INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, August 12, 2023) – David Malukas (#18 HMD Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports) had to start from the back of the 27-car field on Saturday after being penalized for an unapproved engine change, but the sophomore driver made the best of it and picked up 11 positions to take the checkered flag on the lead lap in 16th place at the Gallagher Grand Prix.
Started: 27th
Finished: 16th
- Malukas moved up to 21st on the first lap of the 85-lap event.
- He took advantage of the early (and only) caution period to pit for fuel on Lap 5 and took the restart in 21st.
- He pit once again on Lap 14 for a set of alternate tires and fuel.
- Malukas continued to push hard and run competitively to pick up a few more positions.
- He was sitting 19th at the halfway point and took over 17th on Lap 59.
- The driver of the #18 HMD Honda made his final stop on Lap 60 and went on to finish 16th, picking up one final position on the last lap.
- So far this season, Malukas has a best starting position of third (Iowa Speedway Race 2) and a best finish of fourth (Texas Motor Speedway).
- Next Up: Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway, August 27 at 3:30pm ET on NBC
David Malukas, #18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda
“We started 27th and finished 16th and I’m happy with that. It was a really good race for us from a strategy perspective and with the car that we had. I think we managed to gain a lot of positions on drivers that had a better car than us so that was encouraging. In the end, with fuel saving and all that it was a tough race, but we were able to gain 11 positions along the way and the whole team can be happy with the end result today.”