After making his debut in the final race of 2020, McLaughlin’s rookie season in IndyCar saw him score just one podium, but his bigger concern was not getting the most out of Firestone’s softer compound tires in qualifying.
It was something he addressed superbly in 2022, taking pole and victory in the season opener at St. Petersburg and then capturing two more poles and two more wins on his way to fourth in the championship. In his opinion, only a couple of mistakes midseason prevented him from a realistic tilt at the title in the finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
“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 years I've learnt 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.”
Asked outright if he felt like a title contender ahead of his third season at this level, the three-time Supercars champion said: “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 learnt a lot over the years that I know I've got the right ingredients around me, I feel like I've learnt 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.
He admitted that now that he’s entering Year 3 in IndyCar and Team Penske is notoriously strong, it brings an extra pressure – but he’s equally confident it’s a pressure he can handle.
“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.”
