Felix Rosenqvist became the eighth driver this season to win two pole positions, as Rosenqvist ran the fastest lap in the final round qualifying around Laguna Seca at 66.6416 seconds. This is Rosenqvist's fifth career pole position and first at a track other than Texas Motor Speedway or on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. This is Rosenqvist's first career top five start at Laguna Seca. His previous best was eighth last season. He has finished in the top five in two of three Laguna Seca appearances. It has been 57 starts since Rosenqvist's only IndyCar victory, which came at Road America in 2020.
Scott McLaughlin was 0.0097 off Rosenqvist's time and for the sixth time this season, McLaughlin rolls off from the second starting position. The New Zealander has finished in the top ten each time he has started on the front row this season, but only once has he finished on the podium. That was second in the first Iowa race. McLaughlin is tied for the most laps completed this season with Álex Palou. McLaughlin has completed 2,163 of 2,165 laps this season. He was a lap down at St. Petersburg and a lap down at Gateway.
Christian Lundgaard takes third on the grid after qualifying 0.1062 seconds off Rosenqvist's fastest time in the final round. Lundgaard ran the fastest lap in the entire qualifying session. His 66.4610-second lap, which topped the second round, is the fastest IndyCar lap around Laguna Seca. This is Lundgaard's fifth top five start of the season. He had two last season. The Dane has finished 17th and 11th in the last two races. Lundgaard has never had three consecutive finishes outside the top ten in his IndyCar career.
Josef Newgarden makes it two consecutive Team Penske Chevrolets on the outside of the first two rows. Newgarden was 0.1521 seconds off Rosenqvist. Newgarden won from fourth at Texas in April, a race where Felix Rosenqvist started on pole position. Newgarden has actually won both Texas races where Rosenqvist started on pole position. Newgarden has finished runner-up in the season finale the last two seasons.
Scott Dixon was nearly four-tenths off Rosenqvist, and Dixon will start fifth, leading an all-Chip Ganassi Racing row three. This is Dixon's seventh top five starting position this season. In the first 13 races this season, Dixon only led 13 and no more than three laps in any one race. In the last three races, Dixon has led 172 laps and has led at least 15 laps in each race. The only time Dixon has won the season finale was in 2015, when his victory at Sonoma clinched him the championship on tiebreaker over Juan Pablo Montoya. (Update 1:48 p.m. ET: Dixon will have a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change).
Champion-elect Álex Palou rounds out the Fast Six. Palou is attempting to become the first driver with at least ten podium finishes in a season since Scott Dixon in 2019. No driver has won six races in a season since Will Power in 2011. The last time the champion had at least ten podium finishes in a season was Dario Franchitti in 2010. The last time the champion had six victories in a season was Scott Dixon in 2008.
Rinus VeeKay has his best non-oval start of the season in seventh, moving up a position due to a six-spot grid penalty to Jüri Vips for an unapproved engine change. VeeKay is coming off his best finish of the season after finishing sixth at Portland. VeeKay won twice at Laguna Seca in Indy Lights, sweeping the 2019 doubleheader. The Dutchman's best finish in a season finale is 14th, which came last year at Laguna Seca.
Will Power takes the outside position on row four. Power only made it to the final round of qualifying on a road/street course once this season, and his best starting position was sixth at Toronto. This is the second time in three seasons Power's average starting position will be worse than ninth. In the first 15 years of his IndyCar career, his average starting position only exceeded ninth once, and that was 2008. Power is looking to avoid his first winless season since his rookie season in 2006.
Romain Grosjean moves up to ninth on the grid, the tenth time Grosjean has started in the top ten this season. The Frenchman has finished outside the top ten in 13 races this season. All three of his top ten results came after he made the Fast Six. Grosjean has finished third and seventh in his first two Laguna Seca appearances.
Patricio O'Ward rounds out the top ten on the grid after a pair of grid penalties to his competitors. O'ward did suffer a spin at the end of the second round of qualifying. The Mexican driver enters this race with ninth consecutive top ten finishes, including three consecutive top five results. O'Ward has never had four consecutive top five finishes in his IndyCar career.
Graham Rahal was seventh in his qualifying group, but he moves up to 11th starting position after grid penalties were applied. Rahal was 0.0637 seconds short of advancing out of the first round. After starting outside the top fifteen in six of the first seven races with an average starting position of 22.142, Rahal has started inside the top fifteen in eight of the final ten races with an average of 11.1.
Colton Herta moves along side Rahal to the sixth row of the grid. After starting one pole position in his first two Laguna Seca visits, this is the second consecutive year Herta starts outside the top ten. He went from 18th to 11th last season in this race. He had started in the top five in four of the five races leading into Laguna Seca.
Jüri Vips was 0.0476 seconds shy of making the Fast Six for the first time in his career in his second IndyCar appearance, but instead of starting seventh, a six-spot grid penalty knocks Vips down to 13th starting position. The most recent driver to have a first career victory come in a second career start was Rich Vogler on August 30, 1981 at DuQuoin. The most recent driver to have a first career victory come in a second career start on pavement was Jim Clark on August 18, 1963 at Milwaukee.
Marcus Armstrong starts next to his past Formula Two teammate Vips on row seven. Armstrong could become the second New Zealander to win rookie of the year in the last three seasons. Scott McLaughlin took the top rookie honors two seasons ago. Entering the 2023 season, eight different nationalities have won the last eight rookie of the year awards.
Alexander Rossi will take 15th position on the grid. Rossi had started in the top ten in four consecutive races prior to Laguna Seca. The California-native has finished in the top five in two of the last three races, but he has not finished in the top five in a California race since his 2019 Long Beach victory. Rossi does have four top ten finishes in the six California races since that victory.
Kyle Kirkwood makes it an all-American row eight. Kirkwood has two victories and seven top ten finishes this season. Last season, his best finish was tenth, which came at Long Beach. Kirkwood scored 183 points in 2022 and finished 24th in the championship. He surpassed 183 points in the tenth race this season at Mid-Ohio. All 88 laps he has led this season have come on street courses.
Santino Ferrucci did make it to the second round of qualifying, but a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change relegates Ferrucci down to 17th. This is his first top twenty starting position since he started 11th at Road America nine races ago. Ferrucci's average finish in season finales is 19.333, and he has finished outside the top twenty in two of three season finale appearances.
Marcus Ericsson qualified 18th, his fourth time starting outside the top ten in the last five races. The Swede has finished better than his starting position in 11 of 16 races this season, including five consecutive. Ericsson's worst finish at Laguna Seca was 11th in 2019. He has finished sixth and ninth in his other two starts.
Agustín Canapino had his best qualifying performance of the season, but instead of starting 13th, a six-spot grid penalty moves Canapino down to 19th, his second consecutive race starting 19th. The Argentine's best finish on a permanent road course was 19th at Road America. Canapino enters this race with 2,070 laps completed, the 11th most in IndyCar.
Callum Ilott makes it an all-Juncos Hollinger Racing front row, and this was only the fifth time this season Canapino ended up starting ahead of Ilott. Ilott has finished better than his starting position in 11 races this season, but six of those were in the first six races. He has only improved from his starting spot in five of the last nine events.
Tom Blomqvist's third career IndyCar start comes from 21st. Blomqvist completed 109 of 110 laps last week at Portland and finished 24th, one spot better than where he was classified on his debut at Toronto, where he completed zero laps. Blomqvist has made three starts at Laguna Seca in IMSA competition. Blomqvist was runner-up in the 2022 IMSA race at Laguna Seca.
David Malukas is set to take the outside of row 11, the third time in the final five races Malukas has started outside the top twenty. Malukas did finish third and eighth in the last two races. Malukas has never had three consecutive top ten finishes in his IndyCar career. This will be his 34th start with Dale Coyne Racing before he moves to Arrow McLaren next year.
Benjamin Pedersen ends the season starting 23rd, his tenth consecutive starting position outside the top twenty and his 14th time starting outside the top twenty this season. Pedersen has finished outside the top twenty in nine consecutive races and in 14 of the first 16 races this season.
Sting Ray Robb joins Pedersen on row 12. Robb is 25th in the championship on 134 points, 14 points ahead of Pedersen in the championship. Robb won at Laguna Seca last year in Indy Lights. It is Robb's only victory in 34 Indy Lights starts.
Ryan Hunter-Reay brought out a red flag in his first round qualifying group, nullifying his fastest two laps and placing Hunter-Reay 25th on the starting grid. Hunter-Reay is making his fifth Laguna Seca start this weekend. Hunter-Reay's best Laguna Seca finish was fifth in 2004.
Devlin DeFrancesco closes the season starting 26th, matching his worst starting position of the season. DeFrancesco started 26th in the Indianapolis 500 and at Nashville as well. The Canadian was 15th at Laguna Seca last year. DeFrancesco has finished outside the top fifteen in seven consecutive races and in 13 of the first 16 races this season.
Hélio Castroneves had a spin in the second qualifying group during round one, and those two lost laps means Castroneves will start 27th, his worst starting position of the season. This is only the fifth time Castroneves has started 27th or worse in his career. He went fro 27th to seventh in last year's Indianapolis 500, and he won from 28th starting position in the 2008 season finale at Chicagoland.
NBC's coverage of the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey begins at 2:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 3:19 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 95 laps.
