CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
GENESYS 300 AND XPEL 375 – DOUBLEHEADER WEEKEND
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FORT WORTH, TEXAS
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN PRE-RACE MEDIA CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 29 2021
ROOKIE-OF-THE-YEAR CONTENDER SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, MET WITH MEDIA VIA ZOOM TO DISCUSS HIS OVAL TRACK DEBUT THIS WEEKEND AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Let’s go ahead and get started. Thanks for Zooming with us here this afternoon.
Obviously a very big weekend, two different perspectives heading into it. NTT INDYCAR SERIES rookie Scott McLaughlin will be making his essentially oval debut at Texas Motor Speedway, racing Genesys 300 and the XPEL 375, in the No. 3 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet.
Back to Texas Motor Speedway. How much are you looking forward to the weekend Scott?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Excited. I’m very excited for my first oval experience. Had a lot of fun, a lot of enjoyment testing there not long ago. Obviously the Indy open test as well. I feel like we’ve got a raceable car. Heading there with the confidence of potentially doing well if I get it all right.
Of course, I’ve got a lot to learn with the draft and the dirty air, using the weight jacker, all my tools inside the car, something I have to get used to as well.
Like I said, thankfully we’ve had those test days. I feel comfortable going into it and can only learn from here.
THE MODERATOR -Scott, this season has only just begun. 40 points separating the top 18 right now in the standings. Given the parity, do you think this is going to be a tight season all season long?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: One good result, especially a weekend like this where it’s a doubleheader, if you have a car good enough for both days, get two top five finish, you’re going to put yourself somewhere thereabouts for the championship fight.
It’s an important weekend for a lot of people. Got the same amount of points value as the Indy 500 does. It’s going to be exciting racing itself.
I think it’s going to be interesting with this new aero package, get a feel for what it’s like in traffic, how close we can follow and make moves as well. A lot to unravel here.
Very exciting, like the Pietro said. It started with a bang. It’s really exciting to be a part of it. Loving it. Racing every week. It’s exactly what I came to America for. Really excited to continue that trend this weekend.
THE MODERATOR: Let’s go ahead and open it up for questions.
Q. Scott, you’ve spent so much time already in an INDYCAR at Texas Motor Speedway. What is it going to be like to finally go out there and race?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, it’s so exciting. It’s certainly going to be very different in the race to get a feel for everything and what I need to do, changing my tools, like I said, weight jackers in front, rear anti-roll bars, all that sort of stuff. That’s all stuff I’m going to have to learn. Even little things like coming into pit lane, it’s different jumping down to the apron there.
It’s exciting, nice to do a completely different discipline. I think I’m more excited for the ovals than I am for the road courses because it’s so different to what I’ve done before. It’s so fast. Just nothing that’s quite as exhilarating as going 220 miles an hour with people wheel-to-wheel.
That’s what’s so cool with INDYCAR racing, what’s so pure about it, what makes it so different to any really sport in the world, is we have a vast difference in tracks. We got a road, we got street courses, ovals, big fast oval, short ovals. It’s pretty cool and requires a whole different type of discipline which is what I’m really excited about for this weekend.
Q. You’re doing three different types of course, four races in a 14-day period. I guess that’s a cram course.
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, it’s perfect for a rookie (laughter). Exactly what I want.
No, ideally I’d love to do something a little bit more — I’d love to have a bit more time on each one, but that’s not how it works. I feel like I just got myself sorted on the road course, we jumped on the street course, which had a different tire, got a feel for the tire there. I’m going to jump into an oval and basically throw out the past two weeks’ work and focus on something completely different. But that’s why we love it.
Q. Basically practice, qualifying and race will all be on race downforce settings. Does that simplify your lives or would you prefer to have the two different stages of settings so that prepared you a little more for when you start trimming out during Indy 500 qualifying?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: For me, we were just talking about that today. Parc ferme, obviously we will be qualifying pretty much on race condition stuff. I think we start the race on our qualifying tires.
It does take one less complication out of it for me to learn. For me, it’s probably nice to have the whole month of May basically to prep myself for trimming out qualifying, getting confidence in that department.
Yeah, look, for sure it would probably be nice to have an idea of what I want before I head to Indy in terms of qualifying trim. Like I said, we’ve got the full month to build up to it. It does make it a lot more simple for someone like myself, even I guess for Pietro who is coming in not a full-timer right now, just to get used to the car. I’m sure it might help a little bit, too.
Q. Scott, it’s been an interesting start to the season for you. You’ve been a top 10 car pretty much in both races. Things probably didn’t quite go your way strategy-wise. How do you reflect on how that’s gone? If that is the case, if you are a top 10 car, that’s got to be a pretty good start to your INDYCAR car career given how strong the field is at the moment.
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: For sure. It’s been a good start to the year. I thought it was over after the first 30 seconds at Barber. Thought I was going to get collected in that shunt. It was nice to get around that.
The biggest challenge for me so far has been qualifying. Understanding especially last weekend at St. Pete, I was quite disappointed with my qualifying because I was in the top eight through the whole weekend before leading up to it, felt really strong within the race car.
Just getting the feel of the red tires in qualifying has been difficult, not only at the street course but also on the road course. That’s all taking time.
Probably right now qualifying is my Achilles’ heel at the moment, I need to work on, which I’ll try to do. Certainly in the race I feel like we’ve had a really fast car and felt really strong in the races. Made a couple moves here and there, battling hard.
The race craft thing has sort of come naturally for me in terms I was a little bit nervous in what it would be like, open-wheel, side-by-side. I’ve had some pretty hard battles with some pretty tough guys, Takuma Sato, raced with Bourdais, a couple other people, people that race hard but fair. I’ve enjoyed it.
Like you said, we’ve had a top 10 car. It’s been a pretty solid start. We just have to keep it going from now on.
Q. Approaching an oval debut is not as simple as focusing on one thing. Any one area that Penske has been advising you to work on for this weekend? Is there like a major focus for you to make sure you get one thing sorted for the weekend?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I think it’s my understanding of the timing in the oval, understanding how hard do I drive into the corner, working out my exits so I get runs down into turn three or into turn one. When do I make a passing move, how do I save fuel on an oval. One thing that’s a little bit different as well.
Race strategy is a big thing. Especially in INDYCAR, the fuel saving is a huge thing. Trying to drive fast while saving more fuel certainly helps you in the long-term.
Yeah, a lot of things I have had to focus on. But certainly the race itself, like I said, the time, my passes have been one big focus for me. Thankfully I have thousands of hours of footage I can watch from previous years, including our testing, which will help.
Q. Scott, first time racing on an oval. There’s a lot of information probably coming at you all at once. What is your biggest concern going into a doubleheader this weekend, like on the high banks of Texas?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Biggest concern? Probably I guess coming out of here with not many points. I think it’s a big points weekend. I don’t have too many concerns about where I’m placed and how I feel in the race car. I feel very comfortable, ready for the challenge. So I’m not concerned about any of that.
Probably knowing that I need to get a solid couple of races under my belt, not only just for championship-wise, but at the same time it’s for my confidence leading into the next big oval, which is the biggest race of my life, the Indy 500.
I’m certainly aware of how important these next two races are this weekend, and will be doing my very best to have a pretty solid run in all facets, in-laps, out-laps, passing, saving fuel, all that sort of stuff. I’m really looking forward to the challenge of that.
Q. You have your simulator behind you there.
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah.
Q. How has that been able to help you with ovals, or has it?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, it’s certainly been a little bit of a help, more so with my spotter. I’ve never worked with a spotter before. Being able to have him on my Discord, the app that we use, he basically calls races like we would have in real life. He’d view it on iRacing.
Doing the odd INDYCAR race and stuff, he can talk to you, inside, outside, clear, outside line is working, inside line is working, all the normal chat we would have. But just getting familiar with all that sort of stuff is a big thing for me, something that I’ve never really had before. I’ve never had a spotter. That’s all new to me. Probably that’s one thing the sim has helped with.
Q. Scott, how beneficial is it to you to Josef, Simon, Will in the team, giving their experience on ovals?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Invaluable (smiling). It’s the thing that I take very seriously, listen to a lot of their advice. I definitely ask for a lot. I’m in their ear all the time, watching all their footage, looking at all their data, just little things.
But they could easily be hiding away a lot of the stuff, not try and show me too much. But they’ve been fantastic in all facets. There’s stuff they’re probably hiding from me, but at the same time that’s what racing is all about with teammates. Everyone hides that last little 10th. That’s about me trying to find that myself. That’s what motorsport is all about.
Q. Obviously when you tested there recently, did you do practice, pit stops going into the box, all that kind of thing? It’s going to be very busy on Saturday. Kind of the same for you, Pietro. You’re going to have loads of cars going into pit lane if we have cautions. Any kind of way you train yourself to try to avoid an incident in pit lane?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: No, I think it’s more just being instinctive, having a feel of what’s ahead of you, understanding with your spotter and stuff. Communication is a big thing.
Yeah, we did do a lot of practice, a lot of race runs, so basically full stints. Obviously I’ll (indiscernible) with my weight jacker, tools for the whole stint, resetting them before I got in the box. If you have one side that’s too heavy you can easily lock a wheel going into pit lane and overshoot the pit box.
There’s a lot to think about towards the end of a stint in an INDYCAR on the ovals. Thankfully had a lot of practice with that.
Q. I know you tested here a few weeks ago in Indy. You have both been at Texas. Any extra set of nerves, like a different mindset going into this weekend, like an excitement of something you’ve never done before racing at Texas?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: For me it’s the excitement of having never done it before, experiencing what it’s like. That’s something that is going to be so cool, so refreshing for me. First career start on an oval. Why not do it in the fastest race car of all? It’s a cool thing.
PHOTO CREDIT CHEVROLET RACING – TEAM PENSKE’S SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, IHAS SHOWED STRONG RUNS IN FIRST TWO RACES
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