Scott McLaughlin currently sits sixth in the IndyCar points standings, nearly 150 points behind Alex Palou who is currently running away at the front.
Like everyone else in the field, McLaughlin has been watching the Spaniard pull away with win after win coming in the middle portion of the season.
With eight races remaining, the Kiwi is looking at ways that he can chip away at his deficit to at the very least keep himself in contention for the title.
Talking to Motorsportweek.com, McLaughlin related that he can take more risk than usual to get some good results for himself, which is a luxury that Palou will likely not want to take on.
“Right now, I can risk a lot,” said McLaughlin. “At the same time I can’t lose too much, but I feel like I can really put a lot on the line, where [Alex Palou] probably can’t.
“I know what the position feels like from [Australian] Supercars, trying to win a championship. It does get dicey sometimes. But the one thing that Alex hasn’t done, and that’s a testament to his crew and him, he hasn’t had a bad race. He’s been solid the whole year.
“There’s a lot of races, two at Iowa, Nashville, Toronto. There’s a lot of races where things can go wrong, a lot of points of the table. In IndyCar you never give up. Gotta just keep pressing on.”
With a couple short ovals and a two tricky street courses coming up soon, there is plenty of opportunity for the results table to be shaken up a bit.
Entering the second half of the season, McLaughlin is looking forward to racing on the tracks that gave him such good results near the end of the year in 2022.
He scored four podiums and a win in the final six races last season, and hopes to do the same again in the back half of the schedule this year.
“From this point in the season last year, we had like an average [finish position] of three. So you can do it. It’s just his [result streak] is happening at a really good portion of the year, with a lot of points on the table.
“Like I said, testament to him. Honestly, the way he’s driving right now, it’s really incredible. We’ve got to work hard to stop it.
“I feel like there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ve got pace to [catch him]. We need to just execute a little better.”
The next race on the calendar is the Honda Indy Toronto, which takes place on the streets just north of the Canadian border.
