David Malukas Stays on Upswing with Fast Qualifying Performance

INDYCAR
David Malukas is on the move in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
The 24-year-old driver piloting the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Enterprises entered this hectic Month of May in the 18th position in the season standings. Three races later, he is 10th – and charging.
Malukas earned the second starting spot for Sunday's Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear, which is where he stood after the official results of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge were posted. Clearly, the Chicago native has momentum.
'We're starting off (in Detroit) where we finished (in Indianapolis),' Malukas said, smiling. 'We're still in that (second spot), but that's a really good (qualifying) session. As soon as we unloaded the car, we knew we were (going to) have a good run.
'I've just been really happy.'
Malukas felt he had a car quick enough to beat Colton Herta, the driver of the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian who won the 15th pole of his career, but Herta edged him by .1713 of a second over the nine-turn, 1.645-mile downtown street circuit. Malukas said 'just a few tweaks' to the car's setup likely would have made a difference for him to swap positions with Herta.
Malukas did outqualify Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood, who edged him for the INDY NXT by Firestone championship in 2021. Kirkwood won 10 of the 20 races that season; Malukas won seven, Linus Lundqvist three. Kirkwood will start third in Sunday's race in the No. 27 Siemens AWS Honda.
Malukas still doesn't have a pole in his 51 events in this series, although this will be the third time he has started a race from the second position. The other two front-row starts came last year on oval tracks – World Wide Technology Raceway and the Milwaukee Mile – while driving for Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian.
This was Malukas' first appearance in the Firestone Fast Six qualifying round since earning the sixth starting position in last year's Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. He finished sixth in that race.
Malukas said this momentum has been building for some time as he and the Foyt crew have gotten to know one another in their first season together. Specifically, Malukas singled out the recent tips he has received from Derek Miller, one of Chevrolet's trackside engineers.
'I think having that whole month (in Indianapolis), being with the (team) guys, understanding what we want (out of the car setup),' Malukas said of the reason for the competitive rise. 'Having Clarience Technologies on board with us – those guys have been ecstatic. I think the mood has really lifted us up, and we can see this momentum carrying (on).
'Man, what a good car, what a good group of guys here, what a good run here.'
Malukas also doesn't have a race win in this series, although as with pole pursuits, he has been close. His best result was a second-place finish in the 2022 race at World Wide Technology Raceway when he split a pair of Team Penske drivers in a late-race shootout. Josef Newgarden scored his third consecutive win in the event that year.
Sunday might offer Malukas' best chance to break through and become a race winner in this series. He is extremely fond of this circuit, although a 23rd-place finish in the 2023 race is his only start on it.
'Man, it's just so technical,' he said. 'It's something that I love, and I think (Saturday's) cooler temperatures are something that I've always been suited to ever since go-karting as a little kid. Yeah, everything kind of lined up for us today.'
It's worth noting that Malukas' first appearance in a Firestone Fast Six round came on Detroit's Belle Isle circuit in 2022. He qualified sixth that afternoon for Dale Coyne Racing w/HMD Motorsports. He likes the mojo of the Motor City, which could be just the lift he needs to win the 100-lap race (12:30 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
'That was kind of the first big transition for me, knowing that I actually had a strong opportunity to be quick and get good results here in INDYCAR,' he said. 'So, Detroit is my turnaround (event).'
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