Written by Archie O’Reilly
Ahead of his fourth year in IndyCar after making the full-time switch from V8 Supercars as a three-time champion in 2021, Scott McLaughlin put pen to paper on a new long-term contract with Team Penske during the off-season.
“It was a simple conversation we all had,” McLaughlin said. “It was done pretty quickly. Pumped to do that. Good security for me and my family moving forward. It’s something that takes another focus off - I don’t have to answer questions about it.
“I can focus on and get going. I was pumped to get it done.”
In the last two seasons - only his third and fourth as an open-wheel driver - McLaughlin has finished third in the standings and beaten his pair of two-time IndyCar champion Penske teammates, Josef Newgarden and Will Power. Two oval wins last season also mean his seven career IndyCar wins are now spread across every type of track.
“It’s crazy,” McLaughlin said. “I’m proud of the opportunity to come here. Never thought I’d probably be here. I was talking today to a friend… seven years in the main series in Australia, now I’m in my fifth season in IndyCar. I’m not far away from being longer as a professional driver in the IndyCar Series than the Supercar Series.
“It’s crazy how my life has changed. But I love it - love every second here, enjoy America. I love it here. Don’t really see any plans on leaving. I’m really enjoying it.”
Pipping Andretti’s Colton Herta by just shy of two-tenths of a second, McLaughlin has marked his fresh Penske deal by kicking off his attempt at winning a maiden IndyCar title in 2025 with pole position on the streets of St. Petersburg, where he won from his first pole for his first IndyCar victory in 2022.
Making this pole particularly special, it is McLaughlin’s first on-track success as a father after he welcomed daughter Lucy with wife Karly last October. McLaughlin was able to celebrate with Lucy in the pit lane after the session.
“I said to Karly: ‘If I do get pole, run from the bus to pit lane because I want to get a photo with her for that moment,’” McLaughlin said. “Hopefully we can do it from Victory Lane tomorrow. Ultimately it was super special. She was awake too, so ideal timing.
“I’m just glad I’m a dad now. I haven’t lost two-tenths like everyone says… I had a two-tenth gap on Colton - maybe I gained it. Having Lucy in the off-season, probably the best thing that ever happened to me in my life. There’s more to life than racing in some ways.
“I said to many people throughout the week that I feel like when I go home, I’ve got a home. I’m worried about my wife and my daughter: my family. Then when I go to the workshop, I’m refreshed, I’m excited. It’s not that I don’t think about them - I’m so focused on work because I know, when I get home, I’m going to be too busy changing diapers, whatever.
“I’m really happy with the work-life balance I’ve got going here. It’s a credit to my wife and my family. Really enjoying it so far.”
McLaughlin’s 59.4624-second St. Pete pole lap has earned him an 11th P1 Award of his IndyCar career.
“My 70th [pole overall]. I know my stats, don’t worry,” he joked. “Great start. Super pumped. Basically from the Q1 group one that we did, really felt like the car had it in it. In Q2, we sort of scraped in, just missed the balance.
“Once we centred the balance up again for Q3, knew in the first run it was going to be pretty good. I could lay it down as much as I could. Full-commitment lap. Certainly felt like I had a lot more confidence in the car.”
McLaughlin had to recover from a crash late in the opening practice session of the season on Friday. He found himself deep into the high-speed Turn 3, slapping the wall with the left side of his No.3 Chevy, causing the front-left corner to partially fold beneath the car.
But after a repair job on Friday night, McLaughlin suggested the car only improved.
“The hit that I had yesterday wasn’t as bad as it looked,” he said. “The theatrics were pretty crazy. Ultimately you hate giving the team extra work, go over the garage hours and whatnot.
“Anything you can do to repay them… they always just say: ‘Go out and get pole. The team composure… they love working on it. Long hours suck but it’s a passion. It’s nice to repay them in some ways - the only way I can do it apart from maybe a Coors Light after the race.”
McLaughlin’s team left the track at 8:30pm on Friday after concluding repairs from mid-afternoon practice. McLaughlin’s strategist, and general manager of Penske’s IndyCar programme, Kyle Moyer was spotted with pizzas in the paddock in the evening.
“Kyle is sick… he likes that - he likes fixing cars. He’s a handyman,” McLaughlin said with a smile. “I don’t want to keep [crashing], but ultimately if I do that and do pole the next day, that makes up for it a lot.”
McLaughlin is keen to start the season strongly having left the first two rounds in 2024 last in the standings with only five points; disqualification from third in St. Pete due to Penske’s push-to-pass infringement and a mechanical failure in Long Beach set him back significantly. McLaughlin also started the season with a 13th-place finish in St. Pete the year prior.
“We just want to get a good race under our belt,” he said. “Ideally a win. But you try to get away from here with a podium or a top five and you run away with it. It’s a nice feeling to take those points and get going.
“I need a stronger start compared to my last few years to make sure I’m not chasing my tail halfway through the year.”
A big talking point heading into the race is the lifespan of the high-degradation alternate tyres, which only gave drivers enough performance for one competitive qualifying lap.
“You don’t want to lose too much time mucking around on a set of tyres if you’re getting hammered on the undercut or vice versa,” McLaughlin said.
Second-place starter Herta admitted the drivers’ job was made “very hard” in qualifying given only a one-lap window to nail their lap.
“It was more extreme than I thought it was going to be,” he said. “Usually when we have deg races, it’s more so you can maybe get a second lap in in qualifying. It was interesting to feel that. [The race] is going to be interesting because of that.
“No doubt in my mind it’s a three-stopper. There’s no way anybody takes these tyres to 30 laps or whatever it is to do the two-stopper. How long can you make them last? What is that going to look like? Is it going to be five laps? Fifteen laps?”
McLaughlin and Herta will lead the field to green at 12:29pm local time on Sunday, with FOX Sports’ first network television broadcast of IndyCar commencing at noon.
Comments