It has been a tough IndyCar season for Team Penske, and frankly, for Chevrolet-powered cars in general. However, a short oval like Iowa Speedway seems like a good opportunity for a Chevy driver to get back to the top step of the podium, but for Scott McLaughlin and the No.3 Team Penske Chevrolet, if he wants to win either race of the weekend doubleheader, he'll need to come from the back of the field.
After a rainy and tornado-ed out day of practice on Friday, cars were back on track Saturday morning, and things were looking good for McLaughlin.
He ended the session as the fastest car on track.
So, things were looking good going into qualifying, which saw each driver lay down two laps, one to qualify for Saturday's race and a second to qualify for Sunday's race.
So, given the pace he was showing in the morning, there were a lot of eyes on the No. 3 car, which looked capable of starting both races on the front row.
However, before he could complete a single qualifying lap, disaster struck.
That was a big one.
Unfortunately, that crash happened before McLauglin was able to lay down a lap for either race, which means that he'll start from the back in both.
Fortunately, he was okay after the incident, and hopefully, the Team Penske mechanics will be able to fix up that No. 3 machine in time for the race, which is scheduled to start just a few hours after qualifying.
It's another tough break this year for McLaughlin, who had a big crash ahead of the second day of qualifying before the Indianapolis 500 which ruined a car that seemed to have the pace for pole, then a week later, he crashed during the pace laps and was out of the race before it even began.
It has been a tough year for one of the series' best drivers.
On the bright side for Team Penske, Josef Newgarden — who has won at Iowa five times previously — put his No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet on pole for Saturday evening's race, while championship leader Alex Palou and the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda will lead the field to green in Sunday afternoon's race.
from The Latest & Most Breaking News With OutKick https://ift.tt/MZwBySh