Texas XPEL 375! After Challenging Past With Ovals, Felix Rosenqvist Gets Pole: Get Ready To Race At Texas On Sunday

The race for Sunday in Texas is complete with a comeback kid, a 7-time champ of Nascar making his rookie showing in IndyCar -on an oval, and a New Zealand driver who loves American Oval Tracks. We have Indy Champs, a son of an Indy Champ and other great race cars and drivers. This is going to be a great race.

NTT INDYCAR SERIES, the IndyCar pack moves to oval competition with at least two drivers being brand new to ovals, for Sunday’s big show at Texas Motor Speedway for the XPEL 375.

SO- it is ‘full steam ahead’ for Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday- with three Chevys in the top three positions showing off some solid racing at very fast speeds. The media got a chance to hear from the top two race leaders on Saturday afternoon after qualifying had been set.

“I have come to America to race on Ovals, I love this track. I have self-belief and I am comfortable with what I got here. We will see what happens tomorrow,” Scott McLaughlin told the media in a post-qualifying interview. “Oval racing is important,” he said.

McLaughlin chatted for a while, excited about his second position on the front row, stopping to congratulate the pole sitter as he came in, “Hey good job”, McLaughlin said to Felix Rosenqvist, who came in to take his seat to talk to the media.

27 races are ready and set to get out and chase each other around a big oval on Sunday after they get the “go” signal.

Then it was time for the pole-sitter- Felix Rosenqvist to talk to the media. He was asked first about how he felt about his second career pole position, and what was on his mind about his covering coming the challengers of the prior year.

“This is a good boost for the guys and girls who have been working on the car. We got here really focused, and we pulled it out. I feel like I have done a good job of recharging every week, so this is really important. Our car is strong. Confidence goes up and down, but we are feeling good,” Rosenqvist, said Saturday. “I am trying not to overthink. You have to trust yourself because you can really get deep into yourself on this. Ovals have been a struggle for me, and hopefully, this year will be good. Days like this sure make it a lot better.” he said.

IndyCar.com reported on his exciting comeback to be the race leader for Sunday:

“Rosenqvist, who finished a disappointing 21st in the standings in an injury-interrupted 2021, earned his second career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole with a two-lap average speed of 221.110 mph in the No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. This was his first pole on an oval, as his previous top spot came as a series rookie in May 2019 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.”

Jimmie Johnson, 7-time NASCAR Champ at Texas Motor Speedway, who had been a focus of media this week, for his first time on an oval, in an Indy Car and in traffic qualified at 18, in his #48, Dallara-Honda, at 219.865 mph

Here are the qualifying speeds courtesy from NTT IndyCar:

FORT WORTH, Texas – Qualifying Saturday for the XPEL 375 NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway, with qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, and speed:

1. (7) Felix Rosenqvist, Dallara-Chevrolet, 221.110 mph
2. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Dallara-Chevrolet, 221.096
3. (51) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 221.094
4. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevrolet, 221.016
5. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 221.011
6. (06) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 220.768
7. (2) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Chevrolet, 220.758
8. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Dallara-Chevrolet, 220.748
9. (26) Colton Herta, Dallara-Honda, 220.602
10. (5) Pato O’Ward, Dallara-Chevrolet, 220.579
11. (10) Alex Palou, Dallara-Honda, 220.571
12. (27) Alexander Rossi, Dallara-Honda, 220.458
13. (28) Romain Grosjean, Dallara-Honda, 220.412
14. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Dallara-Honda, 220.364
15. (60) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 220.338
16. (20) Conor Daly, Dallara-Chevrolet, 219.987
17. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Dallara-Honda, 219.888
18. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Dallara-Honda, 219.865
19. (18) David Malukas, Dallara-Honda, 219.864
20. (77) Callum Ilott, Dallara-Chevrolet, 219.462
21. (33) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevrolet, 219.212
22. (4) Dalton Kellett, Dallara-Chevrolet, 219.038
23. (14) Kyle Kirkwood, Dallara-Chevrolet, 219.013
24. (45) Jack Harvey, Dallara-Honda, 218.781
25. (30) Christian Lundgaard, Dallara-Honda, 218.687
26. (11) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Chevrolet, 218.584
27. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 218.410

The Pre Race programming starts Sunday 12:00 on NBC, the race starts at 12:30 E.