McLaughlin earned his first oval pole at Gateway. Photo: Kevin Dejewski
On Sunday morning, the NTT IndyCar Series held qualifying for the Bommarito 500, which was delayed from Saturday due to rain that moved through earlier in the weekend.
Drivers took to the egg-shaped oval to set two consecutive fast laps in order to determine the starting order for the final oval race of the season.
After each driver had his turn, it was Scott McLaughlin that found himself at the top of the timesheets. He completed his laps in 49.1936 seconds and averaged 182.951 miles per hour.
READ MORE: IndyCar Gateway – Full Qualifying Results
Due to an unapproved engine change heading into the weekend, McLaughlin will actually start from the 10th position.
He still gets to lay claim to the pole award, including the lone bonus point for the achievement, the first time he has done so on an oval.
His Team Penske team-mate Josef Newgarden set the second fastest set of laps, and was just over 0.5 miles per hour slower on his attempt.
Newgarden will roll off from the inside of the front row for the race, and will attempt to convert that into his fifth oval win of the season to complete a clean sweep of the banked tracks.
Colton Herta held the top spot for a while during the session, showing more pace than his practice time indicated. But he was knocked down a bit by the Penske duo.
Conor Daly did an admirable job in his first outing in RLL machinery, and coaxed his #30 entry to the 15th best time.
On account of his unfortunate crash in practice, Marcus Ericsson hit the track with a backup chassis that had been borrowed from his team-mate Alex Palou.
The piecemeal car was not quite as dialed in as his primary car was, and he set the 18th best time of the morning.
The Ed Carpenter Racing trio had a disappointing outing as well, with all three drivers qualifying in the back few rows and Ed Carpenter himself in the last and final position.
Ryan Hunter-Reay climbs into his Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy. Photo: Kevin Dejewski
Santino Ferrucci had a scary moment during his run when the back end of his car stepped out one his final fast lap.
He was able to gather up his #14 AJ Foyt Chevy, but still had to get out of the throttle and was only able to manage the 27th best time.
No drivers had any damaging issues, however, and only minor tweaks will be needed by the crews before the race this afternoon.
Drivers will only have a couple hours to prepare for the 260-lap race, which gets underway at 2:30 PM Central Time.
Keyword: McLaughlin takes IndyCar pole, will start lower after penalty