McLaughlin defiant against “whole deal” Palou in IndyCar title bid

Written by Archie O’Reilly

Credit: Joe Skibinski

He may be 91 points behind runaway championship leader Álex Palou after four races, but Scott McLaughlin insists all is not lost in his bid for a maiden IndyCar title in 2025.

Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR)’s Palou has won three of the opening four races of the season - finishing second in the other - and has a commanding 60-point lead over Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard in second place.

But while Palou could already sit out a race and still be leading in his bid for a fourth title overall and third in succession, McLaughlin - one of the pre-season favourites after consecutive third-place finishes in points - is still confident the deficit can be clawed back.

“It’s not frustrating,” the Team Penske driver said. “At the end of the day, you can only do as much as you can. I’m driving the thing as fast as I can. Christian is doing the same thing. Álex is doing the best job he can. That turns out to be a really good job and solid. 

“We all know it was going to be that way. When a guy is at the top of his game, all you can do is try to be at the top of yours.”

As Palou notched his 14th career win at Barber Motorsports Park last weekend, McLaughlin secured his first podium of the 2025 campaign, finishing third having started along site pole-sitter Palou on the front row.

“We had a third-place car and we came in third,” McLaughlin said. “That’s all we can do. Nothing more, nothing less. I learned that when I was racing Supercars, [three] championship campaigns. You’ve just got to be there. 

“It is all swings and roundabouts. We’ll be strong at places [Palou] won’t. Just got to capitalise.”

Credit: Paul Hurley

Sitting in fifth place, McLaughlin is the best-placed Penske driver in the championship having beaten his two more experienced teammates in each of the last two seasons - only his third and fourth as a single-seater and IndyCar driver. 

It has been a particularly challenging start to the 2025 season for Penske. Each of its drivers suffered a minimum-points finish inside the opening three races, including McLaughlin retiring with a hybrid issue at the Thermal Club. 

Will Power is 12 points behind McLaughlin (103 behind Palou) in ninth and Newgarden a further 15 back from Power (118 behind Palou) in 11th.

Thermal strife aside, McLaughlin has finished no lower than sixth, including kicking off the season with a pole in St. Petersburg before salvaging fourth on the wrong strategy. But he acknowledges there is a deficit to Palou and CGR. 

“Pure speed, man,” McLaughlin said of the reason for the gulf. “Those guys are executing. They’re just knocking good lap times out, qualifying well, then executing in the race. Great strategy. Props to Barry [Wanser, strategist] and the team that they run on the No.10 car. 

“They’re doing a great job. Obviously they’ve got a really good driver. Álex is one of the best racing car drivers I’ve ever come across. He’s the whole deal. 

“That doesn’t mean we can’t beat him. We know where we can improve - different facets that I can’t really expose. Ultimately, if we keep knocking on the door, everyone has a bad race at some point. All you can do is just be there, if you can.”

Credit: Paul Hurley

McLaughlin did initially place pressure on Palou on the opening lap at Barber. But once the race settled - with no caution for a third successive race for the first time since 1986 - the Spaniard’s pace advantage was glaring.

With the pair on the same starting strategy - the only two drivers in the top nine starting on the favoured alternate tyres - Palou built a gap of the best part of 10 seconds by the pair’s opening pit stop.

“I just didn’t have enough pace,” McLaughlin said. “I pushed him, then settled into a rhythm. Ideally I wanted to stay in that two-second bracket… Álex just had really good speed.”

McLaughlin sat second for the majority of the first half of the 90-lap race before Lundgaard delivered a decisive inside pass into Turn 17 on Lap 42 to seize the position. Despite traffic late in the race, McLaughlin held on to third ahead of the fast-charging Rinus VeeKay for Dale Coyne Racing. 

“We were just third place [maximum],” McLaughlin said. “Didn’t quite have the pace from the get-go. I just didn’t feel I had much grip. But the car was still okay - it was still pretty fast. Just wasn’t as quick as the front two. 

“It’s good points. We’ve got to just keep keeping on and being at the front as much as we can. That was a solid race for us from the pace we had. If you want to build a championship campaign, that’s how you have to do it.”