David Malukas was 0.1978 seconds off his first career pole position. Instead, Malukas will start second for the third time in his career. He started second at Detroit earlier this season and finished 14th, partially due to a penalty for contact that sent Palou into the turn one barrier. Malukas has two top five finishes this season, both on ovals. All five of his top five finishes in his career have come on ovals. He has never had more than two top five finishes in a season. This will be Malukas' 60th career start. Eighteen drivers scored their first career victory in their 60th start or later.
Patricio O’Ward will start third after he was 0.2472 seconds slower than Palou. This is the third consecutive race O'Ward is starting in the top five. O’Ward is coming off his worst result of the season, a 25th at Portland largely due to electrical issues. He has finished in the top five of all four oval races this season, including podium finishes in three of the events.
Scott McLaughlin is the best Team Penske starter in fourth. McLaughlin was 0.3363 seconds off pole position. McLaughlin won the second race of last year's doubleheader from second on the grid. Nineteen times has a driver won consecutive Milwaukee. The most recent driver to do it was Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2012 and 2013.
Will Power will start fifth, his sixth consecutive race starting in the top ten. Power enters as the most recent IndyCar winner. He led 78 laps on his way to winning at Portland. Prior to Portland, Power had only led four laps in the first 14 races. He has not won consecutive races since he swept the Indianapolis races in May 2018. He was second in the first race of last year’s Milwaukee doubleheader.
Kyle Kirkwood has his best starting position on an oval in sixth. Kirkwood's previous best was tenth at Gateway. Though he won at Gateway, Kirkwood’s average finish of ovals this year is 19.25, largely due to his disqualification at the Indianapolis 500. This dropped him from sixth to 32nd. Based on where he finished on the road, Kirkwood’s average result is 12.75.
Josef Newgarden will start seventh. Newgarden has won from seventh starting spot six times with four of those coming on ovals. In Newgarden's seven oval starts since his most recent victory, his average finish is 16.428 with four finishes outside the top twenty. He finished 26th and 27th in last year's Milwaukee doubleheader.
Conor Daly is starting to Newgarden's outside on row four. Prior to his accident last week at Portland, Daly had not retired from a race due to an accident since the second race of the 2021 Texas doubleheader when Daly was caught in an opening lap accident. It had been 61 consecutive starts without retiring due to an accident for Daly.
Christian Rasmussen is starting a spot behind Daly in ninth, one race after the two infamously came together at Portland. This is only the second time Rasmussen has started inside the top ten this season. He started tenth at Detroit. Rasmussen has finished in the top ten of all four oval races this season. The only other drivers to do that are the top two in the championship, Álex Palou and Patricio O’Ward.
Graham Rahal rounds out the top ten. This is the fourth time in five races Rahal is starting in the top ten. Rahal is coming off his first top five finish in two years after he was fourth at Portland. He has not had consecutive top five finishes since he was fifth in both Belle Isle races in 2021. Rahal's best oval finish this season was 11th in the first Iowa race. His average oval result is 17.25.
Rinus VeeKay starts just outside the top ten in 11th, his best starting position on an oval this season. VeeKay started 18th or worse in the first four oval races. Last season, VeeKay had five top ten finishes in seven oval races. This year, he has only one top ten finish in the first four oval races. While VeeKay was second at Toronto three races ago, he has finished outside the top ten in four of the last five races.
Alexander Rossi starts next to VeeKay on row six. This is the fifth consecutive oval race Rossi is starting between 12th and 15th. He started 12th at Indianapolis 500 and 12th at Gateway. Gateway is only oval race where he finished better than his starting position, finishing 11th. Rossi has not finished in the top ten in his last five oval starts. His most recent top five finish on an oval was fifth in last year’s Indianapolis 500.
Marcus Ericsson takes 13th on the grid. Ericsson has finished outside the top twenty in three of the last four races. Thanks to his post-race penalty at the Indianapolis 500, his best classification from an oval race this season was 13th at Gateway. Last year, Ericsson went from 16th to fifth in the second Milwaukee race.
A nine-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change knocks Scott Dixon from fifth to 14th on the grid. This is Dixon's third grid penalty of the season. The first was at Detroit. He went from 16th to 11th in that race. At Toronto, Dixon had to start 17th and he finished tenth. Dixon has finished on the podium in the 16th race of the season for four consecutive seasons. He hasn't won the 16th race of a season since 2015 when he won the Sonoma season finale.
Devlin DeFrancesco starts in the top fifteen for the second consecutive race as the Canadian will start 15th at Milwaukee. This is his best start on an oval this season. His previous best was 16th at the Indianaplis 500. DeFrancesco won one oval race during his Road to Indy career. It was at Gateway on August 29, 2020.
Marcus Armstrong will be to DeFrancesco's outside on row eight. Armstrong has finished in the top ten of the last three oval races. Last year, he was 21st and 26th in the two Milwaukee races. He was three laps down in race one and only completed six laps in race two. Last week, Armstrong signed an extension to remain with Meyer Shank Racing for the 2026 season.
Christian Lundgaard leads an all-Arrow McLaren row nine as Lundgaard has Nolan Siegel starting to his outside. While Rasmussen started eighth at the Indianapolis 500, his average starting spot on ovals this season is 16.4 With runner-up finishes in the last two races, Lundgaard could become the 14th driver in IndyCar history to have three consecutive runner-up finishes. The most recent driver to do it was Hélio Castroneves in 2008.
Nolan Siegel is 18th. This is the third consecutive race Siegel is starting outside the top fifteen and the eighth time in 16 races he is starting outside the top fifteen. Siegel competed in six oval races last season, and he had an average finish of 15.5. Through three oval starts this season, Siegel's average finish is 18.667.
Sting Ray Robb has his best starting position since Mid-Ohio in 19th. Robb has finished on the lead lap in the last two races, and he was 14th at Portland. It was his third time finishing in the top fifteen this season. Robb’s best oval finish this season was 20th at Gateway. Last year, he finished 23rd and 18th in the two Milwaukee races. Robb had an accident in the final minutes of final practice yesterday evening.
Robert Shwartzman rounds out the top twenty on the grid. This is his fourth consecutive race starting 20th or worse. Shwartzman has two top ten finishes in the last three oval races. He went from 24th to tenth at Gateway, and he was ninth in the second Iowa race after starting 11th. With two races remaining, Shwartzman is six points behind Louis Foster in the Rookie of the Year battle.
Santino Ferrucci starts 21st for the second consecutive race. At Portland, Ferrucci's race only lasted two laps after starting 21st. It is the 15th time this season Ferrucci has started outside the top ten. Only one driver finished in the top five of both Milwaukee races last year. That was Ferrucci, who finished fourth both days. He started 19th and 12th in those two races.
Jacob Abel takes 22nd on his grid, his best starting position on an oval this season. Abel will drive the #50 Miller Lite Honda this week, a slight number change from his #51 entry. This is to recognize the 50th anniversary of Miller Lite. Abel had Miller High Life as his sponsor when he failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. He has had an accident end three of his last five races.
Callum Ilott will start 23rd, one spot better than where Ilott has started in the last two races. Ilott enters Milwaukee with three consecutive top ten finishes. It is the longest top ten streak of his IndyCar career. Prior to this three-race stretch, Ilott had only five top ten finishes in his entire IndyCar career. His only top ten finish on an oval was ninth at Texas in April 2023.
Colton Herta spun on his first qualifying lap, but he was able to keep the car out of the barrier. However, Herta will start 24th due to the incident and after grid penalties are applied. This is his worst starting position since Herta started 27th at the Indianapolis 500 in May, which was the worst starting position of his IndyCar career. In his first six seasons, Herta has finished in the top five of the penultimate race four times with another finish of sixth.
Félix Rosenqvist spun and hit the barrier in turn four on his first qualifying lap. Grid penalties for others will move Rosenqvist to 25th starting position. Prior to Milwaukee, Rosenqvist had not started worse than seventh on an oval. This is his first time starting outside the top twenty since he started 22nd at Road America last season. Rosenqvist has not had a top five finish in his last six starts after opening the season with four top five finishes in the first nine races.
Kyffin Simpson has a nine-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change, and this will move Simpson to 26th starting spot. After finishing in the top ten in three of four races, Simpson has finished outside the top ten in four of the last five races with three of those results being outside the top fifteen. No driver has won from worse than 25th in a Milwaukee race.
Louis Foster was unable to complete a lap at speed in the first practice session due to an engine issue. Foster only ran three instillation laps in the first practice session before qualifying. A subsequent engine change has resulted in a nine-spot grid penalty and Foster will start in last for the Milwaukee race. While he had an accident at Gateway, Foster has finished no worse than 14th in the other three oval races this season.
Fox’s coverage of the SnapOn 250 from the Milwaukee Mile will begin at 2:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 2:20 p.m. The race is scheduled for 250 laps.
