The stage is set for an even bigger breakthrough for David Malukas after he earned his first career NTT P1 Award in qualifying Friday for the Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway.

Malukas’ first pole is paving the fastest path for him to potentially earn his first career victory in the 250-lap race Saturday (3 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX One, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio, powered by OnlyBulls). Malukas, who joined Team Penske in the offseason to start his fifth year in the series, turned the fastest two-lap qualifying average of 175.383 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

SEE: Qualifying Results

Chicago-area native Malukas earned the second starting spot three times last season with AJ Foyt Racing, including on ovals at Milwaukee and Nashville.

“Finally!” Malukas said. “I’m so happy. So many P2s. The story of ovals last season was we had it, waited until the last few guys and then boom, you get P2. But finally we got it."

Malukas was the 13th of 24 drivers to make a qualifying attempt today on the 1-mile desert oval at Phoenix after leading practice this morning at 175.605.

“I think the track got in our favor a little bit; it seemed like it was getting a bit worse. It feels so good. What a way to start our Phoenix race day tomorrow.”

Malukas’ pole led a front-row sweep for Team Penske, the most successful team in recent years on short ovals. Josef Newgarden, who won in 2018 the last time the series raced at Phoenix, qualified second at 174.548 in the No. 2 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing enjoyed a breakthrough qualifying session on a short oval, a weakness for the team in recent seasons. Graham Rahal qualified third at 173.993 in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda, while rookie Mick Schumacher – competing in his first-ever oval race – stunned by taking the fourth starting spot at 173.667 in the No. 47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda.

“We knew what we had to do, and we managed to put a good couple of laps together,” Formula One veteran Schumacher said. “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.”

The last time a rookie qualified better than third in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES race was June 2025, when Louis Foster earned the pole at Road America for Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Rookie Robert Shwartzman also won the pole for the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge last May.

Scott McLaughlin put all three Team Penske cars in the top five of the starting lineup, qualifying fifth at 173.448 in the No. 3 Gallagher Insurance Team Penske Chevrolet. 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi, who led the Open Test last month at Phoenix, will start sixth after his qualifying average of 173.389 in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet.

Four-time series champion Alex Palou, who won the season opener last Sunday at St. Petersburg, qualified 10th at 172.980 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda as the fastest of Ganassi’s three drivers.

The tough start to the 2026 season continued for two-time series champion Will Power at his new home at Andretti Global. Power crashed during qualifying in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda and will start 25th. He finished 22nd in his debut with the team last weekend at St. Petersburg after 17 seasons at Team Penske.

Felix Rosenqvist didn’t participate in qualifying after a crash in practice inflicted heavy damage to his No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian. He will start 24th.

Power and Rosenqvist were unhurt in the incidents.