David Malukas Scores Maiden IndyCar Pole as Team Penske Shows Muscle at Phoenix

By Kirby Arnold, Special Contributor

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Team Penske showed its muscle in qualifying Friday for the Good Ranchers 250 NTT IndyCar Series race at Phoenix Raceway, with the newest driver to the team flexing the most.

David Malukas, in his second race since joining Team Penske, drove his Verizon Chevrolet to the pole starting position for the race with a two-lap qualifying average speed of 175.383 mph on the one-mile oval.

Teammate Josef Newgarden will start alongside Malukas on the front row after a run of 174.548 in his XPEL Chevrolet. Scott McLaughlin, in his Gallagher Insurance Chevrolet, rounded out the Team Penske qualifying effort at 173.448, placing him fifth.

Malukas, in his fifth year in the series, won his first career pole after qualifying second three times last year driving for A.J. Foyt Racing. Two of those were on ovals at Milwaukee and Nashville.

“We had so many close moments,” Malukas said. “That was the story of last season with qualifying, at least on these ovals where we were provisionally sitting in that pole spot. Then right at the end, we would get dropped down to second or third, whatever it may be.”

This time, with a new team in a car that was fast and comfortable the moment he began practice this week, Malukas knew he would be strong.

“It was a pretty sporty lap,” he said. “It seemed that the track actually went in our favor and (for those who qualified at the end of the session) it started to get worse. It feels so good to finally get it here.”

Graham Rahal qualified third at 173.993 to lead the strongest qualifying effort in years for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team.

Rookie Mick Schumacher, in his first oval experience, will start fourth. He was the first car to qualify, with an average of 173.667.  Louis Foster, in the other RLL car, will start 16^th after a speed of 171.827. It’s the best 1-2 qualifying effort for the team since 2005 at Chicago when Danica Patrick won the pole and Buddy Rice started second.

Newgarden couldn’t hold back his praise for Schumacher, who will start his second IndyCar race after getting caught in a crash last weekend on the first lap at St. Petersburg.

“What a tremendous job,” Newgarden said. “The race is a different story, but I say this all the time, you’ve got to be open-minded in this series. He could just come in and be a natural. We’ve seen people do that where they just take to these racing conditions. But to pass his first test, I think he passed it with flying colors.”

Newgarden had the fastest lap (167.677) during a busy final practice, when teams worked on traffic running and logged considerable laps. Marcus Armstrong was second in that session, followed by Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou and Malukas. O’Ward ran a session-high 101 laps.

Two crashes Friday relegated Felix Rosenqvist and Will Power to the back of the starting lineup after their crews thrashed to repair their cars. Rosenqvist ran 64 laps in the final practice and was 18^th fastest, and Power 76 laps, 24^th fastest.

Rosenqvist crashed hard exiting Turn 2 in the morning practice in his Meyer Shank Racing Honda and missed qualifying. Power spun and backed into the Turn 2 wall during his qualifying attempt in his Andretti Global Honda.

It has been a difficult start to the season for Power, new to the Andretti Global team after 17 years with Team Penske. He also crashed in practice, and then in the race, last weekend at St. Petersburg.

Malukas is now in Power’s old ride, and the 24-year-old is pinching himself over the best opportunity of his racing life.

So, what has been the most mind-blowing part of joining Team Penske?

“It’s the resources,” Malukas said. “I make this as a joke, but St. Pete was the best example of that. I went back to my bus to use the restroom and by the time I came back I had three different people coming to me with computers and different simulations, data and all these things that I can work on. I mean, it was five minutes, a quick bathroom break, and when I came back there was all this data.”

Malukas certainly feels pressure to perform with one of motorsport’s greatest teams, which is celebrating its 60^th anniversary this year. But he says the pressure doesn’t come from Roger Penske.

“From Roger’s perspective, he’s already believed in you; he doesn’t just bring anybody in,” Malukas said. “That’s the confidence boost I need to tell myself that I didn’t make it here by mistake. I worked hard, The Captain believed in me and I’m going to go out there and prove myself.”