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SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN No. 3 CLARIENCE TECHNOLOGIES CHEVROLET
START: 3RD
FINISH: 19TH
POINTS: 7TH (-135)
RACE RUNDOWN: Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet team were in contention for a podium finish in Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, but a clash with former teammate Will Power left them with a 19th-place finish. The New Zealand-born driver led Team Penske with a third-place qualifying effort on Saturday afternoon that also made him the top Chevrolet qualifier in the manufacturer’s hometown event. From the drop of the green flag on Sunday, the racing at the front of the field was fierce and aggressive. McLaughlin more than held his own, and eventually passed for the lead on Lap 36 before making his way to pit lane. He would settle into the third position after the pit stops cycled, and McLaughlin would remain inside the top five until a Lap 79 caution period that brought him down pit lane following heavy contact with Power while racing for position. The contact resulted in a broken toe link on the right rear of the Chevy and the unscheduled trip to pit lane dropped McLaughlin from a push for the podium to 19th when the race was complete.
MCLAUGHLIN’S THOUGHTS: “I had a broken toe-link after the contact. The Clarience Technologies Chevy was super-fast. I don’t know if we had the pace to win with Alex, but we were right there. Probably good enough for third or fourth. We were side-by-side out of Turn 3 and I got a little sideways which made me press him to the wall a lot more aggressively than I wanted which closed the hole. I don’t know whether he’s pissed off because of that. He got me and I was pretty happy with that. It still would have been a good result right now. He’s faster than me on restarts, I’ll let him have it. Going into Turn 3, he locked the right front. I got up the inside of him. Honestly, I was going to go to the outside and he kept turning in and basically gave me no option. The whole way, no option. I went beside him, no option. Turned into the side of me and drove me into the right-side fence and another fence. I didn’t want to do that to him. I didn’t want to do that to my day. We’ll talk about it. I have so much respect for Will Power.”
