IndyCar: McLaughlin captures Grand Prix of Monterey

LAGUNA SECA — More than two years after his last win, Scott McLaughlin transferred his top qualifier status into a victory Sunday.

While claiming his eighth career title, McLaughlin (DEX Team Penske) went to the front early and drove his Chevrolet to a 1.3-second margin over Kyle Kirkwood (Sam’s Club Honda) of Andretti Global at the Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey.

Under blue skies and temperatures in the high 60s, the 95-lap, 29th IndyCar event at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca progressed cleanly.

The only yellow flag occurred on the first lap. Sting Ray Robb bumped rookie Dennis Hauger’s rear end. After the contact, Robb spun into a tire barrier in turn 6 and left the race without injury. Robb continued, but fell to the bottom of the remaining 24-car field. The restart occurred on lap 5.

“We were trying to do better and today we took a step in the right direction,” said McLaughlin who controlled the race and led for 87 laps.

The race had only four leaders and six lead changes.

Alex Palou, who claimed his fourth straight IndyCar title last weekend at the Milwaukee Mile, qualified second while seeking his seventh win of the season. He finished eighth and was honored post-race for his fifth career season title.

McLaughlin last won on Sept. 1 in the second race of the Milwaukee Mile. His win Sunday was his first in 36 races and he averaged 106.756 miles per hour.

Earlier Sunday, Tymek Kucharczyk (HMD Motorsports) of Poland claimed the second race of the Indy NXT doubleheader finale and Nakita Johnson (Cape Motorsports) of St. Petersburg, Fla., won the season title.

Kucharczyk drove away from the on-the-lap 5 restart and built his advantage to more than seven seconds after 24 of the 30-lap race.

Johnson, age 18, finished second in both the season-ending races and became the youngest titlist in the series history.

“Really proud of the work,” said Kucharczyk, who finished 10th in the first race Saturday after contact with Myles Rowe forced a spinout on the first lap. “Everyone on the team did amazing.”

“Big congrats to Nakita. What can I say? What if yesterday didn’t happen? But nevertheless, really proud of today. We maximized what we had.”

Johnson dodged a first-lap incident in Sunday’s race and finished 6.75 seconds behind the winner.

“It’s amazing,” said Johnson. “It’s good to finally show my emotions. I think a lot of people thought I was passionless. But I am just emotionless when I drive, right? I just go out there and do the work. I am happy that the work is done now, and I can finally go celebrate.”