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All three Team Penske drivers went into Group 1 at The Brickyard but only two made it out.
McLaughlin improved on his final lap, to a 1:09.1378s, but it was not enough to dislodge Pietro Fittipaldi from the top six, and he is set to start 13th for Saturday’s (local time) race.
“Look, it is IndyCar, and that is frustrating, but I actually felt my laps were really good,” said the New Zealander, who won the most recent race of the season, on NBC Sports.
“Obviously, not good enough – I just missed a couple of… Turn 4 was probably my biggest loss, so frustrated for the Sonsio Chevy.
“Feels good, but you just miss it by a little bit and you’re out, so it is what it is.”
On the upside, two of the last four IndyCar races on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course have been won from Row 7 or further back.
Scott Dixon put in a masterful performance to prevail from 15th last August, while Colton Herta got the job done from 14th when rain caused chaos in May 2022 and McLaughlin spun while leading under Caution.
Having not made Round 2 of Qualifying, McLaughlin also has two brand-new sets of ‘reds’ at his disposal for what a race in which that alternate compound of tyre is expected to be preferred.
“The boys just reminded me of that,” he said.
“I don’t mind my chances, so hopefully 13’s lucky for me.”
Penske’s other two cars will line up on Row 2, with Will Power qualifying third-quickest and Josef Newgarden fourth-.
Warm Up at Indianapolis takes place on Saturday at 11:15 ET/Sunday at 01:15 AEST, then the 85-lap Race from 15:30 ET/05:30 AEST.
