Munoz scores first career pole for IndyCar's Firestone 600 - MotorSportsTalk

FORT WORTH — Carlos Munoz looked down at his dashboard and was surprised.

In his first lap of qualifying for the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway, Munoz had put up a time of 24.11 seconds.

“Oh man, that was a good lap,” Munoz thought.

The next would be even better, as his average speed of 217.137 mph earned him his first career pole in the Verizon IndyCar Series.

Munoz, in his No. 26 Honda, was the only driver to top 217 mph. Since he was the fifth car out on the 1.5-mile track, the 24-year-old driver had to go through “a little bit suffering” with his teammates on pit road.

“If I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be on the pole; I wasn’t expecting to be 217 after practice,” Munoz said. Munoz was sixth fastest in the morning practice session at 215.882 mph.

“I wasn’t really happy with the car, conditions were really tough in practice,” Munoz said. “Looking at my teammates and other Hondas, impressed with my speed.”

The next highest Andretti Autosport car is Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi in ninth, which is a career best. Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti will start 11th and 12th respectively.

Munoz’ previous best start in 45 races was second in the 2013 Indianapolis 500. That was also his first-career start.

“This feels really good to be the first pole in Verizon IndyCar,” Munoz said. “Hopefully the first of many. Now it’s time to focus on the race. I want to win races.”

While he has one win, it came in a rain-shortened race at Detroit in 2015.

Filling out the top five is Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Takuma Sato and Josef Newgarden.

Rossi earned his career best start in ninth. He started 11th in the Indy 500. Also earning a season-best is Sato. His previous best was eighth at Long Beach.

Surprising in qualifying was the result posted by Juan Pablo Montoya. The Team Penske driver will start 17th, which equals his second-worst start of the season (Indianapolis).

“For some reason our car is just slow, it seems to be like that every (week),” said Montoya, who has started 10th or worse in three of the last five races. “But it sucks, it gets old.”

Both Dale Coyne Racing cars will start from the rear after Conor Daly only put up a speed of 213.826 mph and Gabby Chaves did not make a qualifying attempt after a practice crash.

“We need to do a lot of work on the car, having not tested here really hurt us as well,” Daly said. “I just don’t know the track. I don’t know the ins and outs of it.”

FORT WORTH, Texas – Qualifying Friday for the Firestone 600 Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 1.455-mile Texas Motor Speedway oval, with qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, aero kit-engine, and speed:

1. (26) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 217.137
2. (9) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 216.901
3. (3) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 216.740
4. (14) Takuma Sato, Honda, 216.740
5. (21) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 216.684
6. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 216.663
7. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 216.647
8. (10) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 216.295
9. (98) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 216.262
10. (5) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 216.262
11. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 216.260
12. (27) Marco Andretti, Honda, 216.162
13. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 215.927
14. (20) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 215.751
15. (83) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 215.533
16. (7) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 215.299
17. (2) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 215.279
18. (11) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 215.030
19. (8) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 214.864
20. (41) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 214.568
21. (18) Conor Daly, Honda, 213.826
22. (19) Gabby Chaves, Honda, no speed

It took four attempts for Kyle Larson to win his first High Limit Sprint Car Series race in the series he co-owns with brother-in-law Brad Sweet, but once he found victory lane, he has been undefeated with his win at Eagle (Nebraska) Raceway. For the second week, Abreu led early only to fall prey to Larson.

The win was Larson’s third straight victory and the fifth consecutive top-five, giving him a perfect sweep of the season after finishing 10th in last year’s inaugural race at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Indiana.

Larson started third behind Abreu and Brent Marks but was embroiled in a fierce battle with Anthony Macri for third during the first dozen laps. Larson slipped by Macri in traffic until a red flag waved for a flip by Lachlan McHugh.

Meanwhile at the front of the pack, Marks retook the lead from Abreu on Lap 18. Larson followed one lap later and then caution waved again. Tyler Courtney lost power and fell to 24th after starting eighth.

Marks scooted away on the restart but tragedy struck in Lap 26. Leading the race, Marks hit a pothole in Turn 1, bicycled and then flipped, handing the lead to Larson.

Abreu caught Larson again during the final laps and in a reprise of their battle at Tri-City Speedway, the two threw sliders at one another for several laps until Larson built some separation and ran away to the checkers.

𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧. 𝗪𝗔𝗦. 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗖.@EagleRaceway went above and beyond in their return to the main stage with the High Limit Sprint Car Series tonight!

pic.twitter.com/H3XKQEOpg6

— High Limit Racing (@HighLimitRacing) June 7, 2023

“I didn’t feel like my pace in [Turns] 1 & 2 slowed down a ton,” Larson said from victory lane. “I missed it once there and then I saw his nose in 3 & 4. I didn’t know if he nailed the bottom that well behind me and I think he might have slid me in the next corner, so he was definitely on the top.

“I was nervous to move up there because my car was really pogoing up in the entry of 1. I got up just in time, made a few mistakes and he threw a couple more sliders at me but he was just a little too far back and I was able to squirt around him. Then I really had to commit to hitting my marks – back my effort down a bit to avoid mistakes.”

After leading early, Abreu fell back as far as sixth, but faith in his car kept hope alive.

“I just needed to do a few things a few laps before I did and fix some angles, then my car got a whole lot better,” Abreu said. “I’m thankful for this team; they do an amazing job. They don’t give up on me. I know my car is going to be there right at the end of these races, so it’s just the discipline of being patient.”

For Abreu, it was his third near-miss this season. He was leading at Lakeside in the 2023 opener until a tire went flat in the closing laps and he lost the lead to Larson late in the Tri-City Speedway race. Abreu has finished sixth or better in his last three High Limit races with each result being progressively better until his pair of runner-up results.

Third-place finisher Scelzi was the hard charger, advancing from 17th.

“I had a very specific plan; don’t go near [the hole in Turn 1],” Scelzi said. “It worked out. No one wanted to start on the top. I think I gained a couple of rows there on the choose cone and ran the middle, which seemed to be better than right around the bottom.”

Michael “Buddy” Kofoid in fourth and Macri rounded out the top five.

World of Outlaws star and former NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne was one of 41 entrants, but he was not among the 26 starters. He failed to advance to the Main after finishing eighth in the B Main and seventh in his heat.

Feature Results

A Feature (40 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson[4]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu[1]; 3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[17]; 4. 71-Michael Kofoid[5]; 5. 39M-Anthony Macri[3]; 6. 9-Chase Randall[9]; 7. 26-Zeb Wise[14]; 8. 1X-Jake Bubak[15]; 9. 8-Aaron Reutzel[10]; 10. 14D-Corey Day[18]; 11. 11-Cory Eliason[12]; 12. 5T-Ryan Timms[11]; 13. 88-Austin McCarl[13]; 14. 21H-Brady Bacon[22]; 15. 48-Danny Dietrich[16]; 16. 7S-Robbie Price[19]; 17. 21-Brian Brown[23]; 18. 22-Riley Goodno[26]; 19. 52-Blake Hahn[25]; 20. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[21]; 21. 3J-Dusty Zomer[6]; 22. 14-Cole Macedo[7]; 23. 19-Brent Marks[2]; 24. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[8]; 25. 25-Lachlan McHugh[20]; 26. 53-Jack Dover[24]

2023 High Limit Sprint Car Series

Race 1: Giovanni Scelzi wins at Lakeside Speedway
Race2: Anthony Macri wins at 34 Raceway
Race 3: Kyle Larson wins at Wayne County Speedway
Race 4: Kyle Larson wins at Tri-City Speedway

Munoz scores first career pole for IndyCar’s Firestone 600

Kyle Larson wins third consecutive High Limit Sprint race at Eagle Raceway, Rico Abreu second again

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