Scott McLaughlin in the No.3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet dominated Sunday’s Children’s Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park.
The New Zealander who started the race from pole position led 58 of the 90 laps to take his first victory of the season and made it three different race winners in thre events.
McLaughlin has also moved up twenty places in the championship standings to 9th.
Speaking to Paddock Eye following the race about how physically challenging the event was he said:
That’s very hard. Can’t wait to see my WHOOP score. It was pretty crazy.
Just that was an intense mental battle. The start of the race was going pretty smoothly. I was like, This is good. We got back into the lead after our first pit stop. I had a seven-second lead. The caution comes out. I knew that was probably going to help the two-stoppers.
It’s a matter of keeping your nose clean. Will passed me in that sequence. I got him back next lap. I knew if there was a caution that fell our way later down the track, I had to stay in front of Will. He was the guy I was racing.
Physically, mentally that’s so hard. Got a couple blisters, whatever. They turn into callouses by now. You’re building through the year. Thankfully this is not the first race of the year. It’s nice to have a bit of match fitness. You could say I deserve a beer (smiling).
McLaughlin went on to say:
Just super proud of the Good Ranchers Chevy team. Just unbelievable. Our word now is execution, and we just executed to the highest we could. I’m super proud of them. Look, I just love Barber, I love Alabama. I love the vibe everyone brings, and I’m just super lucky to drive such an amazing race car these guys and girls prepare for me. I’ll just keep enjoying it, keep having fun, and see if we can get a few more wins along the way.
MMcLaughli’s race engineer, Ben Bretzman said:
(McLaughlin) did an amazing job with his speed when he needed it. We got that first yellow, we were okay, and then the way it started to kind of transpire with the yellow, the (Alexander) Rossi yellow, that really put us behind. We were in a situation where he was going to pass a lot of cars. The Sting Ray Robb caution kind of brought us back into play. It was going to be “how fast can he go?” He got clear for six or seven laps there and put laps that were faster than anyone. About a second a lap for anybody. He pulled out and we were able to pit and get ahead of the No. 10 car before he came around. This is raw pace when we needed it.”
Will Power in the No.12 Verizon Business Chevrolet scored his 100th career podium coming home in second place on what has been a great weekend for Team Penske following a tough week for the outfit.
Speaking following the action, Will Power said:
“I got by (McLaughlin), and then he got a run on me and got back by. I didn’t want to have two Penske cars out of the race with everything that has been going on. I was kind of easy on him in Turn 1. It is a hard-fought one-two for Penske. We were certainly fast, but a lot of strategy plays into that. We were able to use our speed to come back out in front again. I made a little mistake. I was kicking myself. I just dropped a wheel off – I had been taking the outside line of turn five, but still we got back to where we needed to be. There was not one risky move I was willing to make. Stoked to have the Verizon Chevy on the podium again. Man, we are knocking on the door of a win. It’s going to come. Just have to keep pushing for it.”
Speaking to Paddock Eye following the race, Power said:
Yeah, it kind of feels like business as normal. But the one thing that I’m missing is a win. That’s really starting to add weight to me. I want to get a bloody win.
I was a little disappointed not to win when I have the chance like that. On the other hand you look at the championship points, and it’s a smart day, another smart day.
Yeah, we’re in a good spot going into the month of May. It would be nice to sweep it. That would be big (smiling).