Scott McLaughlin's Indy 500 effort in 2025 lasted only a handful of seconds longer than that of the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which flew above the field of 33 during a pre-race three-wide salute.
It turned into a field of 32 when McLaughlin lost control of his No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet on the warm-up lap and careened into the inside retaining barrier on the front straightaway, before coming to a rest inside turn one.
He still describes it as the worst day of his life. But over the past 52 weeks, he's been able to gain some additional perspective that he might not have gotten, if not for that infamous moment that he's had almost a year to think about, think about, and think about some more, specifically as it's been replayed, replayed, and replayed over and over and over again.
Because aside from saying that it was the worst day of his life, McLaughlin also said something else that will hit home with a lot of race fans, especially amid this past week's tragedy: what hurt the most was the fact that now, no matter how many more opportunities he gets to run the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing", he has one less, thanks to that split-second mistake coming down the front straightaway.
Yet it's that very pain that has allowed McLaughlin to appreciate his journey to have another shot at winning the greatest race in the world.
"Just appreciate the opportunity that I’ve got driving for one of the world’s best race teams, and coming here, it’s Roger’s house, and to be here, part of this team, is so special with the chance to win," McLaughlin told FanSided's Beyond the Flag. "I think our car is very fast and there or thereabouts.
"There’s been a lot of perspective. A lot of realizing how lucky I’ve got it. I’ve got a healthy baby girl at home. I’ve got a great wife. I’m so lucky and blessed to have what I have it my disposal."
Now he has that next opportunity.
The 2024 polesitter, who took that pole with an all-time record four-lap average pole speed around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Speedway, Indiana oval of 234.220 miles per hour, is set to start on row three in ninth place in Sunday's 110th running of the Indy 500.
"It’s about now turning that negative into a positive," he continued. "I feel like I’ve learned a lot since then and felt like I've gone through four or five Indy 500s in one year. It’s kind of crazy. It still hurts. It’s still one of the hardest moments of my life, but at the same time, I feel like I’ve learned a tremendous amount, or as much as I could have learned from that really hard point in my life."
While he has a chance to complete a comeback for the ages this weekend, he knows that viewing it that way may not be the smartest approach. Because as we all know, the Speedway owes nobody anything.
"That’s given me some perspective, and I feel like it’s given me that ‘want'," he remarked. "I’m not coming here now with a vengeance or anything like that. I’m not coming here and being like, this race owes me one. It never owes anyone anything. It doesn't.
"I have just tried to bottle up what I’ve learned for 361, 362 days, and I’m going to try to put that to process on Sunday, and if it works out, it works out. If not, I know deep down I’ll give it my best shot and hopefully that storyline sort of fades away because I’m just trying to create new ones."
And if that storyline fades away with an Indy 500 victory, perhaps they'll stop showing the clip.
He admitted that if he is able to become an Indy 500 champion, his appreciation for that part of the journey, which would be the ultimate reward, would be far greater because of what he went through a year ago.
"If it happens this year, if it happens next year, if it happens in 10 years time, I think I’ll appreciate it so much when it happens, I’m sure."
While the warm-up lap crash is what has been on everybody's mind, and McLaughlin has probably answered over a hundred questions about it this month alone, one positive element of it is the fact that that's been the only major "outside noise" he and Team Penske have had to answer questions about in the build-up to this race.
It's much different than what the team dealt with in 2024, amid the push-to-pass scandal fallout, and in 2025, amid the attenuator developments that resulted in multiple penalties and firings.
"I think it’s nice to be fully focused on what we need to do – no crazy press conferences or anything like that," he said. "Probably though, in some ways, that’s not true because I had last year when I crashed on the warm-up lap. So a lot of that’s been a talk as well, but I’ve sort of taken that in my stride and knew it was coming. I guess you could say no things that came out of nowhere. Bit more prepared, bit more ready, and yeah, it’s been a fun month."
He spoke specifically about Tim Cindric, the former Team Penske president who was suspended for this race in 2024, suspended again in 2025, and ultimately fired before the 2025 race took place.
Cindric is set for his first true Indy 500 since 2023, as he returned as McLaughlin's race strategist for the full 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season.
"TC, from a career perspective, he’s the reason I’m here, in some ways," he said. "He was the one who planted the idea of me coming to IndyCar and gave me the belief to be able to do it, and obviously Roger was a big part of that too, but TC was really the guy who planted it in my head and went to Roger with it.
"To have him now as my strategist and someone who, he’s a friend, and when he left, obviously, how it all happened, I was really sad because I’d never get the chance to work with him. I really wanted to, but at the same time, it kind of feels like it was meant to be, having him come back and be my guy. I’m just thankful he wanted to. He came back, he wanted to be a part of it all, and I’m very excited."
He spoke about how his relationship with Team Penske started, during his years competing in Australian Supercars.
"I always followed Scott Dixon for a long time," he said. "He was my hero for a long time. When he won in 2008, I realized how big it was, just the way he was celebrated and how it all went down. I really got into the race after that. And I haven’t missed watching the Indy 500 since then. It was really tough to watch back in the day, because it was like 1:00 a.m. and really late at home, but I’d always try to get up.
"Then in 2016, I came over here for the 100th running. I was at that one, and it was that weekend I signed my deal to drive with Penske [in Supercars]. I actually signed it in Roger’s hotel room, which was so crazy."
Four years later, McLaughlin won the "virtual" Indy 500 during IndyCar's COVID-19 iRacing league. Additional success in that series resulted in him being unofficially crowned champion, and the next year, he was in an actual Indy Car.
"It was the start of something amazing," he continued. "I never thought I’d be here, but when I came here, I was like, wow, I can see why it’s so big. I can see how cool it would be to be a driver here. I never thought I would be, but here I am. This is my sixth Indy 500. It’s kind of crazy to think about."
Scott McLaughlin yet to add Indy 500 to vast oval success
One thing that is particularly interesting about McLaughlin's IndyCar career is just how well he has adapted to the ovals. Sure, the whole "this guy can't win on ovals" narrative has been overplayed for many drivers over the years, not the least of whom four-time series champion and reigning Indy 500 winner Alex Palou.
When there are far fewer ovals than road and street course races, though, it makes sense why so many drivers allegedly "can't win" on them.
It took McLaughlin until his fourth season to get his first oval win in 2024 at Iowa Speedway, at which point he claimed that he did not even want to classify himself as an IndyCar driver until he won on an oval. He went on to win at the Milwaukee Mile and secured the series' unofficial oval championship.
On every single oval McLaughlin has ever run at more than once (so excluding Phoenix Raceway), he finished on the podium in either his first or second start (or both).
Except Indy.
The 32-year-old New Zealander's lone top 10 finish in the Indy 500 is sixth, which came in 2024 after he led the most laps from pole and had to settle for sixth.
McLaughlin was very candid about why the Indy 500 is such a unique challenge.
"It’s just the buildup that we have," he admitted. "I think last year, this is the perspective it’s given me. I think you go into this race and you’re so stressed and it’s like, oh, this thing is so big if I win it. I’ve just got to go out there and just be normal. Just drive the car like I’ve set up everything I have. I’m trying to really act like we haven’t been here for a month. I’m just trying to act like this is just a normal race.
"And it’s not; it’s not a normal race, but it is in some ways. I’m trying to sort of have that intensity of a normal race weekend of me going to other oval tracks and whatnot and put that to use here. I think I haven’t done that in the past. I’ve probably been a little bit too excited. or I’ve been a little bit too aggressive in terms of how I’m prepping and put too much stress on myself.
"So hopefully with a bit more perspective and a keen sense of just accepting what’s going to come my way rather than trying to create it, hopefully that works out."
One more bit of perspective from 2025? He'd still take what happened there over what happened to J.R. Hildebrand in turn 800 of 800 during the 2011 edition of the race.
"I think that one would have hurt," he said. "I can’t even imagine what JR felt. That one would hurt, knowing that you literally can see the bricks.
"I think I would take crashing out before the start and not knowing the result than leading it coming to the checkered flag and crashing. I would never wish that upon my worst enemy. I really wouldn’t. The feeling I had was just the worst. And I can’t even imagine, even these days, what JR feels."
But above all, McLaughlin talked real-world perspective: Memorial Day Weekend, and what it means to him to not only now be an American citizen, but to be a part of what is unequivocalliy the single-most patriotic sporting event on the racing calendar.
"This race is just incredible, and the pageantry before the race and how we celebrate our troops," he said. "My wife’s American, but I wanted to be a U.S. citizen because of this race. It’s just incredible. I love how patriotic we are and how we celebrate our troops. I think anytime I hear taps, and when you hear taps and 400,000 people go quiet, it’s just incredible. It’s so emotional, so heavy.
"But you realize, wow, I’m racing because of sacrifices by others, it puts – I’m saying this word a lot – but it puts a lot of perspective into why I’m here, how cool is this, and it does get emotional. I think this year will mean a lot more for me just with how last year went. And I’ll be looking forward to getting to the race car."
The 110th running of the Indy 500 is set to be shown live on Fox from Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET this Sunday, May 24. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the action from the "Racing Capital of the World"!
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