Qualifying Report: Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix

LEEDS, Ala. (April 27, 2024) -- Optimism ruled in the AJ Foyt Racing paddock as both drivers were happy with their Chevrolet-powered cars after qualifying despite not making it out of the first round.

Santino Ferrucci, who will start 17th in the No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet after posting a lap time of 1 minute, 6.27 seconds (124.934mph), shared, "We have a really great car. The team's done a done a great job this weekend getting things going."

"It's hard when you come off the back foot from another weekend and you're in the last pit stall as you have less time in qualifying because you're the last car out. So, you normally lose about a minute," he explained. "And we just ended up making it back [to the pit box] and by the time we were fueled and had a set strategy, we were on our fast laps when other people were coming out of the pits. We didn't have enough fuel to cool down, re-gap and push one more lap. But we have a good car so we'll move forward. We'll definitely move forward."

 Driving the No. 41 Pray.com Chevrolet, Sting Ray Robb improved his lap time by nearly 1.5 seconds from his best time in the two previous practices.

"I think we did a good job. We made a good step forward," said Robb, who posted a lap time of 1 minute, 6.8404 seconds (123.877mph). "We found something in the car that was not what we expected after practice 2, but after we made that change, it kind of woke the car up a little bit and I feel like it put us in a better window. I under-drove a little bit. So there's still more on the table with my driving, but at least I know where it's at now and I can feel what's going on. So, I'm proud of the team. I think that we figured out a lot of issues and we know what direction to go for tomorrow for the race. I think we'll roll off in the warmup with a pretty good setup and hopefully that correlates to a good race."

Team Penske claimed the front row with Scott McLaughlin pipping Will Power in the final seconds of the Firestone Fast 6 with his lap time of 1 minute, 5.9490 seconds (125.552mph) to Power's 1 minute, 6.0460 seconds (125.367mph). Rounding out the top six were Christian Lundgaard, Pato O'Ward, Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong.