McLaughlin, like team-mate Josef Newgarden, pulled his time to try and improve and join team-mate Will Power in the Top 12 segment after setting the 15th-fastest time with his first qualifying run on Saturday, held in the heat of the day.
But in dense, muggy air that followed a rainstorm, his car had too much drag and set an average time that was 1.4mph slower than his first run. That dropped him to 26th.
