Scott McLaughlin was only .0330-seconds away from his second straight pole award. Instead, he’ll start second in his No.3 Dallara-Chevrolet. He says a small mistake that he made on his own end is why he’ll come from the outside of the front row instead of the inside.

“Yeah, you can’t be upset with a front-row start, but I felt like I just left a little bit out there,” he admitted. “My first lap on the reds, which should have been probably my money lap, we locked our right front going into 12, so basically that’s the first lap after the alternate start-finish line, and I just had to bail out and just sacrifice that lap, save the tire and go. But I just think I missed that push lap there.

“But yeah, congrats to Graham. Great job.

“Our Freightliner Chevy all day, all weekend has been really strong. We’re basically running exactly the same setup we ran last year, and it’s handy when you have cars that we’ve had in the past that are just very good and suit me, and I can just sort of work on my driving.

“A little bummed with the mistake. That’s totally on me. But at the end of the day, Graham put a really good lap together, and we start P2, which isn’t bad.”

This season, he’s started in the top six 9 times including 7 on the front row. 6 of his last 7 races have been on the front row at that. With him starting on the pole and winning this race last season, what can he do on Sunday?

McLaughlin’s finishes from the front row have been 7th (Detroit), 6th (Toronto), 2nd and 5th (Iowa doubleheader), 2nd (Nashville), 5th (Gateway – 10 spot grid penalty). Can he pick up the win and end his 12 race winless streak?

Ironically enough, his win this season didn’t come from the front row. It came from 4th in Barber.

Last year, he won this race from the pole. This year, he’s back on the front row. Can he do so again from a different vantage point?

“I think it’s nice to start on pole purely because you control the start. You know when you’re going, and I’ve got to react to Graham (Rahal),” McLaughlin said.

“But at the same time, like it’s not night and day. I think we can slot into second, maybe try and go in first.

“I haven’t started P2 here, so it will be my first time, so I don’t know, but I feel like we’ll be able to settle into a groove pretty easily. From a strategy standpoint, I think it’s just nice to be in that Fast Six. I think you can make hay from those first three rows and potentially win the race without something lucky happening in some way.

“Yeah, I’m pretty confident with our race car for tomorrow and see where we end up.”

McLaughlin was quickest in morning practice on Saturday and to be second in qualifying, he truly does have a shot at scoring his second win of the season.

Penske and Ganassi have been the most dominant teams on the season and arguably here too. They’ve won all five races on natural road courses in 2023 and have won the last 3 here too. They have 3 of the top 5 starters for Sunday’s race too.

For podiums, Ganassi has 4, Penske and Andretti each have 3 while DCR and RLL both have 1. Penske and Ganassi swept the podium last year and had 2 of the 3 in the 2 races prior.

At Mid-Ohio, the podium read Ganassi-Ganassi-Penske. In Road America, it was Ganassi-Penske-McLaren.

However, with Graham Rahal on the pole and Colton Herta in 3rd, that’s 2 of the top 3 starting spots from RLL And Andretti. 11 of the last 12 races at Portland have been won from a top 3 starter. The only Penske or Ganassi driver in the top 3 is Penske’s McLaughlin.

If he can pick up a solid result, he very well could leave Portland third in points.

While the Chip Ganassi Racing duo have distanced themselves from the pack, the fight behind them is an intense one. 43 points separates the 3rd-6th placed drivers in points.

At one point, it looked like Josef Newgarden was going to run away with being the top Penske driver but now, he only leads McLaughlin by 14 for that distinction. Last year, McLaughlin dominated this race in Portland and was sixth in the season finale. Newgarden was 8th and 2nd respectively in the pair of races.

Sandwiched between them is Pato O’Ward who’s three points clear of McLaughlin but 11 behind Newgarden. O’Ward has 3 podiums in the last 5 races and has finishes of 4th, 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 3rd on natural road courses this season.

Newgarden crashed and starts 12th. O’Ward will roll off 6th while McLaughlin is back on the front row in 2nd.