Scott McLaughlin came up just short of winning his second consecutive IndyCar race on Sunday, getting passed by his team-mate Josef Newgarden just meters from the finish line.
McLaughlin was slowed a bit by lapped traffic on the final lap, and the two-time champion got a run coming into the final two turns.
Newgarden chose to risk a move on the outside to set up a drag race to the checkered flag, a decision that resulted in him earning his 21st career win.
After the race, a sullen McLaughlin reflected on the moment and pinned his lost victory on the fact that he wasn’t willing to take the risk needed in the moment to defend more aggressively.
“I was trying to control the traffic, couldn’t catch the traffic too much,” explained McLaughlin. “At the end, the traffic checked up into me. I knew there were going to be dramas in [turns] three and four.
“If I would have thought about it in my head, which I already have done a million times, my car was tightening up, especially in traffic. It probably wasn’t handling exactly how it had at the start earlier in the race. I was sort of maxed out on my tools.
“I guess I wasn’t prepared to take the risk on the outside at three and four, which looking back at it I should have. My teammate Josef, obviously Josef chose to. Once he was on the outside of me, I can’t do anything.
“But it’s funny, last year I was fist pumping and jumping out of the car finishing second. I’m like today, it sucks. That’s how it is. That’s how we’re growing.”
McLaughlin led 186 of the 248 laps on the day, and was disappointed not to lead the one that mattered the most.
The Kiwi chose to put a positive spin on the day, however, and vowed to defend his lead a little harder the next time a similar situation presented itself.
“I was battling already on the exit of three and four,” continued McLaughlin. “It would have been risky for me, for both of us, if I had moved. Looking back at it, I was just too tentative.
“I just didn’t want to go out the last corner, hit the fence, not have either of us win, because I quite easily could have taken Josef out. It is what it is.
“I’ll learn from this, get better. Yeah, I probably just need to expand, maybe risk a little bit more when I need, to try different lines. I’ll learn for the big one coming up in May.”
