McLaughlin trolls Palou with last-gasp ideas to keep title hopes alive

Scott McLaughlin certainly knows how to keep everyone entertained with his ideas on how to take the IndyCar Series title for an ultimate comeback at Nashville Superspeedway.

The 31-year-old New Zealander has little chance of overcoming his 50-point deficit to championship leader Alex Palou (525-475) entering this weekend’s season finale on the 1.33-mile oval. With a 54-point swing over the course of a race weekend (50 for win, one for pole, one for leading a lap and two for most laps led), McLaughlin will officially be eliminated once Palou starts Sunday’s 206-lap contest at the 1.33-mile oval. 

But fear not, for McLaughlin is prepared with multiple possibilities to keep Palou, the defending and two-time series champion, from making it to the green flag - or possibly even the race weekend.

One of the early thoughts by the Team Penske driver was to lock Palou in a porta potty, with the location of temporary facility unknown but could just as simply be one of the many found at the track or on pit lane.

Also, we don’t really know if McLaughlin is a good cook or not. I think back to a saying from my childhood that was, “Never trust a skinny chef.” Regardless, he appears eager to provide the Spaniard with a lovely meal of homemade sushi.

McLaughlin even extended a thoughtful gesture for a ride through the Tennessee mountains with Palou, reaching out to fellow IndyCar veteran Graham Rahal, who owns an authorized Ducati dealership in Indiana to get the hook up for a couple of motorcycles. For his part, though, Palou had questions.

A three-time winner this season, including two on ovals, McLaughlin has every reason to believe he’ll be in the fight for a win this weekend. However, any chance Team Penske has of winning a title will have to likely come from his teammate, Will Power, who is only 33 points behind Palou (525-492). Considering, though, that several drivers would crash their grandma to win a race, maybe McLaughlin has a trick or two up his sleeve to pull off some championship heroics.