Scott McLaughlin started on the pole of Sunday’s IndyCar season opener, but hardly had an open race track throughout the day.
The sophomore driver in the Team Penske No. 3 played out his strategy on Sunday and had to hold off defending series champion Alex Palou for the final 12 laps of the race.
“This is… ah,” McLaughlin said on the NBC broadcast, attempting to take in the win. “I want to thank Roger Penske and Tim Cindric for allowing me to come here. It was crazy. I really struggled there those last couple of laps just to keep my head.”
It was an inspiring drive for the New Zealand native who came to IndyCar after winning multiple sports car championships for Penske overseas.
The win gives him a bit of confidence and closure on the move that he made to go away from sports cars and race for Team Penske’s IndyCar program.
“I’m never gonna forget this,” McLaughlin said on TV. “We did it, “McChevy gave us the car today, the fuel mileage. To get it done for DEX Imaging… it’s unreal.”
Will Power rounded out the podium to put a pair of Team Penske cars on the top three steps. Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta and Romain Grosjean – who drove through the field late to secure fifth – rounded out the top five.
The NTT IndyCar Series will return to the track after a pair of weeks off, heading to Texas for its second race of the year on Sunday, March 20. The race is scheduled for 11:30 p.m. CT on NBC.
IndyCar Results
Firestone Grand Prix
Streets of St. Petersburg
1. Scott McLaughlin
2. Alex Palou
3. Will Power
4. Colton Herta
5. Romain Grosjean
6. Rinus VeeKay
7. Graham Rahal
8. Scott Dixon
9. Marcus Ericsson
10. Takuma Sato
11. Christian Lungaard (R)
12. Pato O’Ward
13. Jack Harvey
14. Helio Castroneves
15. Simon Pagenaud
16. Josef Newgarden
17. Felix Rosenqvist
18. Kyle Kirkwood (R)
19. Callum Ilott (R)
20. Alexander Rossi
21. Conor Daly
22. Devlin DeFrancesco (R)
23. Jimmie Johnson
24. Tatiana Calderon (R)
25. Dalton Kellett
26. David Malukas (R)
