David Malukas ‘Just So Happy to the Moon’ at Phoenix With First Career Pole Position

David Malukas was almost in tears.

Roger Penske was on the phone, and Malukas, the young NTT IndyCar Series racer, was sitting at home with a torn-up wrist that not only hurt but cost him a plum deal with Arrow McLaren.

“At that point, it was nothing but dread and ‘It’s the end of the world.’ That was rock bottom for me, I’d say, because at that point I didn’t even know if I’d be able to get back into a car,” Malukas said.

“But one of the first people, and at this point, and we weren’t even talking about getting into a team. This was just because The Captain, Roger Penske, owned the series. He cared for his drivers and he actually gave me a phone call,” he said. “And it was so special to me, because at that time I’d gotten fired from McLaren and seemed that was kind of going to be the end. I didn’t even know if racing was going to be a thing. And he called me and he said, ‘Look, these things happen. You just keep fighting back. Keep getting back into it. You’re a good driver, and we'd love to have you back into the series at some point.’”

That, Malukas said, was “just so special to me. I mean, nobody else at that time was calling me. And literally, I was almost in tears.”

And Friday he paid The Captain back, grabbing the pole position for Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway. He navigated the mile oval at Avondale, Arizona, with the fastest two-lap qualifying average of 175.383 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet—after leading practice this morning at 175.605.

“Oh, man, I'm just finally so happy. So many P2s. The story of old last season was we wait till the last few guys and then boom, we get P2. But finally we got it. It feels so good,” Malukas said following only his second qualifying attempt for Team Penske. He led Josef Newgarden as they delivered a 1-2 Team Penske 1-2 start.

“I am just so happy to the moon,” Malukas said.

Thinking back about that phone call, Malukas said, “It was one of my main factors to keep that driving factor going and pick myself back up and say, ‘You know what? This isn’t going to be the end of me. I’m going to find a way. I’m going to find an answer.’ Leading up to that point, every problem I’ve had, although not as severe, I found a solution for it.” He said he told himself, “So I feel like I can find one for this one.” And he said, “I did. I got a miracle ride from Meyer Shank [Racing] back in ‘24 and finished off the season. We got our name out there and ended up getting a deal with Foyt [A.J. Foyt Racing]. And now, fast-forward, we’re here with Team Penske. It’s crazy the way things aligned. And from my whole moment of ‘24, I learned very much—never give up.”

He said that “sounds so simple and such an easy thing to do, but it’s so hard. When you’re rock-bottom and all your brain is thinking about is ‘This is the end and you’re never going to go back,’ your brain could so easily catastrophize. But to fight back and to just be like, no, this isn’t the end, ever since ‘24, no matter what problem comes—inside the car, outside the car, whatever life situation—I’m always telling myself, ‘There’s a problem, there’s a solution.’ Every problem I’ve had, I’ve had a solution, even going back to school for an essay that I was late [with] by two weeks because I was too lazy to do it. I finished it. I’m 24 now. I passed it. I finished school and got straight A’s. So whatever hits me in the future, it’s going to be no different.”

Josef Newgarden, who won at Phoenix from the No. 7 position in 2018, gave Team Penske a 1-2 punch for Saturday’s race in the No. 2 XPEL Chevrolet. It was his best start here in four visits. Scott McLaughlin, last weekend’s polesitter and second-place finisher at St Petersburg, qualified fifth in the No. 3 Gallagher Insurance Chevy.

“Qualifying was the first time we'd seen the track with any relative temperature. So I think that's why you saw some people moving up and down relative to where you would've expected them to qualify. You saw drop off more so in lap two than we've seen for the last session or during the test,” Newgarden said.

“I think we got it relatively right. I just did not have a smooth Practice 1. I felt like we did a good job. We just didn’t get it perfect. All of us being in the top five is a great starting spot for this race and something we can work with.”

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing emerged strong Friday with Graham Rahal third-fastest in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda and celebrated rookie Mick Schumacher in the No. 47 entry securing the No. 4 starting spot. This is Schumacher’s career-first oval race.

Rahal called Schumacher “silky-smooth on his with his feet, which is way smoother than me or Louie [teammate Foster]” and called the team’s performance “a big step.”

Schumacher was matter-of-fact about his achievement, saying, “We knew what we had to do, and we managed to put a good couple of laps together. I’m excited to run the race. It’s going to be a whole different situation in the race with traffic and everything, so it’s going to be tough.”

Robert Shwartzman was the last rookie to qualify better than third in the series, seizing the pole for the Indianapolis 500 last May. Foster earned the pole at Road America last June.

Friday’s result was a personal milestone for Rahal, whose previous top-five finish came at Richmond in 2009.

Alexander Rossi, fastest last month during the Unser Preseason Test Session in the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Java House Chevrolet who led the Open Test last month at Phoenix, will start sixth.