McLaughlin ready to fight back

Kiwi IndyCar star Scott McLaughlin is determined to bounce back from the “lowest point of my career” at Indianapolis.

McLaughlin was unable to start the 2025 Indianapolis 500 after an infamous crash on the warm-up on the main straight.

The Team Penske Kiwi has already raced at Detroit and finished 12th, but has opened up in a press conference ahead of this weekend’s race at Illinois.

Gateway is an oval McLaughlin has enjoyed, never finishing outside the top five, including a second place last year.

A happy hunting ground is timely for the former Supercars star as he aims to reset.

“Really excited to get back here,” McLaughlin said. 

“Obviously, it’s a track that I love and I’ve always gone pretty well at. I go into a place there with a lot of confidence.

“The way that the season’s going for me right now, I need a bit of a rebound here, just get going. The last two events have been pretty tough.”

Reflecting on the painful Indianapolis 500 campaign, McLaughlin has a philosophical stance, despite the incident itself still be “perplexing.”

“I mean, that whole month was pretty tough,” said McLaughlin. 

“It started really well. It ended in a couple bad ways, my crash before that, then crash in another brand new car.

“Yeah, it was one of, if not the lowest points of my career. But it’s something that I’ll learn from.

“I still am a little bit perplexed about what happened in that scenario and how it did. Never done that before in my career.

“It was tough. The champions are made learning from their mistakes. 

“I truly believe we had a really fast car. I feel really strong on ovals and there’s nothing to be upset about apart from the fact that I felt like I sort of wasted a really good opportunity just from a pace perspective.

“Look, you live and learn. The sun always rises and you just got to get on with it. 

“The best thing for me the week after that was getting back in the race car and felt really good, even if it wasn’t the most ideal result either.”

McLaughlin sits eighth in the championship ahead of the eighth race of the season.

Image: Penske

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