Scott McLaughlin was on rails Saturday evening, placing his Team Penske Chevrolet on pole by a wide margin.
The Kiwi was locked in from the first session, dancing his car through the city streets as if it were designed specifically for the bumpy and winding course.
No other driver was able to come close to McLaughlin’s time of 1:14.6099, and the closest was Pato O’Ward with a lap that was a full three tenths of a second slower.
McLaughlin was even on course to set a better time yet at the end of the session, but his pit box had him back off when it was clear nobody was going to challenge the time he had already put on the board.
Speaking after earning his first pole of the season, he described that he was able to achieve the top spot because his team brought the exact same setup that earned him pole last year.
“Really satisfying because it all started in Q1 for us,” said McLaughlin. “Pumped a decent lap out there. Six tenths better than P2. We were able to do one lap on our greens, and bolted those on for Q3.
“I just had to make sure we got to the Fast Six, which we did. Every lap in quali, nailed it pretty good. A really satisfying qualifying session, probably the best of my IndyCar career, to be honest.
“[The final lap] was the money one. Really nice. Juicy. I’m really happy with that. Yeah, same car as what we ran last year. It’s just been unreal. The Chevy has been awesome. Been a lot of gains everywhere. I think we’ve made improvements.
“Overall, just to come here with the same philosophy, just nail laps, it’s a good feeling. Especially with the interruptions between sessions.
“I actually wanted it to rain. I was excited with the rain. The rain was a lot of fun this morning, had a blast. Learn a ton every time I’m in the rain. Nice to be fast in the wet and dry.”
At last year’s Music City Grand Prix, McLaughlin started in the top spot and just missed out on getting the win.
He’ll look to go one better this time around by earning his second victory of the year around the 2.1-mile course that’s known for throwing curveballs from the moment the green flag flies.
