LEBANON, Tenn. — Scott McLaughlin’s fifth-place result at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway Sunday (Sept. 15) concluded his best year ever on the NTT IndyCar Series oval schedule.
Heading into the season, McLaughlin, a three-time V8 Supercars champion, had quickly taken to winning races on road and street courses. Much like his championship rival Alex Palou, he hadn’t earned a win yet on an oval. That history was handily rewritten as 2024 unfolded.
At the Indianapolis 500, he grabbed the pole and dominated the race, appearing to be in perfect position to win. But his car handled poorly in traffic and finished sixth. At the series’ next oval, in the first race at Iowa Speedway, he took the win.
Tackling the concrete, high-banked Nashville track on Sunday afternoon presented a different set of challenges, even for a team that had four poles on ovals this year. McLaughlin’s team had a challenging qualifying run on Saturday (Sept. 14) that put him 16th on the grid once penalties took effect. By the first yellow on lap 56, he’d worked into the top 10. From there, he had the car to put it in the top five, but was unable to overcome the faster Andretti Global cars like race winner Colton Herta and pole sitter Kyle Kirkwood.
At one point, he tried to move further up the grid, but a close battle with teammate Josef Newgarden almost ended both their days when McLaughlin got loose on the inside. After that attempt, he settled to come home in the top five.
While the result may not have been Penske Perfect, building on the effort from the year is critical to vault McLaughlin the final few positions to challenge for the Astor Cup trophy and take the IndyCar championship in years ahead. For the second season in a row, he placed third in the final standings. The disqualification at St. Petersburg dug a deep hole for the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet, but he climbed back into contention, mostly due to his oval results.
Over the series’ seven oval rounds, McLaughlin finished no worse than eighth with two wins, earning another victory at Milwaukee Race 2. He added two more podiums, finishing with a 3.8 average over the season. That was better than his very experienced teammates, Will Power and the series’ master of ovals Newgarden, who struggled to match the consistency that McLaughlin displayed.
Now the 2024 season ends with another third place in the standings, but McLaughlin looks…
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