IndyCar News: Palou Denies Malukas the Pole for Snap-On Milwaukee 250

The newly crowned series Champion, Alex Palou, crushed David Malukas’ chance to win his first NTT INDYCAR Series pole today. The driver of the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet waited for the last car to qualify before losing the pole for tomorrow’s Snap-On Milwaukee 250.  Palou’s lap time was 22.3764s over Malukas’ 22.4835s.

This was the Spaniard’s sixth pole in the 2025 season and 12th of his IndyCar career.

“I think I knew that the car, at least after practice, that it was towards the direction I wanted. I still needed a little bit more help from the car, and Julian, my engineer, did small changes on the springs and found a way to get me a bit more comfortable.”

“I put that in my brain and I was like, just go for it. Worst-case scenario you’re just going to lose a little bit, apex, and that’s it, you’re going to do a bad lap. I was a bit more uncomfortable, but after lap 1, I was like, I kind of like this.”

“Yes, I think I discovered something here at Milwaukee at least for qualifying. That doesn’t mean that it’s the same for tomorrow.”

“It was tough because the tire deg is really high, which I think it’s super good for everybody, like for fans, for media, for drivers, because it’s going to be a very interesting race. I think the tires are really good for like 20 laps. The grip is amazing, and then suddenly you start losing some grip.”

“That’s going to create a lot of passing opportunities, so what I was looking at was just to try and get some traffic running. But it’s really tough. I think this afternoon we’re going to see more because you had people on new tires and people on like 30-lap tires. ”

David Malukas commented after the nail-biting finish about his thoughts.

“They were two beautiful laps. I crossed that line, I wasn’t even looking at the time, and I knew it was fast. Sometimes you just know it’s going to be good, and I crossed, and I was like, that was really beautiful. I really think that’s going to be the one.”

“I just had to wait until the end, and I saw him come out of 4, and I was like, oh, no, I was like, put the ghost thing in there; I think he’s got it on this one. I saw the ghost car, and I was like, yeah.”

“It’s still good. Going to be on the front row again here at Milwaukee. We have a good race car. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow”.

“When it comes to being quick here, it’s a short time. You have one practice session and you’re going straight to qualifying, and it’s about carrying momentum and finding the best line that works for you. I think out of qualifying you’ll see on ovals, this is the track that differs the most on what lines people do use. You’ll see some people going in on that lower line, some people going high, and some people try and find something that
works more in the middle, and it depends on what car is best on what line.”

Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, will start third after his lap time of 22.4791s.

Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Sonsio Vehicle Protection Chevrolet, will start fourth after posting a lap of 22.5315s.

Scott Dixon, driver of the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda, was fifth fastest with a lap of 22.6638s but will have to serve his nine spot grid penalty for changing an engine.

Will Power, driver of the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet, will start sixth on the grid tomorrow, with a lap time of 22.6515s.

Colton Herta, driver of the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda, slid up the track on his first lap of qualifying, but missed hitting any walls.  The American continued his attempt after regaining himself and will start 26th.

Felix Rosenqvist, driver of the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda, spun in Turn 4 and hit the wall backwards.   The Swede has been seen and released from the Medical Center.

Qualifying Results

Lucille Dust reporting live from Milwaukee