Scott McLaughlin sends clear message to Team Penske squad after costly pit stop error ends Toronto race

Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin bowed out of the 2025 IndyCar Toronto Grand Prix and came up with a message for his crew. McLaughlin's #3 challenger's wheel nut broke, causing the rear left tire to come off.

McLaughlin found himself into the barriers on lap 3 of the ongoing 90-lap race, and his race weekend went from bad to worse.

On Saturday (July 19), he was knocked out of qualifying after the end of Round 1. Via a post-race interaction with IndyCar on FOX, he said the following:

"Yeah, bummed for everyone with the Gallagher Chevy, Gallagher two races in a row, out pretty early. So, sorry to them, but yeah, I felt like something sort of broke, or something on the left rear we just done a pit-stop, I love my guys, I'm not gonna drop them. Oh yeah, the nut came off (while watching the replay), anyway, it's frustrating, we are all in this together."

Scott McLaughlin started the ongoing 90-lap race in Toronto from P15, only to find himself out of the race on lap 3. McLaughlin endured a DNF in last week's Race 2 at Iowa Speedway as well.

Scott McLaughlin had a shock Round 1 exit in Toronto qualifying

While Scott McLaughlin's Toronto outing has come to an abrupt end, he did not have the best of qualifying sessions either (as mentioned earlier). He was knocked out in Round 1 as one of the big names not to go through to Round 2.

In line with this, he admitted to messing up on his end in the qualifying session, and added the following via an interaction with IndyCar on FOX:

"Ah, driver-made error there. Just like, missed Turn 5 apex just by a little bit, you see with the concrete here, if you are just off by a little bit, cause it's not rubbered in, you like lose a chunk so, yeah, that's on me! Unfortunately, yeah, sorry, everyone with the Gallagher Chevy, but again, we will make the most of it tomorrow."

2025 has just not been the year of Scott McLaughlin and the Team Penske IndyCar team. Excluding the ongoing Toronto race, the campaign is 12 rounds down, and McLaughlin currently finds himself in 12th place in the drivers' standings.

His teammates, Will Power and Josef Newgarden, have also not done well as they are in P8 and P14 in the drivers' standings.

In 2024, McLaughlin proved himself as one of the standout drivers by ending the 17-race campaign in third position in the drivers' standings. He ended up behind the 2024 IndyCar champion, Alex Palou, and runner-up, Colton Herta.