Josef Newgarden: ‘We just weren’t quick’ as Team Penske falters in Thermal qualifying

Team Penske rolled into qualifying at the Thermal Club with cause for optimism after Scott McLaughlin’s season-opening pole position in St. Petersburg. 

But on a sunny Saturday in California, it didn’t take long for the team’s weekend prognosis to turn cloudy.

The Captain’s trio of drivers all struggled in qualifying for the Thermal Club’s first NTT IndyCar Series points race, dropping out of contention after the opening group qualifying session. None came close to advancing, missing out on Q2 for the first time in nearly four years and notching the team’s worst collective qualifying result since the 2021 Indianapolis 500.

Team Penske’s tough qualifying session

Things didn’t take long to start going wrong.

Seconds into the session, McLaughlin went for a spin on his warmup lap, looping his No. 3 Chevrolet around. The incident didn’t cause damage, but the Supercars champion was thrown off-plan and had to serve a drive-through penalty that limited his track time after causing a local yellow. 

Without any banker laps, that left the Kiwi last on the charts with no margin for error when he strapped on the red tires. But in his last-ditch effort to advance, McLaughlin found trouble ahead. 

“I made a mistake on the black tire,” McLaughlin said of the spin. “Saved it, but it’s hard to get a read on the track conditions after that. The red tire, I felt like we were going to be pretty good because we were out of sync. …  I come around the corner in turn 1 and there was dirt everywhere from whoever was in front of me. I just had no grip whatsoever.”

Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

The late misfortune doomed McLaughlin’s run, leaving him last among the group. His teammates, Josef Newgarden and Will Power, weren’t much better off. Power was similarly hampered by an early mistake, pushing wide in the first corner on his opening lap. He aborted the run, but never properly recovered. Newgarden led the pair, but was hampered by untimely traffic ahead and a rare mistake in turn 9. 

The end result were group qualifying efforts of ninth and 11th, leaving both drivers wondering what could have been. 

“I don’t know, we just weren’t quick,” Newgarden admitted, though he felt he could have transferred with better fortune on the final lap. “All of us didn’t look fantastic in our group.” 

Power was left bemoaning another key session gone awry. “Man, we were good in every single session except the one that counted,” he said. “That’s been our whole year so far. (We’ve) been extremely good and fast in practice and testing. Even on blacks we were fourth quickest there. And then when it came time to do it, it just wasn’t there. (Tough) to think about it.”

Will Power, Team Penske

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Saturday’s mishaps will leave the Penske trio with a deep hole to crawl out of on Sunday. Newgarden will roll off 17th, with Power and McLaughlin following in 21st and 25th, respectively. Despite the setback, the drivers tried to remain optimistic about their chances to improve in the race. 

“Payday’s tomorrow,” McLaughlin said. “I’ve got the best team on pit road to get me going in this XPEL Chevy. We’ll see how we go. I’m bummed, disappointed in myself. But we’ll work on it and get better tomorrow.”

Newgarden shared the optimism. “Obviously we’re going to have to find some speed for tomorrow now, but we can always make something happen,” he said. “I always feel good with Team Penske.”   

Sunday’s race will go live on FOX at 3:00 p.m. ET. Read our story about when and how to watch the race here.

Photos from Thermal Club – Practice & Qualifying