By David Morgan, Associate Editor
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Mission accomplished.
Since arriving at Barber Motorsports Park for Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix, Scott McLaughlin has been steadfast in his beliefs that the heavy penalties handed down by INDYCAR to Team Penske earlier this week wouldn’t keep his No. 3 team down and they answered their detractors emphatically with a dominating win to kick off the comeback in earnest.
Starting the weekend with only five points to his name, McLaughlin went out and put the “Meat Wagon” on the pole and rolled right into race day with the determination to see it through to the finish with the No. 3 car at the top of the pylon.
From the drop of the green flag, the “Thirsty 3’s” were on it as McLaughlin set the pace up front, electing to go for the same three-stop strategy that won him the race a year ago.
As the race played out, it was coming down to a battle of those that were in full send mode, like McLaughlin, and those taking the more fuel conscious route, like defending series champion Alex Palou.
Even though McLaughlin had been the man to beat, it looked for a while that the fuel save strategy just might win out, but in the end, McLaughlin was able to secure enough of a gap to Palou to give himself enough leeway to be able to make his last pit stop and come back out on track still in control of the race.
However, it wasn’t quite a Sunday drive to the finish, as the fourth and final caution of the day flew with less than five laps to go, setting up a restart among McLaughlin, his teammate Will Power, and Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Linus Lundqvist.
Neither Power nor Lundqvist were able to eclipse McLaughlin over the course of the final three circuits around the winding road course, as Mclaughlin streaked across the line to bank the victory, 1.319 seconds ahead of Power.
“Thirsty 3’s to the moon!” McLaughlin exclaimed over the team radio on his cool-down lap, taking in the win that has him back in the game heading into the Month of May.
After climbing from his car in Victory Lane, McLaughlin noted that even with all of the noise surrounding his team and Team Penske as a whole this weekend, they knew they had to keep their head down and grinding and did just that.
“We just had to keep rolling,” McLaughlin said. “We know our job. We know what we needed to do. I’m just super proud of the execution. The Good Ranchers Chevy was so good. A…
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