David Malukas scored his first career IndyCar podium on Saturday night, and put on an impressive display in the closing laps to get it done.
When the green flag waved with 36 laps to go, the rookie was in fifth position with a bevy of fast drivers ahead of him. Malukas had fresher tires, however, and put them to use.
Completing pass after pass, including a thrilling outside maneuver on the final lap to pass Scott McLaughlin, the 20-year-old rocketed his way to an impressive second place result.
“I was trying so hard,” said Malukas excitedly talking about his final pass. “[These drivers] know how to do this. Blocking my line and stuff.
“But [my spotter] Pancho said, ‘Try going wide in one and two, three and four.’ It felt really good. I just said, ‘You know, two to go, let’s try it.’
“Because the track was so much quicker with it being so much later, I hit the limiter in sixth gear. I couldn’t get a tow or suck on him. We had to go two-wide in one and two.
“Scary going wide there. We knew from practice yesterday the cooler the track got, the better our car ended up being compared to the others around us. We knew we had a good car going into it. Knew I had a chance.”
The celebration when Malukas climbed out of the car rivaled the one found around a race-winning car, and showed just how much the result meant to his whole team.
Nearly every team manager, crew member, and family member came over to get a hug from IndyCar’s newest podium winner. Even the crowd made their voices heard from behind the catch fencing once he turned his attention to them.
The result means that Malukas is now only 11 points behind Christian Lundgaard in the Rookie of the Year standings, and sets him up with a lot of momentum heading into the final two races of the season.
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