How McLaughlin is rebounding from “lowest point” of his IndyCar career

Credit: Dominic Loyer

The pain in Scott McLaughlin’s eyes is still piercing several weeks later.

Driver introductions. The tear-jerking ceremonies. The painstaking rain delay. The pace laps with the Blackhawk helicopters overhead. He had been through all of the pre-race motions. 

But he never saw the green flag for the race that means the most.

It could not have been a more different picture to the iconic Pennzoil-sponsored ’Yellow Submarine’ machine leading the field to green from pole position one year earlier.

The dramatic camera cut to the stricken No.3 Team Penske car sitting below Turn 1 with a torn-up nose and ripped left-front corner does not get any less agonising. It was a dream-crushing moment. Heartbreak hardly does it justice. 

McLaughlin hardly knew what to do with himself. Hands on his striking yellow helmet in disbelief. Aggressive slaps of the steering wheel. Teary eyes through his open visor. Hands grasping his helmet once more. 

“It’s alright, bud. It’s okay,” said the reassuring voice of McLaughlin’s strategist and close friend Ben Bretzman over the radio. “Don’t stress about it. It’s alright. We’re okay.”

But McLaughlin? Inconsolable.

He could hardly bring himself to get out of the cockpit, sat hunched over the aerscreen as the remainder of the field continued to streak by on their pace laps. He could not come to terms with what had happened.

All of that work for nothing. His Indianapolis 500 was over before it had even begun. 

It was a shattering sight as McLaughlin eventually emerged from his car and lowered himself onto his haunches on the pristine Indianapolis Motor Speedway grass. The empathy from the safety crew member added to the poignance of the moment, allowing McLaughlin time to absorb what had just happened as his car was cleared.

Very slowly, he removed his gloves and his helmet and his balaclava to reveal yet more agony etched across his face before burying his head in his hands. Up and down, he paced around before finally departing the scene of the accident and his promised land.

Credit: Dominic Loyer

“Rookie… I don’t know what…”

Agitated and in a state of shock, McLaughlin could hardly muster the words in his immediate interview on the FOX Sports broadcast. 

“By far the worst moment of my life. I know it’s probably dramatic… whatever. But I put so much into this race - everyone does - and I didn’t even get to see the green flag.”

One of the pre-race favourites starting from 10th, McLaughlin was warming his tyres down the frontstretch on the pace laps as his rear tyres appeared to spin and his car hooked aggressively left into the inside wall. He was a passenger from there.

Cold track? A wet patch? Utter bemusement.

“I still am a little bit perplexed about what happened in that scenario and how it did,” said McLaughlin almost a fortnight on. “Never done that before in my career. I’m still sort of figuring out what happened… I have half an idea.”

One day after the crash, at IndyCar’s annual Victory Celebration, McLaughlin was cheery enough to crack a joke about the state of his highlights package - simply showing his pre-race accident. 

It was the first Indy 500 for him as a father and certainly it was not the way he envisaged it to pan out. But being able to go back to his RV with his wife Karly and daughter Lucy softened the blow immensely. 

“That’s my world right there,” McLaughlin said at the post-500 banquet. “Didn’t matter as soon as I got back to the bus. My daughter was actually sleeping but my wife was there. And that’s all you need.”

May was not easy for McLaughlin. In the Sunday practice session ahead of Fast 12 qualifying - with a pole-contending car - he suffered an almighty crash at Turn 2. The car swapped ends and the No.3 machine heavily struck the SAFER barrier, lifting airborne before bouncing off its left sidepod and coming to rest down the backstretch.

The car was destroyed and a chassis change necessitated. That made the fact that he crashed on the pre-race pace laps - with the spare car heroically built up into win-contending  configuration - the following week all the more painful.

Credit: Dominic Loyer

“It was one of if not the lowest points of my career,” McLaughlin said. “But it’s something that I’ll learn from. The champions are made learning from their mistakes. You live and learn. You’ve just got to get on with it.”

After not just a fortnight of build-up in May but the best part of 12 months of tireless preparation, the incident was a stark reminder of just how much Indianapolis means. You see that in the peaks of victory but also the despair of defeat.

But while it was possibly the lowest moment of his career to date, great champions like McLaughlin are defined by their ability to fight back from adversity.

“I’ve had plenty of low moments in my career and I’ve felt like I’ve come back pretty strong,” he said. “As long as I try and turn this negative into a positive, that’s the main thing. I can’t just dwell on that moment. 

“At the time, obviously I was really sad, was just very emotional about the whole thing. But now you look back at it, there’s something in there that I’ll learn from and make me better in the future. That’s how you look at it. You can’t look at it any other way. 

“If you keep dwelling on it or worry that it ever happens again… you can’t. You’ve just got to have eyes forward. The sun always rises. There’s a lot of people with worse dramas than I have now. I feel like I am in a really good spot - very happy. I just have to keep going.”

Between his accidents, McLaughlin was also struck with the blow that he had lost strategist Kyle Moyer - also general manager of Penske’s IndyCar programme - with immediate effect amid a bout of firings following illegalities found in pre-qualifying technical inspection.

Not only was this a part of an unsettling loss of key senior personnel within Penske on the week of the biggest race of the year, but it was the loss of a friend for McLaughlin.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

McLaughlin cut an impassioned figure on Indy 500 media day as he challenged head-first the notion that there is a damaging conflict of interest with team owner Roger Penske also owning IndyCar. McLaughlin felt the fallout after the illegalities - found to be a safety violation - were discovered had been taken out of proportion because of this perception issue.

“People forget what Roger’s done for this sport and that definitely gets thrown to the side a little bit, which I find a hard time not being passionate about,” McLaughlin said at the time. “It’s frustrating that this is blown up like it has and it’s cost three people that I’m very close with their jobs. 

“I’m disappointed with how Roger’s name has been thrown through the mud. His integrity, our team, the people on the floor, the people that spend hours away from their families trying to build these cars, basically they’re being thrown to the mud. I take that personally.”

Now into the third week since the Indy 500, the Penske structure without Moyer, former team president Tim Cindric and former managing director Ron Ruzewski is starting to take shape.

There is a sense that things are not yet entirely settled and no announcements have been made regarding long-term announcements, but Penske is not an organisation short on high-quality personnel across its IndyCar, NASCAR and sportscar programmes.

“Obviously it’s a lot for the team to take in,” McLaughlin said. “We’re still working through things as we speak. Ultimately, the best thing that Penske has is the depth that we have throughout the whole factory. 

“I’m really excited to just get on with it, excited for the future of the team. I’m here for a long time. I’ve got an avid interest for this to work and to be as strong as we were before, which I believe we certainly can with the people we’ve got. 

“Sort of sad, obviously, about what happened. I respect the decision. You’ve just got to press on and work with the people that you’ve got. We’ll be okay.”

Credit: John Cote

It would have been easy to wallow in the toils of May and devastation of the once-a-year opportunity to win one of racing’s most prestigious prizes coming crashing down as it did. But McLaughlin was eager to get going again.

Only five days after his pre-race accident at the Speedway, it was time for practice on the streets of Detroit. 

“The best thing for me the week after that was getting back in the race car,” McLaughlin said. “I think we’ve got really good pace, got good momentum. We just need to keep going.”

Immediately, McLaughlin was second in the opening practice session in the Motor City. He was second again in the following day’s practice session and qualified a respectable eighth.

He looked to have been struck with a stroke of remarkable fortune in the race after pitting under the opening caution and cycling out in front of net race leader Kyle Kirkwood. But on that restart, McLaughlin’s race came undone after running into the back of Nolan Siegel into Turn 1, with the misjudgement leading to a stop-and-hold penalty.

An exchange with Siegel’s Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan followed on X, prompted by Kanaan quote-tweeting a replay of the incident with: “Oh ok then…”

McLaughlin bit back, admitting his misjudgement after Siegel broke earlier than anticipated, followed by: “Good to see McLaren team principals are still on the hunt for beef… [sponsor] @GoodRanchers has loads for ya. Use code #BrakeLater for 0% off.”

Kanaan followed that with a comment about McLaughlin misjudging the week prior with his Indy 500 accident on the pace laps before remarking about the fact he could not find Penske’s team principal - a dig aimed at the firings.

“I was surprised that he [said that],” McLaughlin admitted in a media call this week. “It is what it is. That was his decision.”

The exchange ended with McLaughlin hinting that Kanaan, as team principal, should not have been on his phone during the race. He indicated that Kanaan could have just called him given he has his phone number. Sure enough, the pair have since spoken.

Credit: Matt Fraver

“Me and TK are completely fine,” McLaughlin said. “We cleared the air. There was nothing to really clear. He clapped back and I clapped back. It’s just how it is. Me and TK have always talked on social media. Have been completely fine. 

“It’s not like a year-long feud like I’ve seen around [after a similar exchange relating to Arrow McLaren and contract disputes last year]. It’s just one of those deals where someone’s going to call me out, I’ll clap back as well. It’s just who I am. I’m not going to change. 

“It won’t affect anything moving forward, at least from my end. We talked and it was all good.”

McLaughlin ultimately came home 12th in Detroit, and despite runaway championship leader Álex Palou failing to finish after being crashed out by David Malukas, McLaughlin is still eighth and 147 points shy of the championship lead after only seven races. 

While he is only 57 points back from Pato O’Ward in second - with Palou still 90 points clear - it has been a tough year for McLaughlin, one of the pre-season title favourites.

“I feel there’s definitely things I could have done better,” said McLaughlin, who has finished third in the standings and beaten his Penske teammates the last two seasons. “All three of us [at Penske] could have done better. 

“We have been a strong team in the past. We still are a strong team. Nothing has slowed down there. It’s just a matter of executing. And we will.”

Will Power is currently the lead Penske driver, 11 points ahead of McLaughlin in fifth. Josef Newgarden is languishing in 12th, 185 points behind Palou’s lead.

“Palou is on a hot streak, for sure,” McLaughlin said. “He’s got the momentum. I personally think the start of my year prior to Indy was pretty strong - one of my strongest. Just one guy had won four out of five races at that point. You’ve got to look at him and figure out where you can be better. We’re working pretty hard to do that.

“I definitely don’t think anyone’s unstoppable. When they’re going through a purple patch, they’re executing like they are, it’s tough. I enjoy that challenge.”

Credit: Chris Owens

McLaughlin had finished no lower than sixth in the four races in which he saw the chequered flag prior to the Indy 500, suffering a hybrid issue in the other at the Thermal Club. His sole podium in 2025 is a third-place result at Barber, where he was two-time defending winner.

He also qualified on pole for the season opener in St. Petersburg before strategy misfortune confined him to a fourth-place finish. 

“For me, my biggest goal right now is just to capitalise on some of the pace that we’ve had,” McLaughlin said of his deficit. “I felt like we were really quick in Detroit - we were in a good spot before the incident. Indy I felt quick all month. Had my best result in the Indy GP [with fourth place] for god knows how long. 

“We’ve had some positive momentum. It’s just putting the pieces of the puzzle together.”

McLaughlin believes that Penske’s struggles have come from execution not up to the usual ‘Penske Perfect’ standard. But having overcome scoring only five points in the first two races last season to finish third in points, he still believes he can claw ground back as Penske visit some of their strongest tracks from now through August.

“I’ve been in this sport long enough - not just IndyCar but Supercars as well - sometimes you can have a fast car and you just don’t put it together, it’s not your year,” McLaughlin said. “I don’t believe it is not my year yet. 

“I certainly need to get on the train and start winning races, get some consistency back, at least try to slow down Álex a little bit. That guy is executing at a really high level. You’ve just got to try to raise yourself to that level - not only you but your team and everyone. 

“You can’t look at it like we’re terrible. I personally think we’ve been really, really strong. Just the pieces haven’t fallen right now. I’ve just got to keep going.”

Credit: Dominic Loyer

Penske are winless since McLaughlin’s victory in the penultimate race in Milwaukee last year. At eight races, it is the team’s longest drought since a nine-round stretch at the start of 2021, albeit they finished second five times in that run compared to a best result of third since Milwaukee last year.

“You can’t dwell too much on the fact we haven’t won a race yet,” McLaughlin said. “If you’re worried about the pressure and the outside noise, you’re not going to be executing right. Control what I can control, drive the car to the best of my ability.”

One of Penske’s strongest tracks, World Wide Technology Raceway, is up next, where McLaughlin has won pole the last two years.

“The way that the season’s going for me right now, I need a bit of a rebound,” he said. “I just want to be better. I just want to be the best, if I can. I work really hard on my trade to be strong mentally, physically. I have been driving really, really well. 

“Just luck and a couple of mistakes on my side [mean] it hasn’t worked out. Most important thing for me is to learn from all these things and hopefully be stronger on the back end.”