IndyCar News: McLaughlin leads all-Penske front row at Barber

Hot off the heals of Team Penske being disqualified for cheating in the St. Petersburg GP, Scott McLaughlin led a Penske 1-2 in qualifying for the Children’s of Alabama NTT IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

McLaughlin’s lap of 1m05.9490s in his #3 Penske Chevy was the only driver in the 1m05 bracket, and he was followed by the #12 Penske Chevy of Will Power, 0.097s behind.

The fastest Honda was the #45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan entry driven by Christian Lundgaard, 0.1328s behind McLaughlin, and he will line up on the inside of Row 2.

Pato O’Ward was 4th quickest in the #5 Arrow McLaren Chevy, 0.345s behind McLaughlin.

Rounding out the top-5 as Felix Rosenqvist in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, 0.5034s behind

Chip Ganassi Racing’s #11 Marcus Armstrong was the last of the Fast Six runners, a massive 0.9532s behind.

The strong performance came at the end of a week in which Team Penske was penalized for illegal use of the Push to Pass system at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding. McLaughlin and teammate Josef Newgarden were disqualified from the race, and Power received a 10-point penalty.

“It’s been tough,” McLaughlin said. “This means a lot.

“We’ve just got to keep focusing like this for the rest of the season and keep working hard.

“Any time you get a chance to get a Team Penske front row, that’s the main thing. I’m very proud of everyone.”

The result is McLaughlin’s first pole of the season, and sixth in his IndyCar career.

McLaughlin returns to Alabama with history on his side, after winning the same race last season.

Roger Penske summoned fellow IndyCar team owners for an impromptu meeting ahead of qualifying at Barber Motorsports Park, following concerns raised by the disqualification of his cars at St. Petersburg.

The 30-minute meeting outside featured all the team owners. Team Penske President Tim Cindric, who handles the majority of the organization’s duties as Roger Penske is the owner of the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, did not attend as he likely knew the team was cheating and didn’t want to face the heat.

How IndyCar team owners described Roger Penske during Saturday’s meeting:

• Embarrassed.
• Bothered.
• Let down.
• Candid.
• Apologetic.

The meeting was private and no one would say what was discussed at the meeting. Whether Penske has fired Cindric remains to be seen, but we doubt it.

“To me, one of the big questions is Chevy had to have known about it,” Rahal told IndyStar. “I think there’s a lot of other people that need to answer questions that aren’t necessarily in the Penske organization. ‘How did it get that far? How did it happen?’

“But I don’t believe for a moment that Roger knew of it, let alone condoned it or approved of it, and I really do believe he’s very embarrassed. I feel bad for Roger. I don’t think anyone has ever accused him of trying to break the rules – particularly with the role he’s in now, where he owns the series. I think he’s very bothered by it, and I think the team put Roger in a bad position.”

Qualifying Results