It was assumed that Alex Palou would claim pole position for Sunday’s Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey–that is until Scott McLaughlin nudged him off in the waning moments of Saturday’s qualifying session at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
After securing the pole, a hoarse McLaughlin promised that he was feeling well. “I yelled way too much on the in-lap,” he explains. “I just lost my voice.”
The afternoon session ended with just a hair separating the top three. McLaughlin steered his no. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet across the line in a time of 1:09.1 over the undulating 11-turn, 2.238 road course. Five hundredths of a second separated McLaughlin’s from Palou’s no. 10 Ganassi Racing Honda in second and third qualifier, Felix Rosenqvist in the no. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda.
“I don't like it,” Palou says with a smile of the tight timing. “I don't like it, especially if I'm second.”
Palau has already wrapped up the 2026 season championship, his fifth. But he says celebration of the title has to wait, thanks to all of the media and sponsor obligations.
“Poor you,” McLaughlin says in jest. “Feel so bad for you.”
Despite earning the pole by a fraction–the 250th IndyCar pole for Chevrolet power plants–McLaughlin was not satisfied on Saturday.
“You're chasing Alex; you're chasing what they do,” he says. “He's qualified on the front row again, he's going to be a contender tomorrow. He does that week in, week out. We need to get to that level. It's nice to win a race here or there, but I want to be competing week in, week out. That's the only way to win a championship.”
Alexander Rossi in the no. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet qualified fourth with Christian Lundgaard fifth.
Lundgaard, driver of the no. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet head into Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series championship second in points. But he is closely hunted by others in the hunt for for Palou’s shadow.
David Malukas and his no. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet may have taken fifth spot on the grid, but for an error in Turn 3 on a late qualifying lap that sent him into the gravel. Kyle Kirkwood, driver of the no. 27 Andretti Honda starts seventh.
Pato O’Ward in the no. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet–the other contender for second on the season standings–struggled in qualifying and will start from the 13th position. But for Palou, position on the grid means little.
“You'll see tomorrow, it will be an overtaking fest,” he says, citing tire degradation, which opens up racing possibilities. “I might be wrong, but I think it's going to be a great show.”
The Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey rolls at noon on Sunday.