For the first time in his IndyCar career, Marcus Ericsson will start on pole position as Ericsson had the fastest lap at 94.3562 seconds in the final round of qualifying for the Grand Prix of Arlington. At 117 races, this is the fourth-longest wait for a first career pole position in IndyCar history. This is the eighth time in IndyCar history a driver has taken over 100 races to get his first pole position. It is Ericsson's first pole position in any series since June 29, 2013 when he started first for the GP2 feature race from Silverstone. Ericsson's last three top ten finishes have come on street courses. Unfortunately, he has 16 finishes outside the top ten in that time span. It has been 52 starts since Ericsson's most recent victory at the 2023 St. Petersburg season opener.
Álex Palou takes second on the grid after coming 0.4618 seconds shy of Ericsson's time. This is the 21st time in his career Palou is starting on the front row, however, he has only won from the second starting position once previously. It came last season at Road America. Palou has finished in the top five of the third race of the season every year in his career. His finishes in the third race of the season are third, fourth, third, fifth, fifth and second.
Patricio O’Ward will start third, and O'Ward was 0.0273 seconds off making the front row. O'Ward was the only Chevrolet to make the Fast Six. This is his tenth consecutive race starting in the top ten. He is looking for his third consecutive top five finish. He has never had three consecutive top five finishes to open a season. With his fourth-place finish at Phoenix, O'Ward now has 50 top five finishes in his career and 70 top ten finishes.
Will Power has his best starting position of the season in fourth position. This is Power's first race staring in the top ten this season. After finishing 22nd and 16th in the first two races, Power is on the verge of his first season without a top ten finish in the first three races since 2017. Only one of Power's last 17 victories has come on a street course. That was Belle Isle in 2022. He has not won one of the first three races in a season since he won the 2014 season opener.
Felix Rosenqvist will lead an all-Meyer Shank Racing row three. Rosenqvist has finished 12th in the first two races of the season. It is the first time Rosenqvist has finished in the same position in consecutive races since he was tenth at Barber Motorsports Park and Long Beach in 2019, his third and fourth starts in IndyCar. Rosenqvist has not had a top five finish since he was runner-up at Road America, ten races ago.
Marcus Armstrong is on the outside of his teammate Rosenqvist. This is Armstrong's best start of the season, and it is his sixth consecutive time at least making the second round of qualifying on a street course. He has always made it out of the first round on a street course while driving for Meyer Shank Racing. Despite this, his best street course finish with the team is sixth, and he has failed to finish in the top ten in four of five street course starts at MSR.
Kyle Kirkwood fell 0.0415 seconds short of making it to the final round of qualifying, and Kirkwood will start seventh at Arlington. This is his 11th consecutive race without a top five start. Kirkwood was fastest in each practice session ahead of qualifying. He did win from eighth on the streets of Nashville in 2023. In the third race of the season, Kirkwood has finished tenth, first, tenth and first over his first four IndyCar seasons.
Christian Rasmussen matches his career-best starting position of eighth, and it is his best starting position on a street course. He started eighth at Mid-Ohio in 2024. This is only the fourth time in the Dane's career he is starting in the top ten. Last week, Rasmussen led 69 laps at Phoenix. Entering that race, he had led only 46 laps in his career. Twenty-one of those laps were at Detroit last year, the only time he has led a street race.
David Malukas is the top Team Penske starter in ninth. This extends Malukas' top ten start streak to seven consecutive races. Two drivers had their first career Team Penske victory come in their their start with the team. Al Unser, Jr. did it in 1994 at Long Beach and Josef Newgarden did it in 2017 at Barber Motorsports Park. Malukas has led six laps in his career on a road or street course. He has never led more than two laps in a single road/street race.
Alexander Rossi takes tenth on the grid. Rossi only started in the top ten once on a street course last season. He has four top ten finishes in his last five starts. He started sixth and finished sixth last week at Phoenix. Rossi has not had a top five finish on a street course since he was fifth at Detroit in 2024. He has not won on a street course since Long Beach in 2019.
Josef Newgarden overcame an accident in Saturday morning practice to qualify 11th. With a seventh at St. Petersburg and a victory at Phoenix, Newgarden could open a season with three consecutive top ten finishes for the first time since 2019 when he had four top five finishes to open the season. That is also Newgarden's most recent championship season. He has won previously from 11th on the grid. That was in 2015 at Toronto, his second career victory.
Santino Ferrucci rounds out the top twelve, however, this is Ferrucci's eighth consecutive race starting outside the top ten. Ferrucci has not completed a lap in a street course race since he finished second at Detroit last June. He missed the Toronto race after an accident in warm-up and the team could not get the car repaired in time for the race. At St. Petersburg, Ferrucci was collected in the opening lap accident and his car did not make it beyond the fourth corner.
Louis Foster fell short on getting out of group one in round one by 0.0972 seconds, and Foster will start 13th. Foster enters this weekend for his 20th start, and he has yet to score his first career top ten finish. Nine drivers have taken 20 starts or more to get their first career top ten finish in IndyCar history. Kyffin Simpson had his first career top ten finish come last year in his 20th start, which was also the third race of the season.
Speaking of Kyffin Simpson, he missed out on advancing to the second round of qualifying by 0.0496 seconds, and he will join Foster on row two. At Toronto last year, Simpson went from 13th to third. He also went from 19th to fifth at Detroit and 17th to tenth at Long Beach. Simpson is looking for his second consecutive top ten finish after he was tenth at Phoenix last week.
Romain Grosjean takes 15th on the grid. This is the third time Grosjean will start 15th in his career, however, the first two times each came at Portland in 2022 and 2023. In both of those races, he finished worse than 15th. Due to a clutch issue, Grosjean was unable to start the Phoenix race. Two of his six career podium finishes have come on street courses, both of those were runner-up finishes at Long Beach.
Caio Collet has his best career starting position in 16th. Collet started 24th and 23rd in his first two races. This is the first time he has been the top starting rookie this season. In his two seasons Indy Lights, Collet never won a street course race. He had three podium finishes in four street course starts.
Mick Schumacher will start the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington from 17th. Schumacher started fourth last week at Phoenix, his maiden oval start, but he ended up finish 18th, two laps down. He is still looking for his first lead lap finish in IndyCar.
For the third consecutive time this season, Christian Lundgaard is starting outside the top ten as Lundgaard takes 18th on the grid. This is the fifth time in the last ten races the Dane is starting outside the top fifteen. Only once last season did Lundgaard go consecutive races without a top ten finish. He was 14th at Gateway and 24th at Road America. Lundgaard was 13th last week at Phoenix.
Dennis Hauger starts directly behind his fellow 2026 rookie Schumacher in 19th. Hauger won in both his street course starts in Indy Lights. Both of those starts came from pole position. Hauger led three laps at Phoenix during a pit cycle, the first laps led in his career.
Scott Dixon rolls off from 20th on the grid, his worst starting position of the season. This is the 22nd time in the last 37 races Dixon is starting outside the top ten. Without a top five finish in his last five starts, this is Dixon's longest top five finish drought since 2004-05 when he went 27 starts between top five finishes from fifth at Motegi in 2004 to his 2005 Watkins Glen victory.
Rinus VeeKay is starting 21st. At St. Petersburg, VeeKay went from 19th to ninth. Six of his last eight top ten finishes have come after starting outside the top ten. VeeKay has never finished in the top ten in the third race of the season. His finishes in the third race of the season are 13th, 20th, 13th, 26th, 17th and 19th.
Nolan Siegel starts 22nd for the second time this season. Siegel started 22nd at St. Petersburg, but finished 20th, two laps down. He has finished 20th in each of the first two races this season. Siegel has finished outside the top fifteen in eight consecutive starts. He has failed to finish on the lead lap in the last four races. In seven career street course starts, his only lead lap finish was at Long Beach last year.
Sting Ray Robb was the slowest driver in group one of qualifying, and Robb will start 23rd, directly behind his Juncos Hollinger Racing teammate. This snaps a streak of five consecutive top twenty start for Robb. Robb has finished 21st in the first two races. It is the second consecutive season he has opened the season with consecutive results outside the top twenty.
Graham Rahal's qualifying run left him 24th on the grid. This is the 13th time in the last 15 street course races Rahal is starting outside the top ten. Both his top ten starts in this stretch were at Toronto. A top ten finish this weekend will be the 150th of his IndyCar career. He has finished in the top ten at Toronto the last three seasons. His most recent street course top ten finish that was other than Toronto was sixth at St. Petersburg in 2023.
After clipping the barrier and drawing a red flag in the second group in round one, Scott McLaughlin will start last in 25th. This is the fifth time since the start of last season McLaughlin is starting outside the top twenty. In three of the four races he started outside the top twenty last season, McLaughlin ended up finishing outside the top twenty. In his three previous races in the state of Texas, McLaughlin has an average finish of 3.333. He was twice runner-up at Texas Motor Speedway and sixth in his other start.
Fox’s coverage of the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington begins at 11:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 12:17 p.m. ET. The race start was moved up an hour due to anticipated high winds in the Arlington area in the afternoon. Wind gusts are expected up to 40 mph. The race is scheduled for 70 laps.
