Written by Archie O’Reilly
Five race wins. Seven pole positions. But despite his meteoric rise through the series’ ranks in a period just shy of four years since moving over from Supercars, Scott McLaughlin did not feel like an IndyCar driver. Something was incomplete.
That was until the 2024 venture to Iowa Speedway.
Ever since finishing second on his oval debut at Texas Motor Speedway, securing a victory on one of the United States’ iconic circle tracks has been at the forefront of the Team Penske driver’s mind. Two further second-place oval finishes and a total of four more podiums later, McLaughlin could not budge the desire for a first oval win heading into 2024.
Such is their integral nature in the furniture of the IndyCar Series, McLaughlin could not feel close to complete without winning on a type of track that he surprisingly quickly felt at home on.
Teammate Josef Newgarden had dominated on ovals since McLaughlin’s full-time IndyCar switch in 2021, winning nine of the first 15 oval races that the pair competed against each other in. That is why edging Newgarden to pole at World Wide Technology Raceway last year was such an achievement before an engine penalty set McLaughlin back for the race.
The win was yet to come. And with Newgarden notching his second successive Indianapolis 500 win in a race that McLaughlin started on pole for this May, one can only imagine McLaughlin was spurred on further. The performance to come at Iowa was emphatic.
McLaughlin qualified on the front row for both races of the doubleheader, notching a new track record on his second lap with a 188.248 mile per hour average speed to take his eighth IndyCar pole for the second race. But it was in the first race that McLaughlin ended up outshining the competition to finally break his oval duck on his 16th attempt.
And it has taken a journey.
“I felt like an open-wheel driver,” McLaughlin said after this sixth IndyCar victory. “But an IndyCar driver is someone that can win on all three race tracks. Very proud to say I’ve won on an oval now, along with a road and street course. Proud moment for me. It’s taken a lot of hard work behind the scenes to be better.”
One day later, after McLaughlin had finished third in the second race, two-time champion and championship leader Alex Palou quipped that he “cannot call [himself] an IndyCar driver yet” as he continues to chase his own first oval win after finishing second.
“No, you definitely can,” McLaughlin responded with laughter. “Don’t worry about that… That wasn’t a shot at you, by the way. I think you’re an IndyCar driver.”
Palou claimed he may be “50 percent” an IndyCar driver, to which McLaughlin then joked is more like “75 percent, close” as the Spaniard nears an oval success. All of this does only hammer home how valuable a part of the IndyCar calendar ovals are.
“Ultimately everyone wants to win on an oval,” McLaughlin said after securing his double front-row start at Iowa. “It’s exhilarating. Those two laps [in Iowa] qualifying, it’s up there with Indy - exhilaration terms, how fast it is, how quick it is…. It’s a lot of fun. You get a lot of enjoyment from oval racing. I think it’s the backbone of the sport.”
McLaughlin felt like it was only a matter of time before the pain of so many near-misses translated into success as a result of the continued gain made over the last three-to-four years. But there are always doubts.
“Especially after losing Texas in ‘22 [on the last lap to Newgarden], that hurt for a long time,” he said. “You sometimes think if you ever get that chance again, you know how hard it is. Ultimately I’m in such a good race car, race team - thankfully we come with a really good oval package as a team.
“At the end of the day I have two of the world’s best oval drivers in the same equipment. It’s a matter of beating them, which is tough to do.”
McLaughlin described his Iowa victory as a “team win” amid challenges with overtaking on the partially repaved Iowa track. He bided his time before jumping ahead of pole-sitter Colton Herta in the first of the two pit cycles but did then did the work on the track to dominate the race.
There were several caution restarts to manage too, which McLaughlin did (just about, he said).
“I was able to show how good our car was just controlling the pace at the front,” McLaughlin said. “One of [the restarts] I left it in my caution fuel gauge [on] too. That’s why Colton got beside me. I could have thrown that away… I was very lucky.”
McLaughlin did not do anything particularly wrong in the second race when starting from pole position and could have swept the Iowa weekend if circumstances had not fallen against him. He controlled the start but was caught out by a caution shortly after pitting for a first time as Agustin Canapino spun on the apron exiting pit lane.
This allowed a free stop for Palou to jump McLaughlin and lead the race, while teammate Will Power, who started 22nd, was able to jump all the way to second, demoting McLaughlin to third.
It was a fortuitous moment that put Power in the position to overcut Palou later in the race to snatch a first oval win since Pocono in 2019 and a maiden Iowa win. Though Power felt a “Scott Dixon yellow” falling his way after a calculated gamble was retribution for him being on the wrong side of that situation many times in his career.
“At the end of the day, I would have come out in front of Alex, Will would have had to pit in a couple laps’ time,” McLaughlin said. “That’s just how it rolls. It’s part of the deal. You just roll with it. I’ve won a race by a delayed yellow. I’ve lost a race now. It’s just part of the deal. I think everyone will have one or two of those in their career.”
Ultimately, knowing he did all he could across the weekend, McLaughlin is delighted with the momentum he holds. And it was a rewarding Iowa trip after all of the tireless time and dedication put into mastering the oval craft.
Before the Iowa weekend in 2023, McLaughlin spent time watching tapes with teammate Newgarden to try and improve his oval skills as part of his continual oval education.
“It probably helped me in ‘23 here especially,” he said. “It gave me an understanding of where I can trust the air and a few things. I think Josef probably kicks himself because he probably gave me a bit too much information.
“Ultimately you’ve got to use it every chance you get. Any bit of advice I get from any of my teammates, whether it’s Will, Josef, Rick [Mears], Simon [Pagenaud], anyone like that, you take it. I’ve been a sponge ever since I was here in IndyCar.”
Help from others was imperative for McLaughlin. It was never going to be as easy as just jumping into a car on an oval for the first time.
“I never raced on ovals until I came here to America and raced IndyCar,” he said. “It’s a hell of a step up from what I was doing. Never on a dirt track or anything like that. Try to understand it, trust it… it takes a while. This year I’m in a position where it’s really clicked. I’m fully trusting it.”
McLaughlin still felt there was more distance to go in terms of his development on ovals heading into 2024. His off-season prior to the season consisted of yet more work to further his understanding and since working closely with former Penske IndyCar champion and Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud as a mentor has been invaluable.
“[It was] a lot of tape and understanding, listening to spotter’s calls, working with my spotter,” he said. “Working with Simon Pagenaud has been a huge help for me and taught me a lot. He’s a huge feather in my cap, in my corner. Very lucky to have him. He’s been an open book.
“To get my first oval win, I don’t think that’s by coincidence. It’s because I started working with Simon. He’s been a massive help. Then Benny [Bretzman], my engineer, a guru with car setup, an old IRL guy. He loves this sort of stuff. I really enjoy working with him.”
It first came to light that McLaughlin was working with Pagenaud, who was formerly engineered by McLaughlin’s engineer Ben Bretzman, during the Month of May. McLaughlin was initially keen to keep the identity of an unknown helper secret before Pagenaud was spotted on his timing stand on Carb Day.
It is a touching story. Pagenaud was mentored himself by the late Gil de Ferran - his ‘Yoda’ - and has seemed to want to to relay the favour to assist McLaughlin.
There was also a keenness from McLaughlin’s side to help to give Pagenaud an inroad back into the IndyCar paddock. The Frenchman has been sidelined since a crash in practice at Mid-Ohio last July, when his brakes failed and sent him barrel-rolling multiple times, causing long-term concussion issues.
“He’s always been a Team Penske member,” McLaughlin said of Pagenaud in May. “He’s won the 500 for us and, at the end of the day, we all just want him to be okay. So this is for me an opportunity for me to work with him but also an opportunity for me to help maybe bring him back to the race and get his name back involved.
“Whether that’s not driving a race car, at least he’s involved and he gets that feeling of being at the 500 again. I’m sure it’s so hard for him right now. It’s his first 500 he’s missed in a long time. He’s a 500 winner and he’s at a point in his career where he could easily keep going for many, many years.”
Pagenaud’s help has been wide-ranging. He has left no stone unturned and been entirely transparent with McLaughlin. The extent of his involvement - probably emphasising his desire to remain in touch with IndyCar - is significant.
Knowing the backstory of De Ferran’s help in Pagenaud’s career, it is a heartwarming and emotion-provoking tale that Pagenaud is now trying to make an impact himself.
“He’s been unreal for me, such a good teacher,” McLaughlin said. “It’s special to work with someone like that. For him to basically give me everything, it’s crazy. You should see the notes I get. He sends me notes every morning before I go on track. I don’t even have time to read it sometimes. It’s crazy. It’s like essays, longer than your reporting stories. It’s crazy.
“Ultimately I treasure them. I save them. I’ll never give them to anyone else because they’re just that good. I’m very proud to do it for him, do it for Benny as well. Benny has been a huge help for me in that regard.
“I’m very thankful to have the people, blessed to have the people in my corner. That goes from the people I work with but then I’ve got my wife, [I am] soon to be a dad. All that stuff. It puts into perspective. It’s called winning races but it’s always good having good people in your corner.”
The work that McLaughlin mentioned putting in listening to spotter’s calls alongside spotter Adam Fournier also cannot be undervalued and offers and interesting insight into the learning process.
“I’ve worked really hard with my spotters, especially Adam,” he said. “Adam has been in my corner from 2021. From my first ROP at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he’s been my guy. Along with Rick Mears and everyone, Simon again - he was one of the guys that said you have to work with your spotters, get a language. We have the same language every oval.”
McLaughlin now sits only 65 points behind championship leader Palou - a mightily impressive recovery after being last in the standings with five points after two rounds following disqualification from St. Petersburg and a mechanical failure in Long Beach. He has achieved four podiums in five races and has been on the rostrum in three successive events.
“This bloke next to me doesn’t make many mistakes,” McLaughlin said of Palou, who made a rare error to crash out of the opening race at Iowa - his first DNF in over two years. “When he does, you have to capitalise… I firmly believe we probably would have led that race in the second stint as well and be under control as much as we did the first stint.
“We could easily have gotten two wins [at Iowa] but we got two podiums and one win. That’s a great day. I come into some tracks now: Gateway, Toronto; Portland I’ve won before. I feel really strong, the end of the season. A couple ovals as well. It’s anyone’s game.”
Now McLaughlin is an oval winner and feels validated as an IndyCar driver, the next push is for a maiden championship crown. That is when McLaughlin will feel like a complete driver, not only in IndyCar but also the open-wheel realm that was alien a mere five years ago.
“There’s room for improvement all the time,” he said. “I’m nowhere near a complete driver. I just feel like I’m an IndyCar driver now. I’m proud to say that I am.”
Comments