SALINAS, Calif — Scott McLaughlin narrowly missed out on winning the NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole again. This was the second straight week that he’s qualified his No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet in 2nd.

McLaughlin was only .0330-seconds from a pole last week in Portland and a week later, .0097-seconds off this time around. Each time he felt like he left a little something on the table.

“I dropped a wheel at (Turn) 10, the fast right-hander, just trying to get that extra little bit,” McLaughlin said. “The car was mega. I really feel bad for these guys on the XPEL Chevy. Congrats to Felix. It’s pretty awesome he got his last pole with the team there.”

For Portland, it was a self-inflicted mistake again.

“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 last week. “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.”

This season, McLaughlin’s started in the top six 10 times including 8 on the front row. 7 of his last 8 races have been on the front row at that.

His average starting spot in the first 9 races was 10.22. Over the last 8? 2.87.

That’s an 8-spot improvement. However, it’s not let to wins either.

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), 9th (Portland). Can he pick up the win and end his 13 race winless streak?

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

Last Sunday in Portland was Ganassi’s 5th straight natural road course and combined with Penske they’ve won all 6 races on these tracks this season. They went 1-2-3 here a year ago too.

Can anyone stop them on Sunday?

21 of the last 24 visits won from a top 3 starter (15 from the pole, 4 from 2nd). 5 of the last 6 from the front row.

Penske and Ganassi have 4 of the top 6 starters. The only two not is Felix Rosenqvist on the pole and Christian Lundgaard in 3rd.

However, Roseqnvist is 1-for-78 in his career. Lundgaard is 1-for-34.

Does that set up nicely for McLaughlin? He hopes so. If so, he could potentially be the top finishing Penske in the standings as a result.

“No, I’m very aware of that,” McLaughlin said of the stat. “The best thing I can do tomorrow is win. That’s my deal, so… I just got to focus on that. If I can beat both of them, win the race maybe, that’s going to be the best I can do.

“Yep, for me, I’d love to finish. I was fourth last year. I’d love to equal that. Another top five would be fantastic. Third would be a bonus. I think we’ve shown really good potential towards the end of this year.”

Josef Newgarden leads McLaughlin by 22 points for that third spot in points. He’ll start fourth on Sunday, one row behind McLaughlin.

“It’s just tremendously loose offline. It’s just train tracks out there right now. Yeah, watched the INDY NXT race with a lot of interest, just seeing how they raced, especially at the start. I said to myself, I really don’t want to be on the outside into one. Now I’m starting on the outside going into turn one (smiling),” he said of the start and his row that he’s coming from.

“It is what’s. You just got to figure it out. But, yeah, there’s no grip out there. I feel like the pavement is worn in where we have been running. Everywhere else where we haven’t been running, it’s a bit polished like when Felix was running here.

“I’m sure it will wear in as the race goes on. That transition traditionally doesn’t bode for much passing. It is the last race of the year. The championship is sewn up. I’m sure there’s going to be some Kamikazes out there. So, yeah, it will a lot of fun – kind of (smiling).”

McLaughlin went from 14th in points in 2021 to 4th last year. Can he get at least 4th this year or even the top Penske driver?