Scott McLaughlin harbors ‘big belief’ to script IndyCar comeback akin to historic Supercars run

IndyCar driver Scott McLaughlin, along with his Team Penske teammates, has had a tough first half of the 2025 season in the American open-wheel racing series. However, the Kiwi driver believed that it's just the silence before the storm, sharing a reference to his time in the V8 Supercar series.

Team Penske is one of the top teams in IndyCar alongside the likes of Andretti Global, Chip Ganassi Racing, and Arrow McLaren. However, while the other three teams have a driver each in the Top 3 standings of the IndyCar championship, Will Power is the highest Team Penske driver, sitting seventh in the standings.

Scott McLaughlin and other Team Penske drivers have had the performance in the car to challenge for podiums and race wins, but driver errors, reliability issues, and bad luck with strategies have put them on the back foot. The Kiwi driver spoke ahead of the race at Road America about the poor start to the 2025 season.

McLaughlin detailed how he was hopeful of making a strong comeback and shared how he had a terrible year in V8 Supercars as well, which was followed by multiple championships. On the Pit Pass and Indy podcast, he said:

“You know, unfortunately we're just, but we're fast and that's better than being slow and having bad luck as well. So I think, yeah, it's got to turn at some point. I'm a big believer in that. "I feel like 10 years ago, I had a very similar season in V8 Supercar, and I came back and won nearly four championships in a row. So, you know, I feel like this is all character building and I'm around here for a long time. We're not going anywhere.”

Scott McLaughlin made the move from V8 Supercar to IndyCar after the 2020 season. The Kiwi driver finished 8th during the 2015 Supercars season, and followed it up with a 3rd, a 2nd, and three titles in the next five years of the championship.

Scott McLaughlin reflects on the P12 finish at Road America

Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden were in with a chance for the race win at Road America. However, Newgarden crashed out of the race, whereas the Kiwi driver was caught on the wrong side of a caution, which put his race strategy out of the window.

McLaughlin took to X after the race to reflect on a tough weekend as he wrote:

“We had an amazing car today. We just caught the wrong side of the yellow and it hosed our day. Proud of the effort from the #Thirsty3s. We’ll be ready to go in Mid-Ohio.”

The race in Road America was followed by the IndyCar test at the Iowa Speedway, where all three Team Penske drivers finished outside the Top 10.

Edited by Hitesh Nigam