Scott McLaughlin turned a pole position start into a podium finish in today’s IndyCar race at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Illinois.
McLaughlin followed home teammate Josef Newgarden to finish second for the third Penske one-two of the 2024 season.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Linus Lundqvist completed the podium ahead of Colton Herta and Series leader Alex Palou.
Marcus Armstrong finished a commendable eighth in his fourth-ever oval start, while Scott Dixon was forced to stop late in the race for an undisclosed issue before returning to finish 11th.
Penske’s chances of a podium sweep were ended with ten laps remaining when Will Power crashed out on a late-race restart.
Newgarden was leading the field to green for the run to the flag but was slow to launch, bunching up the pack. Power was hit from behind by McLaren’s Alexander Rossi, whose front wheels went airborne, and both cars ended against the inside wall. Conor Daly was also caught out in the incident.
Power was seen flipping his teammate off as he drove past.
A separate incident for Jack Harvey saw a red flag called with debris all over the circuit.
The incident was just one of several in the 260-lap oval outing, where only five cars finished on the lead lap.
McLaughlin led the early stages, while Power overtook front-row starter Malukas early to fall in behind his teammate, only for Malukas to strike back on Lap 8.
The first caution came on Lap 9 when Ed Carpenter and Katherine Legge came together at Turn 2. Legge was unable to continue while Carpenter returned to proceedings.
Malukas took the lead of McLaughlin on Lap 15. Power followed through, dropping the Kiwi to third.
The Safety Car was back on Lap 17 when Rinus Veekay got loose and stacked up several cars behind at Turn 2. Romain Grosjean, Daly and Kyle Kirkwood were also involved.
Power took the lead off Malukas at Turn 3 following the Lap 27 restart.
Elsewhere, Herta, who crashed out in qualifying, had worked his way from the rear of the grid and entered the top ten on Lap 34.
Pato O’Ward was the next retirement, stopping with engine issues on Lap 41.
Power returned to the lead on Lap 80 once the first pit cycle was complete, with Malukas slotting in behind.
The next caution came on Lap 86 when Kyffin Simpson went into the Turn 4 wall, which split the strategies, with Dixon among those to stop.
McLaughlin returned to second on Lap 110 before the lead group began stopping again from Lap 120, which put Dixon’s group to the front.
Dixon came in again on Lap 145, and Power returned to the front ahead of McLaughlin until he stopped on Lap 169. The Penske #3 followed two tours later and returned ahead of Power, who also lost out to Newgarden.
Once Sting Ray Robb stopped from the lead, Penske ran first, second and third.
A Lap 196 spin, however, looked to end Newgarden’s chances when he turned at Turn 2 and triggered a caution.
McLaughlin and Newgarden, who kept his car out of the wall, pitted on Lap 200 while Power remained out.
Power and Malukas stopped for the final time on laps 219 and 218, respectively.
Elsewhere, fuel saving had become a focus of several teams, but not Penske. Late in the race, McLaughlin lapped Palou and Herta, leaving only three cars on the lead lap.
Another caution came late in the race when Malukas’s strong race came to an end at Turn 2. Malukas and Power were running side-by-side, with the former on the inside and taking contact, which spun him up into the outside wall.
McLaughlin and Newgarden stopped under caution for fuel and tyres, with the latter hitting the front.
The nine-lap sprint to the flag was waved off following Newgarden’s slow launch, which bunched the pack and led to the collision between Power and Rossi.
Racing resumed on Lap 154, and Newgarden held on to take the win by 1.73 seconds over McLaughlin.
IndyCar returns next weekend at Portland International Raceway.
