Scott McLaughlin bookends INDYCAR poles with Laguna Seca pole

Monterey, Calif. — Scott McLaughlin began the 2026 NTT INDYCAR Season as its polesitter and he will end the season on pole at Laguna Seca.

This is his third pole of the season and his 13th career pole overall.

McLaughlin will look to snap his 36-race winless streak and avoid going two seasons without a trip to victory lane.

Meanwhile, the pole time of 1 minute, 9.1363 seconds was good enough to upset Alex Palou for the honors. The pole meant it was the first time since Barber Motorsports Park that the New Zealander has sat on pole at a road course.

The pole was also a milestone for Chevrolet in the series.

With McLaughlin’s pole today, Chevrolet has earned their 250th INDYCAR pole as a manufacturer.

A pole in Monterey is usually a good omen. 18 of the previous 28 polesitters have gone to victory lane.

“Since the thing left the hauler, this thing has been unreal,” McLaughlin said. “So stoked for Chevy to get the 250th pole, but I’ve got to try and transition this into a win. Really proud of everyone.

“We were a little bit lost there for a little bit, but to finally get back a little pace on road courses, which we’ve been a little bit lost, I’m really proud of Raul (Prados, race engineer) and the team.”

Notable Starting Positions

The newly crowned 2026 NTT INDYCAR Series champion Alex Palou will start alongside of him on the front row. The now 5-time champion can add a fifth win around Laguna Seca this weekend in his Alex Zanardi tribute livery.

While Palou led his group in the first round and the fast 12 on top of the charts, not winning the overall session meant little to the Spainard.

“It’s not the race, so consistency doesn’t matter much,” Palou said. “But honestly, happy. We went for it. We tried to get the pole. Really happy with another front-row start. Scott did a great lap.”

Felix Rosenqvist continued with another consistent weekend with a third starting spot. His final weekend with Meyer Shank Racing could end up on the podium.

Alexander Rossi made his second Firestone Fast 6 appearance of the season and will make his best start of the season here as well from fourth.

Then, Christian Lundgaard qualified fifth but will drop six-spots for an engine penalty. David Malukas rounded out the final six qualifiers from sixth.

The battle for the second spot in the final standings will heat up. Kyle Kirkwood will start ahead of the Arrow McLaren duo who has the best shot for it. Kirkwood finished the session in seventh while Pato O’Ward finished the session in 13th.

All 25 entrants qualified for the event. Below is the full starting lineup for the Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey.

Starting Lineup