Marcus Ericsson Earns First Career IndyCar Pole at Arlington

• Marcus Ericsson claimed his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole position in his 117th series start, posting a lap of 1:34.3562 that was nearly half a second quicker than second-placed Alex Palou at the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington.
• Series leaders Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin both crashed during Saturday’s sessions, with Newgarden switching to a backup chassis to start 11th and McLaughlin beginning the race from the rear of the 25-car field.
• The 70-lap race will start at noon ET Sunday on FOX, moved forward from its original slot after forecasted high winds in North Texas prompted a schedule adjustment.

Marcus Ericsson had come within two-hundredths of a second of his first IndyCar pole position three times previously. On Saturday at Arlington, he left nothing to chance.

The Swedish driver posted a lap of 1 minute, 34.3562 seconds in the No. 28 InPwr Honda of Andretti Global to claim the NTT P1 Award for the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington, his first career pole in 117 NTT INDYCAR SERIES starts. He was the first of the six finalists to run under the new one-lap, single-car Firestone Fast Six format, in which the top six from the second round are inverted for the final session so the slowest runs first and the fastest last. All five drivers who followed could not match his time, leaving him nearly half a second clear of Alex Palou, who qualified second at 1:34.8180 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

“I’ve waited long enough; I can tell you that,” a jubilant Ericsson said. “I think 2013 was the last pole I had. I feel like this is a giant thing for me because of that. Two-hundredths of a second away at St. Pete.”

The path to pole was not straightforward. Ericsson was sixth-fastest in the opening round’s first group, the last driver to advance, and bumped teammate Kyle Kirkwood on his final lap to claim the sixth and final transfer spot into the Fast Six.

“I want to shout out my pit crew here,” Ericsson said. “They’ve done a tremendous job. We were all over the place in Q1, but in Q2 and Q3 they improved the car. It’s just amazing.”

Pato O’Ward will start third after a lap of 1:34.8453 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, with Will Power fourth at 1:35.0856 in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda of Andretti Global. Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian teammates locked out the third row, with Felix Rosenqvist fifth at 1:35.1607 in the No. 60 SiriusXM/Texas A&M Honda and Marcus Armstrong sixth at 1:35.6012 in the No. 66 ROOT Insurance Honda. Honda-powered cars claimed six of the top seven positions on the grid.

The top three drivers in the series standings all failed to reach the Firestone Fast Six.

Series leader Josef Newgarden crashed in Saturday morning practice, damaging his chassis badly enough that Team Penske switched to a backup car for qualifying. Newgarden was eliminated in the second round and will start 11th in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet.

Kirkwood, second in points and the fastest driver in morning practice, was bumped from the Fast Six by his own teammate and will start seventh in the No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda of Andretti Global.

Scott McLaughlin faces the toughest assignment among the championship’s top three, starting at the rear of the 25-car field after crashing in the first round. McLaughlin’s No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet brushed the inside wall at Turn 8, hopped the inside curb, and slid into the concrete retaining wall, causing heavy damage in an incident closely resembling Newgarden’s earlier in the session.

The 70-lap race runs on the 14-turn, 2.73-mile temporary street circuit that winds around AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, and Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers. The event is a joint venture between Penske Entertainment, the Dallas Cowboys, and REV Entertainment, the official events partner of the Texas Rangers. Live coverage starts at 11:30 a.m. ET Sunday on FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One, the FOX Sports app, and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls, with the green flag at noon ET.