Motorsports)

Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill., (Myles Rowe, Abel Motorsports)

Saturday, June 20 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 1, (Lochie Hughes, Andretti Global)

Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 2, (Matteo Nannini, Cape Motorsports powered by ECR)   

Saturday, July 4 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 1, (Enzo Fittipaldi, HMD Motorsports)

Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 2, (Enzo Fittipaldi, HMD Motorsports)

Sunday, July 19 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn., (Matteo Nannini, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)

Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway, (Alessandro de Tullio, A.J. Foyt Racing)

Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis., (Max Garcia, Abel Motorsports)

Saturday, Sept. 5 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 1 (Josh Pierson, Andretti Global)

Sunday, Sept. 6 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 2