Mclaughlin’s Indy 500 prospects

Last year, Scott Mclaughlin won two Rookie of the Year titles, the first coming in May, at the Indianapolis 500. But as with his

ROY accolade in the series, he was underwhelmed by his overall finishing position: in the points, he bagged 14th; at the Speedway, he was classified 20th.

Mclaughlin, runner-up in his first-ever oval race four weeks earlier in Texas, was Penske’s fastest driver in qualifying for the 500, in a dreadful weekend for the team as a whole. A week later in race trim they all looked quicker, with Simon Pagenaud climbing through the field to claim third, and Mclaughlin heading for a top-six until receiving a drivethrough penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

His disappointment was understandable.

Still, it’s fair to say that ovals were the brightest part of his rookie season (he also claimed fourth at Gateway) so, given that the Ben Bretzman-pagenaud combo more often than not created the best Penske set-up for the Speedway over the past seven years, could a Mclaughlin-bretzman combo fight for victory in this year’s 106th running of the 500?

After all, the Penske engineers’ main focus in the off-season – even ahead of improving its street course handling – was finding pace at Indy.

“I have watched Scott’s in-car from last year’s 500 maybe four or five times already to see how he drives Indy, what his tendencies are,” says Bretzman.

“And even there he’s very similar to Simon. That makes me super-excited. We need to discuss how to approach Indy, how we use the practice days, but I think we’ll be on the same page set-up-wise. I like the lines he takes, and we know he’s not afraid of ovals. There are many variables that come into play at Indy, but yeah, I do think we have a lot of potential.”

“I like the lines he takes, and we know he’s not afraid of ovals”