![\"ntt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/30a27ecc-7f53-4349-80f0-2d7ce884dbba.jpeg\" "\\"NTT")
<\/p>\nNTT IndyCar Series driver Marcus Armstrong is a patient man.<\/p>\n
But he said Saturday he was starting at the end of 2025 to lose his confidence: \u201cI didn\u2019t recognize myself and I didn\u2019t drive with confidence. I didn\u2019t drive aggressive. I was just not myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
He finally earned his first IndyCar pole position, which had eluded him since 2013, and will lead the field for Sunday\u2019s inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington.<\/p>\n
Related Story<\/p>\n
Ericsson covered the 2.73-mile, 14-turn street course in the North Texas Metroplex city\u2019s Entertainment District in 1 minute, 34.3562 seconds with a best lap of 104.158 mph. Just behind him on the circuit, against an extraordinary backdrop that showcases the Dallas Cowboys\u2019 AT&T Stadium and the Texas Rangers\u2019 Global Life Field, was Alex Palou (1:34.8180, 103.651).<\/p>\n
Because the Dallas-Fort Worth weather forecast for Sunday calls for high winds, the event has been moved up. TV coverage will start with pre-race programming starting at 10:30 a.m. CT on FOX. The green flag will wave at 11:17 a.m. CT.<\/p>\n
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Perry Nelson\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
The strategy buzz Friday was that the slowest qualifier for the newly readjusted Firestone Fast Six actually had the best chance to gain the pole because the car, tires, and brakes, would be warmed up while the other five cooled their heels and their cars. So, was Ericsson the lucky beneficiary?<\/p>\n
\u201cTough to say,\u201d Palou guessed. \u201cBut it didn\u2019t help [me]. There was more than 20 minutes between my last lap in Fast 12 until my outlap in Fast Six. So only having an outlap just doesn\u2019t allow you to warm up the brakes or the tires or anything. So, I was slower than what I did on all tires on the previous sessions. I think tire time made a difference. Having said that, I don\u2019t know if I would have matched his top lap. It was pretty fast. So I\u2019m happy with the P2, honestly. I wish that we had at least one lap to warm up, but it\u2019s the same for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit more pressure in a situation like this where you\u2019re sort of on your own and you get one shot at it. But I always liked that sort of pressure cooker.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ericsson, at least this weekend, is a fan of the Fast Six single-car qualifying format. \u201cI didn\u2019t have much time to sit and think about it. It was just quick debrief with the engineers and then off you go,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I don\u2019t know if it helped me or not. I was very focused on just doing my lap and then it\u2019s a bit more pressure in a situation like this where you\u2019re sort of on your own and you get one shot at it. But I always liked that sort of pressure cooker. That\u2019s what I like with the 500 and qualifying there and racing into 500 is always when the pressure is high, I feel like I really perform my best and I think that helped me today.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said what got him back on the right track during the offseason was taking \u201ca lot of things what I could learn from last year and be working on that and really the mindset of going racing. as well. I sort of tried to push myself to be in the right kind of state of mind when I go to the racetrack, and I feel like that’s been paying off this year. So I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s one specific thing, but it\u2019s just, again, it comes down for me to hard work and preparation and it gives confidence knowing that you\u2019re putting a ton of work in and off season. If you work really hard on your physical side, mental side, with the team, if you\u2019re not driving different things, like you really feeling yourself\u2014I put in the work, I\u2019m going to be stronger, I\u2019m going to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palou and Ericsson were teammates four years ago at Chip Ganassi Racing, and Palou said, \u201cI have a great friendship with him, and I think he deserves it. He\u2019s a really good driver, so happy to see him there\u2014hopefully not tomorrow, but happy to see him there today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Related Story<\/p>\n
Standings leader Josef Newgarden\u2014who switched to a back-up car after a mishap in practice\u2014anticipated that \u201cthere\u2019ll be some learning\u201d on this street course that features several different kinds of racing surfaces. \u201cDon\u2019t be surprised if some things need to be adjusted. That\u2019s natural when you have a new event. Hopefully people aren\u2019t too hard on us for maybe the small shortcomings or adjustments that are needed. But you can tell the effort and work that went into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starting in Row 2 will be Pato O\u2019Ward (who said, \u201cThis place really is a joy to drive\u201d) on the inside and Will Power (who rebounded from an unavoidable wreck in practice) next to him. Behind them will be the Meyer Shank duo of Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armtsrong.<\/p>\n
Arrow McLaren driver Pato O\u2019Ward ate what?!<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a common accusation that race-car drivers are a bit crazy for doing what they do, but Pato O\u2019Ward might have reinforced that this weekend. \u201cI ate a scorpion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had an event in Mexico [in the offseason], and they had a scorpion on a piece of lettuce. They said, \u2018You\u2019ve got to have this,\u2019 and I was like, \u2018OK.\u2019 It did not sting. I can\u2019t say the taste has been the best I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
![\"mexico](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/f45e6c99-356e-4250-adcb-ae4ccadc4596.jpeg\" "\\"MEXICO-FOOD-FEATURE\\"")
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RONALDO SCHEMIDT\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
People told him munching on the scorpion would bring him good luck. He said, \u201cThey said, \u2018You\u2019re going to have the best year of your life.\u2019 And I said, \u2018All right \u2013 I\u2019m into that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Maybe he\u2019s onto something. So far he has two top-five finishes.<\/p>\n
Saturday practice has plenty of goofy drama<\/p>\n
Juncos Hollinger\u2019s Rinus VeeKay said Friday that he was \u201cexcited for whatever crazy stuff\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had to wait only 24 hours. Plenty of \u201ccrazy stuff\u201d happened Saturday morning in practice and in the opening segments of qualifying. Scott Dixon spun without hitting the wall and was trying to maneuver his car so he could get running again. But he was in a blind spot, and the seemingly snake-bitten Will Power rounded the turn and suddenly encountered Dixon\u2019s Honda. He had absolutely no warning and plowed into the right rear of Dixon\u2019s car. Neither was hurt. Dixon quipped, \u201cAt least he didn\u2019t flip me off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Josef Newgarden also got loose, overcorrected, and veered into the wall in what seemed like slow motion, doing enough damage to the tub and front suspension of his PPG-sponsored entry to force him into a back-up car (which happened to be his Phoenix-winning, XPEL-branded car).<\/p>\n
But he said the incident was \u201creally not a big deal from a safety or a performance standpoint. It\u2019s very funny what happened. You know, it\u2019s kind of like the most comical wreck I think I\u2019ve ever had. I think I hit the wall at three miles per hour. So, to have a chassis written off from that is very funny to me. Obviously, the team doesn\u2019t want to go through this, but this is where they thrive. I never question getting in a Team Penske car. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just funny to me that we\u2019ve got this Frankenstein car now. If this thing\u2019s fast, I think we should change the PPG to this (XPEL colors) personally. So, I don\u2019t want to speak too soon. Maybe we\u2019re not going to be very good, but the team does a great job. I always feel good with team Penske, so we\u2019ll be good in the PPG car.\u201d<\/p>\n
The biggest \u201cOh-my-gosh\u201d moment of the day came in practice, when the red flag came out because three catering-crew representatives unknowingly sauntered out onto a hot track, one pushing a food cart, just as the first group of drivers left the pits. IndyCar Race Control alerted about the \u201cserious breach of security.\u201d Thankfully, drivers had not gotten up to speed, and no one was injured.<\/p>\n
Related Story<\/p>\n
In qualifying, Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske)\u2014in his words\u2014\u201cturned a little early,\u201d clipped the inside wall, and triggered a red flag. He will start from the 25th and last position Sunday. \u201cI\u2019ve done it to myself,\u201d McLaughlin said. \u201cFrustrated for the guys. They gave me a good car. They\u2019re going to work pretty hard to get this thing fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Global) eliminated himself from the Fast 12 by committing what he called a \u201cmassive mental error.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rinus VeeKay reaches milestone<\/p>\n
As Rinus VeeKay approaches his 100th IndyCar start Sunday, he said, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel like 100. Very excited to start this one off, especially at a venue like this one.\u201d<\/p>\n
His first IndyCar race was the 2019 Genesys 300<\/a> up the highway at Texas Motor Speedway<\/a>. Ironically, in that debut, VeeKay crashed out on in the 38th lap, collecting Alex Palou<\/a>. Just last Sunday at Phoenix, VeeKay made contact on Lap 21 with Palou, knocking him from the race and contributing to the current champion\u2019s drop from first place to fifth in the standings.<\/p>\n Rinus Veekay.<\/p>\n But VeeKay said Friday the wreck last weekend was a case of \u201cmaybe me being too eager. Whenever a hard moment happens, I always try to learn from it. This might be the little bit of experience I need to have greatness at the 500 [in May].\u201d<\/p>\n (Likewise, Will Power, who tangled with Christian Rasmussen at Phoenix, said he has gotten over the incident and is looking forward to Sunday\u2019s race. \u201cPity for both of us,\u201d Power said, \u201cWe both could have done something better. But that\u2019s racing, racing for a win. The good news is that we were incredibly fast.\u201d)<\/p>\n Malukas understands better why Chevy supports racing<\/p>\n After visiting the General Motors Assembly Plant in Arlington, Texas, earlier in the week, David Malukas got an extraordinary look at what\u2019s behind the bowtie he wears on his driver\u2019s uniform. <\/p>\n Related Story<\/p>\n Team Penske\u2019s Malukas and Arrow McLaren\u2019s Nolan Siegel visited the General Motors Arlington Assembly plant Thursday, just south of the race course, across Texas Highway 180. The factory builds the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade, producing about 1,300 vehicles a day. And Malukas was wowed by how he saw the more than 5,000 employees operate inside the 4.375-million-square-foot facility.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like a whole city in there. It\u2019s insane,\u201d Malukas said. \u201cThey have the cars on, like, a tram system above your head, going back and forth. It\u2019s so well done, where [a vehicle] will come down and it needs to go through a production center and it and it goes back upon the tram. It was so cool. I was so lost.\u201d<\/p>\n Susan Wade has lived in the Seattle area for 40 years, but motorsports is in the Indianapolis native\u2019s DNA. She has emerged as one of the leading drag-racing writers with nearly 30 seasons at the racetrack, focusing on the human-interest angle. \u00a0She was the first non-NASCAR recipient of the prestigious Russ Catlin Award and has covered the sport for the Chicago Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger, and Seattle Times. She has contributed to Autoweek as a freelance writer since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NTT IndyCar Series driver Marcus Armstrong is a patient man. But he said Saturday he was starting at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,44645,80791,28234,24577,80790,78981],"class_list":["post-205328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-89e8bcef-4a10-49e3-9511-7a477cee71e6","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-locale-us","tag-shorttitle-ericsson-claims-career-first-indycar-pole-in-texas","tag-subsection-indycar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"ntt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6f5035bd-8031-4c5b-8cdb-270aaf08c3fb.jpeg\" "\\"NTT")
Sean Gardner\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Headshot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773547569_617_ab5fb547-d6c6-4f76-8ab9-e276fb4103d5_1669144854.file.png\" "\\"Headshot")
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