IndyCar: “I’m fast enough to win championship” – McLaughlin
Scott McLaughlin believes he has what it takes to win an IndyCar championship in his third full season on the American grid.
“I made a couple mistakes mid-season. My Indy crash, Detroit going down the escape road… a few things that just sort of put me on the back foot championship-wise. If you looked at my season from maybe Road America on, I felt like everything sort of clicked. I just took races as they came.
“The way I finished the season last year, I’ve got to start and continue to do every race of the year like that. I can’t afford mistakes. You can’t afford mistakes in IndyCar and be on the back foot…
“I think the last couple of years I’ve learned how to put weekends together, starting from Practice 1 through the race, where when I first came in the season, I thought it was all about qualifying, the race. Sounds stupid, but Practice 1 it starts – how you approach that, not scaring yourself by making a silly mistake, losing track time.”
“I think right now I feel comfortable with where I’m at. I know, I believe I’m fast enough to win the championship. It’s also up to me executing and doing what I can to perform on the day.
“What I tried to do last year was, sometimes when I had an eighth-place car, I tried to make it a second-place car and I’d crash or go down the escape road or something like that. That’s what I changed towards the end of the season. It’s just about letting it happen, letting the pace come.
“I know I have the speed to win a championship, but I’ve got to put it together. That’s the same for Indy 500. I’ve learned a lot over the years that I know I’ve got the right ingredients around me, I feel like I’ve learned enough to be a force come May. At the same time, it’s about executing at the moments that you really need to and not risk too much in the moments you don’t need to.
“I believe in myself that I can do it and be a part of the fight again. I mean, being a part of the fight last year was a pretty cool moment. Realistically, we weren’t a part of the fight, but we were mathematically in it.
“This year for sure I’m excited to continue to learn and be a sponge and just execute the way I think we need to execute to be there at the end. I truly believe I can do that.”
“The learning is over now,” he said. “At Team Penske, you’ve got a car that you know can win races. You’re expected to compete for championships. That’s an expectation that I have, that I had in Australia for five, six years. I understand the mentality and understand what it’s like to have that pressure.
“I feel like it’s not an unknown for me. I’m not really stressed about it. I sort of know my ability, what I can do. If it’s good enough, it’s good enough.”