Scott McLaughlin vulnerably opens up about letting down his fans and Roger Penske amid IndyCar rut

Scott McLaughlin has shared his raw feelings about letting down his family and Team Penske owner Roger Penske in 2025. The New Zealand driver was a preseason IndyCar championship favorite alongside Alex Palou.

However, after what has transpired in 10 races of the season so far, McLaughlin finds himself outside the Top 10 in the standings. In the last five races, he has recorded three sub-20th-place finishes and no Top 10s.

At the last IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio, Scott McLaughlin was Team Penske's only hope after Josef Newgarden spun out on lap 1 and Will Power retired with a mechanical failure on lap 11. However, the No. 3 driver had started 21st on the grid and had tire issues dampen his performance towards the end.

In a recent YouTube VLOG from that weekend, McLaughlin got vulnerable talking about his situation in IndyCar:

"I feel like I'm repeating myself every week. The only good one we've had of these is maybe IMS road course (finished in P4). Probably the hardest, hardest few months of my career by a mile. Nothing goes right. Even today (at Mid-Ohio), we try and throw a little bit of strategy... we're not gonna win the race, but we're probably back in the 10. That last stint, the tire delaminated."

The four-time Supercars champion got real about letting down his team, fans, Roger Penske, and everybody involved in his pursuit of the IndyCar title.

"Not much is... it's not going right," he continued, visibly emotional. "And it's really hard because it's my life and I wanna do well for the Captain (Roger Penske's nickname), for my fans, for everyone, and my team. I know how hard they're working for me, and my biggest fear is them not wanting to be still here. I just want them to be there throughout the ups and downs. Probably getting way too deep right now, but that's just who I am."

Scott McLaughlin is 11th in the IndyCar standings after ten races. His teammates Power and Newgarden are faring similarly badly, with the latter sitting in a lowly P19 in the standings.

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Scott McLaughlin expects a strong rebound at Iowa double-header as Team Penske collects itself

Scott McLaughlin in the pits at the IndyCar Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio - Source: Getty

Scott McLaughlin is hoping to turn around his and Team Penske's fortunes at the ongoing Iowa double-header. The Roger Penske-owned team has dominated the circuit in recent years, with McLaughlin and Power winning the two races in 2024, and Newgarden winning both races in 2023.

McLaughlin has raced six times at Iowa since debuting in IndyCar, and has five Top 5 finishes at the 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway, including three podiums and the aforementioned victory. When asked if the short oval could be a good turning point for him, the 33-year-old replied (via FrontStretch):

"Yeah, I mean two chances to win at a track we know we can win at and have been really good in the past. So yeah, I feel like we've been really good at... like just looking forward all year. It has been pretty bad for various reasons, but we're working hard to be even better."

"The last week's been like a really good feeling in the team. Everyone's just moving forward and found a couple of things we can do better at."

Day one of the Iowa race weekend saw all the proceedings get canceled because of severe thunderstorms in Newton, along with a tornado near the Iowa Speedway. The practice session was pushed to Saturday, with qualifying moved up to 1:30 pm ET. The start times for the two races will remain the same.