Scott McLaughlin just fends off Palou, Power to win Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

LEXINGTON — Scott McLaughlin is back in the winning circle.

At the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sunday, McLaughlin won the Honda Indy 200 by holding steady and doing just enough to edge Alex Palou near the end by 0.5512 seconds. It was the Team Penske driver's second win of the IndyCar Series season.

The reigning IndyCar Series champion Palou finished second and Will Power came in third.

A huge boost for McLaughlin during the race, who drives the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet, was when pole winner Pato O'Ward — who started first and led the first 28 laps — started having car failure on Lap 30 and by Lap 54 his No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet lost complete power at the pit lane resulting in him exiting the race early.

"Amazing day," said McLaughlin, in the post-race press conference. "The best case was to get ahead of Pato. Worst case was to slide behind him. I felt pretty strong straight away but I think we lost the balance towards the end of the race a little bit, even though we were leading, but we thankfully had enough to hold off Alex there. To finally put together two good races — at Road America — and today, but winning the race was incredible for us all."

This was the second race this season where Palou came in second behind McLaughlin, with the first being at the season opener during the Firestone Grand Prix at St. Petersburg, Florida. The Spaniard was asked if finishing runner-up to McLaughin again bothered him.

"No. I think we did the best we could do today," responded Palou. "It's not like we left something on the table like at the Indy [500] course. That was frustrating. Today was fun. I was trying to close and overtake him. A shame we couldn't get that W."

McLaughlin, who led 45 laps in the 80-lap race, described the finish with Palou "like a cat and mouse game."

The New Zealand native also said he had some trouble with a couple of restarts. "There were some pretty tense restarts," he said. "It was nerve-wracking but at the same time, I've been working for this. I've been studying this. Trying to get better and better. I'm a lot more comfortable with the car and maximizing the car. I'm still learning and building."

What made the victory so gratifying for the 29-year-old McLaughlin was having his parents, Wayne and Diane, on hand to witness him win his first IndyCar Series race with them in attendance. It had been 31 months since McLaughlin had last seen his parents — who live in New Zealand  because of the pandemic but they were able to leave in May to reunite with their son and attended the Indianapolis 500.

"Just winning with them here," said McLaughlin. "Even in Australia, I really didn't win with them a lot in Australia. The last win I had with them was in 2019, so it's really exciting to have them here. It just means so much. They're the people who shaped me as a person."

McLaughlin used the word "development" quite often in his press conference, as the second-year IndyCar driver had some bumps in the road during his 2021 rookie season making the transition from touring car racing to open-wheel racing but acknowledged he's improving as a driver.

"I'm a lot more assertive with what I want and a lot more assertive with where I'm going to go," said McLaughlin, who sits seventh in the points standings. "I'm not second-guessing what I'm doing. This is what it's going to be and so be it. I'm so proud of where I'm going and my development. Every race since Indy, we've been in a spot to be top 5 or top 8, and we've converted in the last two races. That's what we have to continue to do."

Even Power, his Team Penske teammate, sees the improvements. "He's a fast driver. He has the maturity of a professional driver," he said. "He's doing a great job. To come from racing sedans [Supercars Championships] to open-wheels and be competitive is impressive."

"You got to believe in what you can do," said McLaughlin. "I went back to the basics and trusted what got me here. It's certainly showed in the last six, eight months."

jsimpson@gannett.com

Twitter: @JamesSimpsonII

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Scott McLaughlin wins Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio