Scott McLaughlin faces tough drive from last after Arlington qualifying crash

The Team Penske driver’s hopes to fight for pole ended during group running

Scott McLaughlin is aiming to rectify a qualifying crash and put on a show for Sunday’s inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington.

During the second group running of the opening session of qualifying, the New Zealander was pushing to advance into the Fast 12 when, with two minutes remaining, he clipped the inside of the wall in Turn 8 before pounding the outside wall. The crash left significant left-front damage to his #3 Team Penske Chevrolet, but fortunately he will not have to go to a backup car like his teammate Josef Newgarden did after crashing in second practice.

“Yeah, pretty much knew it straight away,” said McLaughlin, 32, via the FOX Sports broadcast.

“The DEX Chevy was super quick and just turned a little bit early into Turn 8 there and clipped the inside wall. So yeah, I'm really bummed for the guys because, yeah, silly mistake, but it is what it is. You're trying to find the limits, but yeah, just don't want to give them (his pit crew) the work to be honest.”

McLaughlin, who led the opening practice on Friday, will start last (25th) on the 14-turn, 2.73-mile road course. Despite the setback, his immediate love for the track hasn’t changed, and he’ll have a couple of more sets of fresh tires - as a byproduct of not using them in qualifying - to make plenty of passes for the race.

“Yeah, for sure,” he said. “We're going to have a heap of tires and a really fast car, so we're not giving up yet. We'll charge through from the back and have some fun.”