News
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN No. 3 DEX IMAGING CHEVROLET
START: 1ST
FINISH: 2ND
POINTS: 5TH (-71)
RACE RUNDOWN: Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 DEX Imaging Chevrolet team continued their strong season on ovals with a second-place finish in Saturday night’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway just outside St. Louis. On Friday afternoon, McLaughlin broke a tie with Alex Palou and Colton Herta for the most NTT P1 Awards in 2024 with his fourth pole position and his third on an oval that includes the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500. After relinquishing the lead to teammate Will Power, McLaughlin stayed inside the top three in the running order while working on his fuel strategy. A solid pit cycle around the team’s third pit stop of the night vaulted McLaughlin back to the lead as the laps wound down. When Power brought his Chevy down pit lane on Lap 218 for his final pit stop of the night, McLaughlin and teammate Josef Newgarden remained on track as the only two drivers on the lead lap. A Lap 240 caution proved to be a benefit to McLaughlin as he and Newgarden were able to make their final pit stops under caution with no other competition on pit lane. Unfortunately, Newgarden was able to jump McLaughlin on the pit cycle to drop the New Zealander to second on the restart. Despite a subsequent caution period before the cars could get up to full song, McLaughlin was able to hold on to the second position at the checkered flag to move into the top five in points with four races remaining.
MCLAUGHLIN’S THOUGHTS:
“That was a one-on-one with the teams on the pit stops, and we lost track position. On that last restart, my hybrid didn’t work so I couldn’t deploy, so I couldn’t get close. But still, a good night for the DEX Imaging Chevy. We stuck it out, obviously chaotic. It was pretty crazy. We led a lot of laps, and we can be proud of the night. We had a car to win the race, but track position is key, especially at the end when we are turning really, really quick times. The DEX Imaging Chevy has been fast all week and we could have easily won the race, but we didn’t. We got second and we got great points.”
