Among drivers not named Alex Palou, Scott McLaughlin was the big winner Sunday in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Of course, McLaughlin’s objective was to beat all drivers, including Palou, but given how masterfully the reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion opened the season on this 14-turn, 1.8-mile street circuit, finishing second while securing a point for earning the pole constitutes a weekend victory.

McLaughlin earned his second-place finish by winning a spirited late-race battle with Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood and Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard. McLaughlin overtook Kirkwood with a strong move to the inside in Turn 10 of Lap 94, then kept the charging Lundgaard at bay. It was the first runner-up finish for McLaughlin since the 2024 oval race at World Wide Technology Raceway, 22 races ago.

“Obviously, you want to be top step, but I think that was a solid day for us,” the driver of the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet said. “I think we maximized our strategy.

“I think it was going to go one way or the other with (tire selection). I maybe thought (Firestone’s primary compound) could have probably performed a little bit better in (our) first stint, but my car just didn't probably turn that tire on well enough.”

Given a chance for a do-over, McLaughlin said he would have started with the alternate Firestone Firehawk tire compound as Palou did. With each driver required to use two sets of the alternates, Palou used the alternates to get the lead and escape a mid-race restart, then distanced everyone in the late going with the more durable primaries.

With two laps to go, Palou had pulled away from the field by more than 14 seconds before taking the checkered flag by an event-record 12.4948-second advantage.

McLaughlin led 34 laps, and his performance continued the momentum his program had at the end of last season. Despite not reaching victory lane in 2025, two of his three third-place finishes came in the season’s final two races, oval races at the Milwaukee Mile and Nashville Superspeedway.

“I think we've had a really good run (going) back to the end of last season,” McLaughlin said. “I thought we found our mojo a little bit and then this weekend, as well.

“I knew this was going to be a strong track (for us), so I had to make the most of it.

The podium finish was McLaughlin’s first on a street circuit since the 2023 race in Nashville. He finished second that day after starting on the pole. This weekend’s pole gave him 12 as he begins his sixth season as a series full-timer.

Scott McLaughlin

“We made the passes we needed to make at the right times,” McLaughlin said. “Like I said, I think we maximized our day. No mistakes. Pit road (service) was great. Yeah, good start.”

Teammate Josef Newgarden drove from the 23rd starting position to finish seventh.

McLaughlin will head to this Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway trailing series leader Palou by 13 points. After Palou won last year’s St. Petersburg race, McLaughlin’s deficit to the top spot was 15 points. Any gains on the four-time series champion are welcomed.

Although McLaughlin has never raced at Phoenix, he should feel optimistic. He has finished in the top four of three of the series’ past four short ovals, and his past two race wins have come on such tracks (2024 at Iowa Speedway and Milwaukee).