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SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN No. 3 TIRE RACK CHEVROLET
START: 7TH
FINISH: 12TH
POINTS: 8TH (-147)
RACE RUNDOWN: Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 Tire Rack Chevrolet team finished 12th in Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, coming from the rear of the field following a penalty for avoidable contact. McLaughlin had shown considerable speed throughout the weekend and just missed out on transferring to the Firestone Fast Six during Saturday’s qualifying session. Taking the green flag in the seventh position on the softer Firestone tire, McLaughlin raced his way into the lead towards the end of the first pit cycle. The first caution flag of the day came at Lap 14 to allow McLaughlin to make a trip to pit lane for the harder, preferred compound tire. He restarted from the 17th position but the effective leader on the team’s strategy. On Lap 17, however, McLaughlin was penalized for avoidable contact to the No. 6 Chevrolet. He was given a stop-and-go penalty and rejoined the field in the 24th position. On the harder compound tire, McLaughlin routinely turned some of the fastest laps on the track and, along with solid pit work, was about to nearly drive back into the top 10 before the checkered flag.
MCLAUGHLIN’S THOUGHTS: “Man, we couldn’t have had a much better start to the race than the one we had today. Detroit is unique with the length of pit lane and where the blend line is, so even though we were the last team to make their first pit stop we were able to come out as the effective leader. Obviously, I didn’t mean to get into the back of the 6 car. Have to be more aware than that but very proud of the effort by the Tire Rack Chevy guys. We dropped back to 24th after the stop-and-go and through great strategy and a fast car, we drove by to 12th.”
