Have Team Penske found their next new IndyCar driver?

Two-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin recently tested an IndyCar for Team Penske. Could he end up becoming their newest driver in a part-time role in the 2020 season?

Only one IndyCar team have not brought in a new driver to their lineup since the end of the 2017 season: Team Penske.

Josef Newgarden, who joined the team ahead of the 2017 season from Ed Carpenter Racing, has won two of the last three championships and remains their newest driver.

Simon Pagenaud, the 2016 champion and 2019 Indianapolis 500 champion, has been driving for Roger Penske’s team since the 2015 season while Will Power, the 2014 champion and 2018 Indy 500 champion, has been doing so since the 2009 season and since the 2010 season as a full-time driver.

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Throughout the past decade, the only other three drivers to drive full-time for the team are Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Only two other drivers, A.J. Allmendinger as a part-time driver in 2013 and Oriol Servia as a one-race replacement for the injured Power in 2016, drove for the team at any point throughout the decade. But as the 2020 season nears, there is already talk about a potential new driver for the team, and that could come to fruition in the form of a part-time ride as early as this year.

Scott McLaughlin, who drives for DJR Team Penske in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship and has won the last two championships in the series, recently tested a Team Penske Chevrolet IndyCar.

The 26-year-old New Zealander, who won the 2019 Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama Circuit with co-driver Alexandre Premat en route to winning his second consecutive Supercars title, tested at Sebring International Raceway last week.

After completing 140 laps around the 11-turn, 1.703-mile (2.741-kilometer) road course in Sebring, Florida, he found himself just one second off the pace set by Ed Carpenter Racing rookie Rinus VeeKay, the 2019 Indy Lights runner-up. VeeKay’s top lap time was 52.3 seconds; McLaughlin’s was 53.3.

He was given praise for his effort by Team Penske, and according to team president Tim Cindric, that could lead to him competing for the team at some point throughout the 17-race season. Cindric even stated that his appearance at Sebring International Raceway pretty much had to be more than a novelty, otherwise IndyCar wouldn’t have let it happen.

Here is what Cindric had to say, according to Autosport.

"“We haven’t finalized whether we’re going to be able to run Scott at COTA or not, so we’re still working on that. IndyCar won’t let just anyone show up to an open test without a commitment to running somewhere else. So that depends on if we can put something together in time for that test or whether there’ll be something else, another opportunity. We’re still trying to figure that out, but the first step was to go to Sebring.“We’ve checked Scott’s schedule to see if the COTA open test is a possibility or not, and yes, it is from that standpoint, but from the final decision standpoint, we still need to figure out that part of it. It comes with the caveat of knowing that we’re going to enter him in a race at some point.”"

These talks of McLaughlin competing in another series are nothing new, as last year around this time, he also stated that he may be interested in competing in NASCAR at some point, a move that has yet to happen.

Now having actually tested an IndyCar and having impressed the team, a part-time ride with America’s premier open-wheel racing series that includes the race at Circuit of the Americas in April looks like it could become a reality.

Additionally, while Team Penske are only a three-car full-time team, they do have a seat available in which McLaughlin can compete, with that being the #3 Chevrolet that Castroneves is set to drive throughout the month of May in the two races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the third consecutive season as a part-time driver.

McLaughlin wouldn’t rule out the opportunity. Here is what he had to add, according to Autosport.

"“I’ve always said I’d race a wheelbarrow if there’s a Team Penske sticker on the side! But I think the opportunity today to have a sample, to have a crack at an IndyCar was amazing, and it definitely answered a lot of questions for me regarding strength, regarding fitness. And it didn’t feel too dissimilar to how I thought it was going to feel, which is good.“But for me, I’d love the opportunity to be over here in the US, and I’ve always said that. I had a couple of little moments while I was just trying to find the limits of the car, but apart from that it was all good, and I didn’t rip a corner off – that was the main thing.”"

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Will Team Penske add Scott McLaughlin to their driver lineup for any part of the 2020 IndyCar season? If not, will he end up debuting in the series with the team at a future date?