News
NO. 3 ODYSSEY BATTERY DALLARA/CHEVROLET
START – 10TH
FINISH – 5TH
POINTS – 5TH (-139)
RACE RUNDOWN: Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Chevrolet team enjoyed another solid day on an oval with a fifth-place finish in Sunday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway. The day began with a milestone for the New Zealander as he recorded his first NTT P1 Award on an oval, running his Team Penske pole position total to 64 to once again tie Will Power for the all-time lead for the organization. Unfortunately, the No. 3 team was assessed a nine-position grid penalty prior to the green flag after electing to change engines, putting them on their fifth of the year to trigger the penalty. When the race began, McLaughlin radioed to his crew that he was dealing with a tight-handling condition around the 1.25-mile oval, which the crew improved with multiple front wing adjustments on several of the team’s five trips to pit lane. Throughout some intense racing – notably with the No. 18 of David Malukas – McLaughlin was able to soldier forward to improve five positions from the start of the race by the checkered flag.
MCLAUGHLIN’S THOUGHTS: “I’m content with how our Odyssey Battery Chevy ran today. It wasn’t a great day, but we were solid and grabbed some points. In hindsight, taking the grid penalty here may have been the wrong choice. We based it off how racy the track was last year, and we didn’t get that today. The tire marbles were significant and that made it a one-groove racetrack. But getting my first oval pole position was a big step for me and this team. We have two good tracks for us left on the year, so our goal is to get a win.”
