Qualifying Report: Snap-On Milwaukee Mile 250

MILWAUKEE (Aug. 23, 2025) -- A "woohoo" run! That was how David Malukas described his qualifying run in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies at the Milwaukee Mile this afternoon.

“That was Woohoo! That was on the limit, I am not going to lie!" Malukas said to the gaggle of reporters gathered in pitlane immediately after the run. "We were right there on the edge of those walls on the exit.  Really happy with the performance of that. We were doing so much studying in practice trying to learn strategies.  I think from a speed perspective, we are right there. That is pretty much as close as we are going to get to maximizing our car, so, we will see what other people are going to do, but I already know that is really a good qualifying run.”

Malukas about to take off in his Clarience Technologies Chevrolet.

Malukas narrowly missed scoring his first NTT P1 Award because his two-lap average speed of 162.256 mph was edged out by newly crowned NTT INDYCAR Series champion Alex Palou with a speed of 162.971 mph in the final seconds of qualifying.

Despite the disappointment of missing out on the P1 Award, Malukas was thrilled with his car.

"Oh, wow, what a beautiful car from James (Schnabel, race engineer, getting hugged by Malukas above) and the team. I mean, it's a really good day here for the number 4 Clarience Technologies Chevy," the 23-year-old said, who matched his outside pole run here from last year. "You know, there's lots of answers that we kind of need to figure out going into this last practice session for the race tomorrow. I think it's a very different story from a race car, but when it comes to three-lap pace, we did a good job. Another front row but I really thought we had it, it was so close."

Santino Ferrucci struggled in practice and again in qualifying. He will start 21st in the No. 14 Phoenix Investors Chevrolet after posting a two-lap average speed of 156.862mph.

Ferrucci in his Phoenix Investors Chevy in practice at The Milwaukee Mile. (INDYCAR Photo)

“I think we kind of just missed the setup," Ferrucci said. "I missed something with the gearing as well, just on my side; I think I should have been holding fifth gear instead of downshifting twice. There's just a couple of small things. We obviously didn't have the pace of our teammate, but we have better pace than where we qualified. So, we're gonna make some changes, see if we can't fix the balance for the race and pass some cars tomorrow.”

Rounding out the top-five in qualifying were Pato O'Ward, Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon. The Snap-On Milwaukee Mile 250 will be broadcast on FOX tomorrow starting at 2 p.m. ET.