David Malukas is feeling right at home in his second weekend with Team Penske. 

The 24 year-old from Chicago, Illinois, claimed his first INDYCAR pole on Friday at Phoenix Raceway. Malukas’ average speed of 175.383 mph, was .835 mph ahead of second place Josef Newgarden (174.548 mph), ensuring a Team Penske front row for the race on Saturday afternoon. 

Malukas was close to multiple poles last year when driving for A.J. Foyt Racing, but now has the pressure lifted, driving the No.12 Verizon Chevrolet. 

“We had so many close moments,” Malukas said. “I think — I mean, that was the story of last season with qualifying, at least on these ovals where we’re provisionally sitting in that pole spot because of the championship order, so it would be 13th. Then right at the end, right at the death, we would get dropped down to second or third, whatever it may be. I already knew this time, though, that lap, it was a pretty sporty lap. 

It was pretty good. It seemed that the track actually went in our favor and it started to get worse. I already had our confidence pretty high, and yeah, it feels so good to finally get it here. Yeah, all we needed was just a really good crew, so big thank you to Team Penske.”

Newgarden, who started off the season with a seventh place finish in St. Petersburg, comes into Phoenix as the reigning winner, having won in 2018. The driver of the No.2 Chevrolet applauded the entire effort of Team Penske after qualifying. 

“Good day for the team. I think we’re all top 5 where we landed. So a lot of speed on our cars. You know, on our car specifically, we were a little bit behind coming through practice. I just did not have a smooth practice. It was kind of a follow-up from St. Pete in some ways where our cadence was just not what we wanted coming right into the weekend. I think that made us second-guess a couple of things that we were going to do in qualifying. You know, now that I did it, in hindsight, I wish we could have reverted back to our original plan, but, you know, sometimes you react to certain things and you don’t get it perfect. I felt like we did a good job. We just didn’t get it perfect, but at the end of the day, all of us being in the top 5 is a great starting spot for this race and something we can work with.”

Following Malukas and Newgarden in the Top Five was the Rahal Letterman Lanigan duo of Graham Rahal (173.993 mph), Mick Schumacher (173.667 mph), in his first oval start and Scott McLaughlin (173.448 mph). 

SEE: Good Ranchers 250 Starting Grid

McLaughlin, albeit sharing data with Malukas and Newgarden, was not “100% comfortable” with his No.3 Chevrolet but is optimistic about the race having multiple lanes to race in. 

“I truly believe it’s gonna be a two-groove race,” McLaughlin said. “If it is, we just have to sort of pivot and it might become a bit more fuel saving and all that stuff.” 

While Team Penske celebrated successes on Friday, it was a day to forget for Felix Rosenqvist and Will Power. 

Rosenqvist started the day off with a wreck in the morning practice session, losing the back-end of his No.60 Honda in Turn 1. Rosenqvist would have to miss qualifying, but would make the final practice session on Friday, posting the 18th fastest speed (162.917 mph). 

Power would wreck in qualifying, also losing the back-end of his No.26 Honda in Turn 2. Power’s car dipped below the yellow line, causing the car to spin. Power, just like Rosenqvist, would make the final practice session, with the 24th fastest speed (160.677 mph). 

Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250 will be live on FOX at 3 p.m. ET.