NTT INDYCAR SERIES: BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500

August 17, 2024

Scott McLaughlin

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Scott McLaughlin, fourth podium finish in his last five races. Sixth podium of 2024, 18th of his career.

Scott, congratulations on the podium. I know you wanted a 'W' here.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, isn't it crazy? Two years ago I would have been ecstatic. Today I feel like we just missed one.

It is what's. I'm very proud of how we ran. DEX Imaging Chevy has been great all weekend. We led a lot of laps, and the car just came on as the temps went down on the track.

I felt like we felt that last night. We stuck with our guns at the setup. It was a little difficult at the start. I didn't think I was the best car by any means. Once the race started coming to us, I felt we had a really good chance there.

The last yellow was good for us. Then all the kerfuffle at the end. Ultimately it was I think just nice to bring home really good points. Yeah, we'll just keep this momentum rolling. All we can do. Keep knocking out results.

I know I can just keep knocking away. We got some big races coming up. It's going to be tough, but we'll never stop believing. Bon Jovi said it the best. 'Don't stop believing.'

THE MODERATOR: That your theme song?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: That's our theme song (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Hate to ask this, but the one restart, it looked like Josef may have checked up, slowed down. You backed off. Will gets rear-ended by Alexander Rossi. What was your viewpoint? Did you think it was too slow?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Firstly, the rules have changed a lot this year. They were probably a bit lenient on jump-starts, whatnot, people getting runs before green flag.

I guess my strategy all year in some ways has been to be as close as I can to the car in front. Most people are like that because you're limiting the concertina effect that you have. I was right up Josef's gearbox.

It's not up to me to review. It's an INDYCAR thing. Personally I think he restarted very late. That was probably more the problem. I just wish we did a restart like we did on the last restart 'cause I think we potentially could have had a first, second, third for the team, or first, second, fourth.

It's not up to me to judge that. From my perspective, it didn't need to happen. But I'm also not driving the 2 car, and no one else is but him.

Ultimately we all make decisions. He thought that was the right restart to make. It sucks for everyone behind us. He got the win. Doesn't really matter for him. Will is crashed out, and a few others.

Yeah, it sucks I guess for the spectacle at the end.

Q. Prior to the next-to-last restart, you and Josef were the only two cars on the lead lap. Were you going to have to pit again?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah. I think the yellow actually helped us. Sorry, we would have pitted. I think Malukas and (indiscernible) would have got us. I would have been third and he would have been fourth. It kind of would have been the same. The yellow definitely saved us at the end.

But yeah, I thought the racing was really good. First time in probably two years the outside lane was actually working a ton. I was up there like 60 laps, 80 laps into a stint and ripping it. Kudos to INDYCAR. I think they brought a better package.

It's just when those speeds go up at the end it's very hard to stay really tight to a car in front of you. But I think we've made some really good changes. That's a huge compliment to the series, yeah.

Q. After what we saw at Iowa, there were a lot of people saying it was single line. How much truly did the high line practice help you yesterday, also having the INDY NXT cars race today?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: We had INDY NXT race at Iowa, too.

I think it was more a package thing. What we brought here with more downforce, 'cause you're that confident, especially as the tires get older, to get up there. The tires aren't completely screwed at the end of it.

Yeah, I think INDYCAR has been working really hard to try to find a package. It's early days with the hybrid. You're going to have the races where we might not have the spectacle that we probably had tonight. I mean, I had a blast out there tonight. Hopefully it looked good on TV.

Yeah, it's just all about bringing the right package. I think they did that today. We'll continue to keep learning with the weight of the car, the hybrid, whatnot.

Q. Do you think a similar package like this should be brought to Milwaukee to make the racing look like this too different of a track?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, it's very different pitch and whatnot. I'm just a space between the steering wheel and the seat. Just drive the thing as fast as I can.

I don't know. Yeah, I don't know, man.

THE MODERATOR: Something tells me there's more to it than that.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I don't get into the scientific stuff. That's up to other people.

THE MODERATOR: 650 on-track passes.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I think as well, starting the race later at night. I think it's always fun starting the race like a night transition race. Cooler temps always provide better track passing. Last year was close to a hundred degrees. Hard, hard.

Q. Couple races in a row Team Penske team members are not exactly getting along. I don't know if you saw that. Will said hello with the single finger.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: William does it a bit (smiling).

Q. How do you repair that or do you need to?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: We're big boys. It is what it is. It's just hot. Hot under the collar. Getting to the business end of the season. We all know Will, he wears his emotions on his sleeve. That's why we love him.

Yeah, I think we'll just discuss and get on. All three of us, I guess without sounding like an idiot, or excuse my language, a wanker, we're all very good and we're pushing each other to a very high level. We want to be that guy.

I think it's always going to get tight at different points. We just had an unfortunate situation the last couple events. I mean, after Toronto, we were just fine. I'm sure it will be the same moving forward.

Q. Do you get along better than we probably see from the outside?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, there's a lot of stories in the media, just tweets, just because we're not doing Bus Bros anymore doesn't mean we hate each other. Our lives have gone one way. That is just how it is. It has got busy in my life too. My wife is pregnant. We're expecting. I haven't got enough time to be a silly bugger all the time.

I had some fun. We have some really good fun internally. I think what people don't see is the engineers behind the scenes working together making sure we have really good packages. We try different things, talk about it at the end of each practice day. We have a really good camaraderie in there between not only the drivers but engineers and team management.

We all want to win. The best thing about Team Penske is they let us race. It could be just team orders, you just fall in behind. They let us race for the win. I think everyone should appreciate that. It's not just a (indiscernible) Fernando Alonso Ferrari moment.

Q. What was the transition like once the sun started going down in terms of visibility?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I went against what my helmet preparer guy said. He said I should run a clear visor with a tinted tear-off. I said, We'll be all right, let's go full tint. By the end of the race, it was dark and I had a full tint visor. It wasn't ideal.

The vision was fantastic. The lights here are awesome. I think finishing under the lights is always a spectacle, as well.

Q. Does it make that much of a difference when you go to the clear visor? What's the experience like?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: It's like running 195 miles an hour with your sunglasses on in the dark. Then you go to your glasses and you're fine. It's exactly that (smiling).

Q. Be nice to see some more night races in the season, wouldn't it?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I think the twilight race is awesome. I think it's great temps for the fans as well. Think of the people in the stands.

Ultimately it's all governed by TV and whatnot. Ultimately I think with a new deal next year, there's a lot of things open on the table, which we're all very excited about, about different starts times, whatnot.

I think we're really excited to work with them in the future.

THE MODERATOR: Safe travels.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Thank you.