Scott McLaughlin Says 'Integrity, Reputation, Tested' After IndyCar DQ at St. Petersburg
Last week, IndyCar stripped Team Penske and Josef Newgarden of a race win in the season-opening race March 10 at St. Petersburg, Fla.
Officials determined that Team Penske drivers manipulated the series’ push-to-pass system, which allows drivers to briefly boost power in their cars.
Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin, who finished third at St. Pete, was also DQ'd from that race before roaring back to a rebound win this past Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park.
Team Penske IndyCar driver Scott McLaughlin turned the page the best way possible following last week's ruling that knocked him off the podium and disqualified him from the season-opening race on the streets of St. Petersburg.
McLaughlin won the race at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday. This time, there was no controversy, just a nice rebound from one of the toughest days in recent Team Penske history.
After an investigation and no doubt several discussions over the course of more than a month at the top level of the NTT IndyCar Series, officials announced their findings last week. They said that Team Penske drivers manipulated the series’ push-to-pass system, which allows drivers to briefly boost power in their cars, at St. Petersburg.
The result meant that St. Petersburg race winner Josef Newgarden and third-place McLaughlin were disqualified and stripped of points they earned. Penske's third driver, Will Power, was not DQ'd, but was hit with a 10-point penalty.
The three Penske entries were fined $25,000 and were docked all prize money associated with the race.
McLaughlin, who was in Detroit on Wednesday to help promote next month's Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, was apologetic about what happened in the season-opener in Florida back in March.
However, putting St. Petersburg's embarrassment—as team owner Roger Penske put it—totally in the rear view mirror will take more than just a rebound win at Barber Motorsports Park.
"For sure, it was an up-and-down week and (the penalty) was the elephant in the room absolutely the whole weekend," McLaughlin said. "But we accepted the penalty and we moved forward. What I was really proud of was the execution right after that.
"It's quite easy to put your tail between your legs and feel sorry for yourself or whatnot and get all down, but I felt the crew, the team itself really moved forward together.
"Even though you're hurting a lot inside, obviously your integrity, your reputation is tested. All you can do is get back on the horse and get going and apologize for what happened. It's a people sport. Mistakes can happen and that's certainly what it was."
McLaughlin said the push-to-pass penalty and illegal usage during the race was rooted in a software issue.
"There's a certain software that shouldn't have been in the car at the time and it was used by both myself and Josef at various parts," he said. "It was black and white. IndyCar has got to police that stuff, and they have, and we did deserve the penalty. It was black and white.
McLaughlin added that he had no indication that the March 10 St. Petersburg race was even under investigation until the Tuesday after the Long Beach race, which was run on April 21.
McLaughlin said that Roger Penske did address the team and let everyone know how disappointed he was.
"At the end of the day, we're representing Roger and his 75,000 employees all over the world," McLaughlin said. "I wouldn't say he was happy, but at the end of the day, he wants to find out what happened. I think he was a great leader at that time."
