Scott McLaughlin Masters Mid-Ohio as Drivers Feud

From the start of opening practice on Friday to the drop of the checkered flag today at Mid-Ohio, the IndyCar weekend was a wild roller coaster. When the dust settled in Lexington, Ohio, it was Scott McLaughlin that turned his season around with another visit to victory lane after leading 45 of the 80 laps.

McLaughlin earned his second win of the season after dominating the first round on the streets of St Petersburg. The Team Penske driver nearly made it two straight wins but lost to his teammate in a photo finish at Texas. This was his first top-five finish since then as he struggled over the next six races. He was 10th in the championship standings before the last race and leaves Mid-Ohio 7th with eight races remaining.

"Really proud of everyone on the Odyssey Battery Chevy. The pit stops were amazing, the strategy was great, that got me out in clean air," McLaughlin said. "That was the plan the whole time – to try and jump Pato in the pit exchange and we did that. Super-proud of everyone to get win number two. We knew we had it in us, it was just about executing and that was on my end as well, so I’m really proud of everyone."

“We’ve always had the pace. I think we made some changes which certainly helped us today but it’s all about having the belief, the belief in the guys. We’ve got a great group here on car number 3, we’re all mates having fun. We go racing and have fun. Really proud to do it and I’m excited.”

Reigning series champion Alex Palou started 7th and made his way towards the front and came up just short in his bid for his first race win of the season. He did move up to 4th in the standings today. Joining McLaughlin and Palou on the podium was Scott's teammate Will Power. It was an improbable drive from the veteran, who started 21st and was 27th after spinning on the opening lap.

Power thought he may have thrown away a chance at the championship yesterday when he was penalized in qualifying, but he likely helped himself in that effort today with a sensational drive. This is Power's 7th podium finish at Mid-Ohio, and remains 2nd in the championship standings after today.

Rinus VeeKay collected his second top-five finish of the season today in the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing entry. The Chevrolet driver improved seven spots from his 11th place starting position. Scott Dixon rounded out the top five, for the 13th time at Mid-Ohio. He finished just ahead of teammate Marcus Ericsson, who retains his lead in the championship, to give Chip Ganassi Racing a solid afternoon.

All three Penske drivers made a strong gain in the championship today, including Josef Newgarden. While his teammates deservedly have the spotlight for their performances, it was Newgarden that delivered a solid 7th place finish after starting back in 14th.

Newgarden finished just ahead of his former teammate Helio Castroneves, who brought home an 8th place finish. Helio's current teammate Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top ten, in what was a great day for Meyer Shank Racing. Sandwiched between those two was rookie David Malukas, who had a phenomenal weekend for Dale Coyne Racing, qualifying and finishing inside the top ten.

The biggest stories of this race were the unfortunate instances for the two Arrow McLaren SP drivers, and the battle royal that took place between Alexander Rossi and his three Andretti Autosport teammates.

Saturday could not have gone much better for the McLaren team, with Pato O'Ward earning pole position and Felix Rosenqvist qualifying in Row 2. Less than ten laps into the race, things went south for them. Rosenqvist was battling at the front when his engine began having issues. His blown engine was a gut punch for the driver that was having a sensational season.

"I felt like we were sailing out there," Felix said. "It's just unfortunate. I had a really, really, really good run. I feel for the No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP guys who worked so hard this weekend. I think we had a mega weekend going as were off strategy with the black tires and holding our position. I think we showed again we are up there and fighting for podium positions. We just have to come back and do better in Toronto."

O'Ward was hoping to make it four consecutive years that the pole sitter went to victory lane. Near the middle of the race though, he began to have some mechanical gremlins of his own. Pato's No. 5 car began to have power issues and he quickly fell off the pace and was gobbled up by the rest of the field.

"Today was a bummer," O'Ward vented. "Apparently, the issue was something fuel delivery-wise, and it just kept getting worse and worse and worse. Then it just failed. It is a bummer and frustrating as we have thrown away, I think, an easy podium for us here. We had a lot of pace, and we had a lot of pace throughout the weekend."

The duo finished 24th and 27th today, but those were not indicative of the results they should have gotten.

Rossi will be joining that team next season, and entered this weekend with all sorts of positive momentum. He had finished 6th, 1st, 5th, 3rd, 2nd, and 5th in his last six starts here, but he was not able to get to the front of the field today. He tried though, and nearly took out all of his teammates in the process.

The biggest ordeal came with Romain Grosjean, as the two made contact on multiple occasions throughout the day. Neither driver was happy with the other during, or after the race.

"He's an absolute idiot. Sorry," Grosjean told reporters. Rossi called the contact "just a racing incident" and said the fact that he's changing teams played no factor. Following a team meeting after the race, Grosjean apologized to Colton Herta for knocking him off course, and said the meeting "wasn't pleasant but good that we did it." He then referred to Rossi as an idiot once more.

There was more contact between Rossi and Herta, then with he and Devlin DeFrancesco. Herta was already upset because of the ill-timed caution that forced him to give up multiple positions when he came to pit road. It was a horrendous day for Andretti, as their four drivers finished 15th, 17th, 19th, and 21st.

Needless to say, there were not many smiles around the Andretti haulers following the race.

This was a home race for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, and after a dreadful day on Saturday, both Christian Lundgaard and Graham Rahal collected top-12 finishes. Jack Harvey was on pace for a top ten finish but a penalty sent him to the back of the field late in the race.

The series will now have a weekend off before the next event on the calendar, and it will be a special one. For the first time since before the pandemic began in 2019, IndyCar will be back in Canada to race on the Exhibition Place street circuit. Coverage for Sunday's Honda Indy Toronto begins at 3 PM ET on Peacock.