IndyCar: Everything comes up roses for Team Penske's McLaughlin at Portland

Five drivers remain in contention for championship heading into next week's season finale

PORTLAND, Oregon - Scott McLaughlin was untouchable in the Rose City.

The 29-year-old New Zealand native led 104 of 110 laps in Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland, winning by a 1.1792-second margin over teammate and IndyCar points leader Will Power to score his third career victory -- all from the pole and all this season.

By winning at Portland International Raceway, McLaughlin remains one of the five drivers mathematically eligible to win the IndyCar championship next Sunday at Laguna Seca.

“We did exactly what we needed to do this weekend, which was win and get max points to keep ourselves in the championship fight,” McLaughlin said. “Yeah, we’re a longshot. I don’t care because we have a shot. so I’m looking forward to it.”

He may be a longshot for this year, but McLaughlin looks to be a serious contender for the title next season. It’s taken a while, but the former Australian Supercars champion has successfully transitioned from touring cars to open-wheelers.

Sunday’s victory marked McLaughlin’s seventh podium finish this season. Last year, he had just one.

“Roger (Penske) and Tim (Cindric) gave me the opportunity to come over here and I was thankful for that,” McLaughlin said. “It was my next step and my next challenge. I took it all very seriously and knew it was going to be hard. I thought one day I could win, but the ultimate is to win a championship and the (Indy) 500.

“I’m not going to stop until I get one of those or both. It’s a long way to climb but you have to have goals. It’s the same for everyone out there. You have to dream big and try to get it done.”

Teammate Will Power finished second but never was able to challenge McLaughlin for the win Sunday. The 2014 IndyCar champion enters next weekend’s series finale with a 20-point lead over Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon.

Will Power raced to a second place finish Sunday, but also widened his lead in the IndyCar point standings, leading teammate Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon by 20 points, Marcus Ericsson by 39 points and race winner Scott McLaughlin by 41 points. (Photo by Michael L. Levitt/LAT for Chevy Racing)

“I just want to win this championship for the guys who have been with me for more than a decade like my engineer Dave (Faustino) and my data acquisition guy Robbie (Atkinson) and the group,” said Power, who has finished second in the standings four times. “It’s a lot less selfish for me this time around because they deserve it. I feel their pain over the years of losing so many. I’d love to win it for them.”

Dixon finished the race in third to round out the podium finishers. Now tied with Newgarden for second place in the standings, Dixon looks to win a record-tying seventh championship next weekend.

“Still in it,” Dixon said. “That's all that we can hope for.

“We did as much as we could today. We definitely got a little tighter at the end, but we had to use a lot of overtake early on, so that definitely changed things up, I think, for the strategy towards the final five (laps) there.”

Pato O’Ward finished fourth overall in the race but was mathematically eliminated from title contention. Graham Rahal rounded out the top five.

Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi, Josef Newgarden, Callum Ilott, and Felix Rosenqvist finished sixth through tenth, respectively.

Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson - the only other driver mathematically still eligible to win the championship - finished just outside of the top 10 in P11.

Defending IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou was eliminated from potentially repeating, and now faces an uncertain future going forward with either McLaren Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing or potentially sitting out next season. 

The lone caution of the day came out on Lap 84 when Rinus VeeKay and Jimmie Johnson made contact in Turn 1, ending Johnson’s day.

End of the line for the No. 48 #PortlandGP #IndyCar pic.twitter.com/UHzhn2Dbb7

— Michael Eubanks (@MEubanks_Writer) September 4, 2022

“I was just trying to be polite and make my way around the track at the end, but unfortunately the No. 21 did a fade in the braking zone into Turn 1 after I gave him the position,” Johnson said. “We made some contact which put us in the wall and took us out.”

IndyCar’s championship-deciding Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca takes place on Sunday, September 11 at 3 p.m. ET.