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Scotty Mac Does Karaoke
Scotty Mac Does Karaoke
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About this episode
Scott McLaughlin chats candidly about his 2025 IndyCar season, reflecting on Team Penske's challenges and the dominance of teammate Alex Palou. He shares insights on balancing fatherhood with racing, the team's internal resilience after mid-season changes, and his openness to exploring NASCAR or even Formula One testing in the future. The conversation also touches on his fun experiences racing Legends cars, thoughts on young talents like Connor Zilisch, and lighthearted plans for a karaoke afterparty to build camaraderie within the IndyCar community.
Topics:
2025 indycar season
team penske challenges
alex palou dominance
fatherhood and racing
nascar possibilities
formula one interest
legends car racing
young driver talent
team dynamics
karaoke afterparty
Scott McLaughlin is back to take Hinch through his season so far, the ups and downs, how it's been being on the road as a new dad, and what the plans are for Sunday night after the race in Nashville
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Seagull
"...etroit race, but I was head of Kirkwood and I hit Seagull and got a penalty. Like, I felt like I could have..."
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Chevrolet Corvette
"...'s fast. Yeah. And I mean, I race with him in the Corvette this year that, uh, yeah, like I said, he's, it's..."
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This is off track.
All right. Welcome to Off Track with Hinch or Rossi,
because Alex here, where is Rossie?
He's working, man. He's a working, he's a working
Guy.
He doesn't work at all. We know that. Anyway, so we
Just really wanted to rub it in because like, he can't use the fact that he's a dad because you're now also a dad. Like, so we,
Two thirds of this group are dads right now?
Yeah, he's a rookie man. He's a
rookie. .
He's a rookie. I'm a rookie too,
but, uh, no, I, I'm in between Matt naps right down and like Lucy's room's like right there.
So I'm like kind. I've gotta keep
it down, but I'm not too bad.
I be okay anyway. And
But you don't have your, do you have your ear, you don't even have your like pods in?
No, I just run like a speakerphone thing.
Yeah, but that means she can hear us.
No, no, no. It's not that loud.
I mean, if I, if she can't hear me, so she, you'll be alright.
James. We should keep it down.
Yeah, we should quiet. Should be nice and quiet.
How is, how is dad life? How is dad life going?
That's good. Um, it's, it's, it's, uh,
a lot on Carly to be honest.
Like, you know, with the stretch that we've had.
And, uh, she's a superstar as we all know, and you guys met her, whatever, but we, we, uh, yeah, I'm very lucky to have her 'cause I think it would be a different thing.
But I, I, I said to Carly though, I would love them to come to more races.
They didn't come to me this year just because of just how hard it's to get around.
But like, I, I just love having them at the races, so they're gonna come to more Yeah.
Nashville, so. Oh, nice.
Nice. But loving it man. Loving it.
Lucy's getting bigger. She just turned 10 months old.
Um, yeah, she's awesome. She's awesome. So
That Incredible.
Is that the plan then for next year when she's a little bigger, maybe a little easier to travel with?
Like is it, has she been harder to travel with?
I know some kids I think's getting caught kind of conduit naturally she's getting harder.
Oh. 'cause now she, she can move more. She's getting
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Like, like we thought, like, oh, we're, we went
to, uh, lady's wedding.
It was in Aspen, Colorado. Right.
So it was a couple of flights to get there in December.
She was a couple months old. Easiest dream. Yeah.
Dream thing we've ever done. She just slept and ate.
That's all she, she did.
Now she's like, you know, a bit more alive and wants to play with things and you know, like I'm a big fan fan, not a big fan of, um, picking someone's seat or like touching it and, and, and she sort of touches it.
I'm like, no, no, no, don't do that.
Like, I'm like, because I just know what that feels like.
Right. . Yeah. So, yeah. Never be that guy.
Don't become the person you hate. Yeah,
Yeah.
Exactly. Exactly.
So you just gotta get onto that on that PJ program, bro.
Then it's dead easy. Oh
Yeah.
No, I'm not. I need to win a few more.
I need to be like Alex Pallo type stats.
I get one of those , Dude.
How let's, I mean, let's, let's talk about it.
Let's talk about Alex Pal below season's over.
I mean, he's won it. Yeah.
How, what's, what's I, I do want to get to like your season kind of in totality and like the, the kind of Team Penske anomaly that's been 20, 25, but as one of the guys on the grid.
I mean, obviously we hear from Alex every week and, um, he's very upset that next week's show we're gonna be talking a little bit about Pelosi season.
He's like, I'm over it. But as another guy
that's on the track with him, just like, what's it been like for you in 2025, just kind of seeing Alex's season? Yeah,
Look, you know, you come in with a lot of hope, um, every year.
And, and I felt like, you know, especially after the year we had last year, I thought, you know, he's definitely someone that, um, you know, I didn't, I didn't personally didn't think he was probably gonna have the season that he is had.
Um, I thought he would be good. Like, he's always good.
But he, he has been incredible.
Um, that team's been incredible. I haven't made mistakes.
They've, they've capitalized when they've got a good break in strategy, they've capitalized when they've had a bad break and figured it out something else to, to make it all happen again.
You know, they've, they've dotted their, i's across their t's and you've gotta head it to 'em, you know, and he's, he's an elite driver.
Um, I mean there's, there's many elite drivers in the field, um, of course, but he's just in a spot right now.
You know, his car's working for him.
They've obviously got a good understanding of the tire.
There's, um, you know, Honda's strong as well, you know, Chevy's working, working hard to be better like next year as well.
You know, it's gonna be, look, we want to be stronger and be able to attack these guys.
Um, but you've gotta hand to 'em, you know, you throw, uh, pressure at him.
Um, he doesn't make mistakes. He's always qualifying.
Well, he's got, he's got all the ingredients to put together a campaign.
Like he has this sheer and all we can do is learn from it and be better.
And that's how I'm looking at it from my perspective, uh, as a driver.
You know, I, I've gotta be, uh, little things I've gotta improve on every year, but like, even more so, because the gap is just, you know, he's, he's taken that next step and, uh, you know, I'm like, Alex, you hate it.
You know, you hate it when you're not, not the, not the dude, but you.
All you can do is one, appreciate what he's doing, but look at where you can improve and to be that guy for yourself.
And, um, yeah, I I, you, you know, you have, there's only one way you can go from the top is down.
For sure. For sure. So,
and I'm, I feel like I'm at the bottom, so I, I, I gotta up .
So, um, you know, I think it's a, I I I, I've been in this position in my career before in Supercars.
I, I know how hard it is to maintain that level.
And what he's doing is, is, is very impressive and, and a category that's so, so competitive as we all know.
So, um, yeah.
Full credit to him and, and, and honestly like, it's annoying 'cause he's a good guy. .
Yeah. I wish, wish
You wanna hate him a little more. I wish he had
A <inaudible> shit. I just like
Would that it would make, that would make it easier, right? Like,
I mean, yeah, he is like, I, I, I guess so he's, he's a great dad.
He's a great husband. Esther's a fantastic person.
His wife, um, they're like great parents.
Their little girl, uh, Lua is, is is beautiful and like best friends with ca with Lucy.
And it's like, what are we doing here?
Like, this guy's just really good , but, um, you know, look, we, uh, we're gonna be better and there's no doubt we can beat him.
It's just for sure. You just gotta
put, you gotta put everything together.
And, and, and he's done that this year.
So when a, when a guy's having, let's look at it this way.
You, you know, we're, we're what, 15 races now into a 17 race championship.
Um, you got two tracks coming up that I know you like and are very good at.
So I'm just, I'm gonna say it this way as delicately as I can, having not won yet, right.
Full faith that it can still happen in 2025.
But getting this far into the season and having not won, is it almost easier that that one guy has won so much rather than like 10 different guys having won races only, only now as of Portland, five, a fifth guy finally won in Portland.
But with one dude having so much success, like if he wins another race, you kinda like, yeah, okay.
Figure, like, but if it's a, if it's another driver getting his first of the season, are you more like, yeah, I wish that was me.
I mean, yeah, I, I I don't really look at it like that, you know, I just, I, I want to like, I think anytime you just wanna win as many as you can, and that he's obviously done that.
And I don't really care who's winning.
It's just, I, I would, I don't want him to be anyone else but myself. ,
right? Yeah. So it's, you know, that's just a race driver,
you know, and you get that.
Um, I think, uh, I had a really good point.
I was gonna say this then, and I, and I like literally slipped my mind.
It was actually gonna be a great point, but No, I I was gonna be so good.
Yeah. No, no, look, oh no, sorry.
It is, I found it, um, below, like, at the start of the season, like before, before Indie and whatever, you know, he won all those races and I felt like I had one of the best seasons, like Best Start outside of Thermal.
I had a very good start, like a solid start.
I'd been very up and down in other seasons, but then you looked at the gap and he was like a hundred points ahead of second.
And I was behind that. I was like 130 points off.
But you sort of took, if you took him away or whatever, you'd be like, oh, that was pretty, pretty good start.
But then, you know, my average finish was better, but then you just can't look at it that way, you know, like I said, he's raised the level and it's the full credit to him.
It's, it's just part of it, and you just gotta learn.
So Power got the win in Portland first win for Team Penske in 2025, which, you know, we were talking a lot, we've been talking a lot on the broadcast.
I hate to say it, about the struggles that the teams had.
You know, the, the last time they had a Winless season was a 99.
From your perspective on the, at least we can say that's not gonna be a thing.
Now we're not breaking that record.
But from your position on the inside, what, what is, what has gone wrong this year?
Or what is it that is kind of preventing this team from having the, like, massive amounts of success?
I mean, we're used to all three of you guys having multiple wins in a season, and right now we've got one between the three with 15 down and two to go.
Is there a standout issue for you, or has it just kind of been a, a freak year?
I think it probably been latter, to be honest.
I mean, like, obviously Below has been very strong, but I, I, there's been times where like we've all had chances to potentially win races.
I mean, like, it was early days of that Detroit race, but I was head of Kirkwood and I hit Seagull and got a penalty.
Like, I felt like I could have really controlled that race.
Um, what, that was one that slipped out of our hands.
I mean, you look at Joseph at Gateway, he could have won that race.
You know, for me, like I felt like we got poll at St.
Pete was looking really good.
Obviously the strategy was, went a little bit of Ray there, but like, there's a lot of things that have happened that are outside our control, but also in our control.
Um, I definitely think we haven't, we've, we've been on the back foot a little bit on road courses.
I don't think our package, our package needs to improve.
And we know that that's our biggest, um, thought process right now is to be better on road courses next season.
Um, and whether that's understanding the tire a little bit more, whether that's working with Chevy, whether just being improving in our department as well.
But I definitely think throughout the year we've had a lot of, you know, things go outside of our control, whether it's just little strategy things or, um, mistakes by me, mistakes by the crew or something like that.
And it just hasn't been a clean year, but I have to be honest, and I, I know you probably just think I'm just talking crap, but, you know, I genuinely believe we are the strongest we've ever been from a, uh, the three of us, the engineers, the way we're working together.
Um, you know, I feel like there's always like these peaks and troughs that you go through and, and, and, and obviously it's been well documented.
Like all the stuff that went on at Indie and the, the sackings and all that jazz, and that was, that turned a thing, few things upside down as well.
But I thought through all that, and to this point, it's been really positive.
The energy's really positive. Yeah. People want to be here.
People want to succeed again.
Um, I mean, even just Will's win on the weekend, like that was so good for the team.
I was so happy for Will, I was so happy for everyone.
Um, yeah, it's just, it's a really good environment to be around right now, honestly.
And it probably doesn't look it, but it really is.
I just, it's just, it's just things haven't gone that way and you just gotta believe that they will change and ride the ups and the downs.
Yeah. I mean, team Penske didn't forget
how to win races, right?
No, that's, that's clearly not what's happened here.
And it's great to hear that internally it gets all very positive because it is easy in those situations to kind of start having, you know, the, the thread on the sweater and it kind of starts going downhill.
Yeah. Yeah. One of the things that I thought was really,
really cool, and, and you could tell me if you think this contributed to like being able to just roll through what happened in May and, and continue, you know, working strong together, is they didn't bring anyone in from outside to fill any of those roles.
Everybody was kind of moved around internally.
So everybody that's now in a new position or has new responsibilities, they're from the family.
They know the way of life.
They know the way that things are done.
And I gotta think that that's a much faster way to get, you know, back on the horse and back up to speed than if you'd brought someone in from somewhere else and they had to figure out how things worked and what they wanted to adjust.
And there was a, you know, a, a transition period there.
Yeah, I mean, it, it's, it's a testament to like the depth of talent that we have at the team.
Um, the people that have worked there for so many years.
I mean, the amount of people that are over 20 years of service to, to Penske and and their world is, is amazing.
Um, Jonathan Travis, who are now running the team, like, you know, Jonathan was my engineer of 21.
He is been around IndyCar for a long time before he went and did some sports car stuff, um, and still is doing that.
And I think he's gonna be a great leader alongside Travis Law, who was, you know, Joseph's, uh, long time time sort of crew chief.
Um, and then sort of, um, did his thing in sports cars.
And, and I think what's really cool about those two guys is a lot of these people that are here at the moment, um, have worked with them for so many years, know how they work, know what they want, know their expectations.
Um, but honestly, like the, it's nothing new to us.
It's the, it's great to have that depth and people be able to go into different roles, but I feel like everyone just gets on the horse when we need to go and do something.
It's just, there's, there's a, there's a great attitude in the, in the, and the team, you know, outside of all the stuff that's gone on or, or all the stuff over the last few years, I think, you know, everyone just gets on with it.
I just get to the track and it's like, all right, this is what we gotta do.
What are we gonna do to go fast?
What are you, what are we gonna do to make you feel comfortable in the car?
Scott, Joseph will, whatever.
Um, it's a, it's a really good environment and, and it's been like that since 21.
But it's, it's, I honestly think it's like there's a bit of like a, like a, you know, the start, the year's been hard, you know, the load has wiped us.
It's how it is and it's like, it's put a lot of like, you know, like, um, I guess you could say motivation through the team to, to just be stronger and just from really excited.
I see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel, you'd say. Yeah.
It can galvanize a group too, right?
Kind of being in a, in a rough situation, in a rough patch like that, it can actually bring people closer and, like you say, motivate them to want to go out and kick ass in an even better way.
Yeah. Um, okay, so the other day on the broadcast, uh, ,
my, my good buddy, my good buddy down threw, there's my buddy Townsend thoroughly.
He's my buddy too. No, no, no, I'm not, I wasn't,
I wasn't insinuating anything else.
He, you know, obviously there's a lot of talk around power and where he's gonna be next year and the whole power Lucas, whatever, saga.
And, you know, we're sitting here watching Will, you know, on his way to winning the race and, and Townsend threw out a Hail Mary idea on how to keep power.
But assuming that there's already some existing deal they can't get out of with Lucas, how do we keep power in a Penske car?
And he's like, well, everybody in NASCAR right now is talking about this guy SVG and how great he is and how many races he is won.
He's getting better on ovals and all this stuff.
And who's the only guy that's ever beat?
SVG heads up in the same series, same car, whatever, whatever.
It's Scott McLaughlin. So Pence got a NASCAR team.
Let's put Scottie Mackin a nascar, take it to SVG, and then everybody can live happily over the Penske IndyCar side.
I'm assuming , this was not something you had ever heard as a theory or a potential scenario.
Well, I'm not gonna comment on Will's situation or whatever's going on there.
'cause I, I, I actually really dunno what's going on.
But the, the fact of the situation of my, that, when that got sort of told, well, I had a few texts after the race, they're like, oh, you go to nascar.
And I was like, what? ? And then like, like, and then Keith
and Carly, my wife's like, what's going on there? That's
My favorite part.
Like, was coy, are we going to NASCAR ?
Yeah. And like honestly, we had beers on, on on Sunday
and, and I, I, I only heard like secondhand accounts, so I wanted to make sure before I said anything like, like I heard the quote straight away.
And then I was like, after that we were just in my head and, and Brian Simpson who helped me with social, a good friend of mine, uh, we were a workshop on a few things.
And, um, we just thought it'd be pretty funny to like hit back and, and, and, uh, and um, it wasn't even like a, it was just my whole Twitter feed.
I don't know if you, it's either, it's either like I'm, I'm controversial or I'm like just taking the piss outta something. Yeah.
It's just a fun sarcastic retort. Yeah, yeah,
Yeah.
And uh, yeah, I just said so So tell everybody what you said. Yeah.
Uh, I said like, yeah, you should, I've got an idea.
We should put Townsend on the sideline and the Big 10 network with Fox and put jack up in the booth with the boys.
I said along those lines.
And, uh, and, and I, I like posted this morning just thinking it might, it'd be like, I don't know, 200 likes, a couple retweets, whatever.
And someone, someone might not even see it and it's just gone ballistic .
Brian said it's on. You can't read it.
There's like stuff going on everywhere, like, oh my God.
So, um, I'm gonna go ahead and retweet it right now. Yeah.
Even Hovis the, I ho Yeah, Hovis, the media media guy from Penske comes up, he goes, oh, so we, we now we've got beef with the Fox guys now .
I'm like, no, I know. I don't have beef with anyone.
And honestly, when I do have beef, I make fun of it and plug my sponsors.
So like, it's like, it's, no, it's all good. Yeah,
I, I think I, knowing town how I do, I'm sure he took that in a manner that it was intended, which is just All good fun.
I hope I, I'm waiting for a text.
If not, I'll will, I'll see him, I'll see him at the track, but I, I love taking the piss.
It's fun.
No, I was good. And, but like, it, it, it kind
of got a conversation sort of going, or at least a thought train going.
Like, have you ever, 'cause when you first came over, like you were part of the Penske family over in Supercars right?
And had your dominant stretch over there, and they were like, Hey, we're gonna take this kid to America.
Mm-hmm . And you landed in IndyCar.
I think a lot of people thought that initially the most common sense route for you to actually become over and do nascar.
Mm-hmm . Was that ever a conversation that you had with,
with Roger or with Tim?
And if not, is it ever something that you've thought about wanting to do?
I mean, we see you racing legend cars in Charlotte now.
Yeah. You're getting your, your stock car fixed.
Well, I mean, like, yeah, a lot of my friendship group here are NASCAR drivers, like Bubba Blaney, uh, Shane now.
Um, it's, it's quite funny, but I think, uh, you know, initially, you know, maybe you could say 2018, I was like, okay, I like if there's ever a chance to go to America, you know, I'd love to do a, I do nascar.
I mean, I've always followed IndyCar for a long, long time, and you knew that I came over to the hundredth Indy like a long time ago.
Like, I love IndyCar.
Um, and then it was like 2019, I, when I signed the deal with Penske in 2017, I said, Hey, I'd love to get to America one day.
Like, that's just like my deal.
I don't know what it would be in sports, car, nascar, whatever you need.
I would love to just be there.
Uh, that's before I met my wife and everything, but they were like, Hey, you went us to championship in a Bathurst and then we'll take you there.
Okay. So I won a championship in 18,
and then the conversation started happening.
And then when I won Bathurst, uh, in, in 2019, I remember the Victory Lane, this is the very fast forward part of the story, but Roger came up to me and said, okay, it's time to go to America.
And that was pretty cool. It was kinda like,
I didn't have a contract, but it was like, oh, well it's, this is actually gonna happen.
But about June that year, I sort of spoke to TC about, um, <inaudible> at the time, about, uh, yeah.
He's like, Hey, have you ever like thought about IndyCar?
Because, you know, with all the changes going on with nascar, you know, we might be closing out Xfinity program.
We want have you and the family, whatever you do in America, um, I really think IndyCar would be a nice fit for you.
It's a very similar schedule to supercars about 20, 21 races a year or whatever.
Um, you know, you can race three street course and you also get to race the Indy 500.
And like, that was a big ticket for me, was the chance to race the 500.
Um, and, and I think that's why I, at that really changed the whole thing.
I never actually thought they thought I was gonna be like a, a, a indie car driver, you know, just I drive a touring car, like why would you want me in an open wheeler?
But it was the opportunity they gave me.
They put me, you know, through, you know, simulator, you know, I did that testing, I did the test and a code it in 2020, and then like the plan in 2020 was actually to run five or six races.
Um, but anyway, that, that's my IndyCar story.
Like, but uh, yeah, I don't know.
I've, I've, I would like to try like maybe a race in NASCAR or something because Like, I mean, you, you see Shane go over a guy that you've competed against, you know exactly what he's capable of and you know that you're at that same level and he's gone over there and, and done very well.
Yes. So like, especially
after SVG made the transition, did it kind of pique your interest more and be like, ah, yeah.
Hey Raj, if there's ever an opportunity, I'd also love to give like Daytona a try or like do this. No,
No, no.
Like, we've, like talked about it, but at the same time, you know, like I, I just want to get my finger on the pulse here.
You know, I, I, I, there's things that, and my full focus right now is, is IndyCar.
I would love to, like, maybe in the off season, like could I try and schedule like to do a NASCAR race like outside of that season that I wouldn't, that wouldn't impact it.
But you know, like there's so many complications before that too.
You know, they run Fords where I'm in a Chevy, I'm a Chevy guy.
There's a whole range of things that come into that.
And honestly, I just don't think, uh, as much as it would be cool and stuff, it's just not on my radar right now.
I, I I, I just, there's too many things, especially after the year we've had, and I just want to, you know, lock in a little bit, I guess you could say.
So, um, but for sure interested would like to, I definitely think, you know, I could, I could give Shane a run for his money and, um, but at the same time, you know, I'm very happy for Shane, like what he's doing.
I, I, I've always said he was one, the one guy over there that could come over and do this.
He's so detailed driven and is just very, very fast.
Um, and then I think he'll eventually get the ovals, which will be really good for him.
And now he's got some security there with this contract.
But yeah, I mean, I, it's never say never, but just whenever the timing up Is there, are there, are there other parts of the Penske organization that you think about jumping over?
Like to call RP and be like, I think I could streamline this truck rental process.
I think there's some things you guys are missing, or is it, you know, well, it's a big organization, you know. Yeah,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I mean, I, look, I, I, I, uh, I just, I enjoy driving.
I've always trusted the process.
Tim, I've always , they have never ever let me down, like ever.
Like I, the minute I've signed here, they said they'd built me a championship car for Supercars.
They did that. They went, they helped me win a Bathurst,
which was my two goal in, in Australia.
And then they gave me my chance to come here.
And, you know, I've tested the Porsche.
I, I enjoyed driving that.
Um, you know, I enjoyed, I drive anything, you know, and, uh, I would love to drive anything.
So, yeah, see what happens.
So, so you, you, you drive anything, and we kind of mentioned it earlier, but where did this legend car racing, we see USVG, Bubba Wallace, you guys are just like on your, your off Tuesday nights or whatever, ripping around Charlotte in a, in a Legends car.
Yeah. That, that, uh, that,
that was negotiated over a beer, actually.
Um, we were, um, playing some games.
Most of the best deals are, yeah.
And yeah, it was like a, it was like basically a bet.
And like Bubba was like, you guys, you know, you lose this, you come, come race with me in the Summer shootout.
I was like, all right. Like, sweet, we'll come over.
Um, well, we did lose that and then had to, I, I, me and Shane put together a very similar deal.
We had cars painted up the same, I I don't know why I did it.
It was like 12 weeks of just getting bashed around by 12 year olds .
So, but it was, um, it was fun.
Uh, I learned a little bit and, um, yeah, I don't know whether I'll do it again or not, but it, it, those cars are pretty fun.
But yeah, the, the racing man, like everyone sees, oh, it's just short track racing, whatever, but it's like, it's, it's, it's deplorable.
Like, it's like you can't, like, you like, I got to, I got to second one day, I'm like, this is great.
And then all a sudden, boom, I'm just like taken out.
Like, it just, yeah, you got, it was crazy. You,
You got me on this show bitching about how IndyCar like allows drivers to just open their hands on exit and run guys off meanwhile, and those things.
It's literally just like no breaks fire guys off.
And that's just me. That's just short track racing. Yeah,
No, it was crazy.
And, and like the, the guy was like, uh, you know, I, I took, I actually hit someone off one of the da one of the races, but he mistaked he thought I was, he thought Shane hit him off because our cars are exactly the same.
So he was like pointing his finger at Shane, and Shane's like, no, no, no.
It's like the next guy . So it's pretty funny some stuff
That's actually so good. I
Know it, it's great. So,
All right, so you're into driving everything.
I have this hypothetical I'm gonna throw out at you, okay?
Hmm. Because there was an article that went up on f one.com.
I've been sent this. You've been sent this and Yes.
Uh, it was about, you know, American based prospects for the Cadillac Formula One team. It
Was written by some wanker.
Uh, it was written by some, it Was written by some unknown guy.
Clearly doesn't know much about much, but he did.
Small guy Sky .
Yeah. Big TikTok guy. Big TikTok guy. Yeah.
Anyway, you are technically a US citizen.
Mm. You have made one
of the most impressive transitions of one genre of racing to another.
In modern times you are GM affiliated .
If, If at some, Hey, I'm gonna take my t my my townson bell, like Hail Mary shot down.
If at some point someone from G Mark Royce calls up, he is like, Hey, Scott, why don't we just check in a TPC test?
Just, just to see what you think. Would you be open to that?
Yeah, but I would love to drive four one car.
Like it would be cool to like drive one who the Wouldn't be open to that. I would be open to that.
That's search With, with, with the, with the insinuation that if it goes well, they, they might try to bring you in that one. Hey, hey Scott,
Did you, did you wanna race in a bigger series than probably pay more?
That, would that interest you ?
Hey, do you want this winning lottery ticket or Oh, Yeah.
No, never. No. Look, I, I, look, I would, if,
if I ever got offered, I've always said, if I ever got offered a test, uh, you know, I would, I would love to like do that.
It'd be awesome. Um,
but yeah, like I don't, I think the whole F1 racing thing for me, like that's, that that's sort of gone.
I mean, I, I I, I really enjoy my life here.
I enjoy, I really am passionate about IndyCar and growing this sport.
Um, and yeah, I like, but for sure like the, if it was ever like, oh, mark said, oh, hey, do you wanna come do the Abu Dhabi Young Driver's test ?
Um, I would, uh, I I would, yeah, I would love to do it.
Hmm. All right. Just, just to see
what it's like, you know, see what Yeah, yeah.
The way, like way everyone talks.
I'm the same about down force and, and, and all of the energy and the power and the breaks and just be, just be, I know, Yeah.
Cool to experience it. Yeah.
Right. Well, yeah. Um,
actually everyone would be like that.
Everyone would probably say the same thing.
Um, actually on that list also, I just thought about this, you know, one of the other guys on this list, kind of, well, young Connor Zi.
Mm. You've had a chance. Big shot the weekend.
Big shot on the weekend. I mean, one,
that's all it really matters.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, and as I I told him, I was like, Hey,
new Garden once broke his collarbone, they chucked in some screws and some plates, and he won the next race. You're gonna be fine. Yeah,
Yeah.
But you've, you've got to race alongside him.
We've obviously kind of been k keeping track of what he's been doing.
Young guy came from a road racing background, is now winning on Road and ovals in Xfinity.
He's, he's doing some cup races on the side as well.
Um, like what, what do you think about him as a, as a talent and do you think if given the chance to kind of experience a little bit of open wheel, he might be able to do something similar to what you did?
Yeah, well, like we've been talking to him about him in the truck, actually.
Me, Joseph, and Will, like, he's someone that we are kind of sad that he's gone the, the NASCAR route.
Um, you know, it's exciting for him and he is doing such an awesome job, but he's such a good race driver and a good kid as well.
Um, I I, I would love to see him in an IndyCar.
I think, you know, it'd be, it'd be awesome to see.
Um, and then obviously that he's fully capable to go and do everything.
He's driven, he's fast. Yeah.
And I mean, I race with him in the Corvette this year that, uh, yeah, like I said, he's, it's so funny.
Like, he, he's mature, but he's 18 .
So it was like this, like, there, there was things that he said that it was like I said to Sha like, this guy's, like, I just, he just reminds me of like us when we were like his age and he just drive, gets in the car and wants to drive things as fast as he can and, and, and, but it, and thinks about it.
But he's solid, solid kid, um, very fast.
Um, yeah, I think that he, I think he's a great addition to your, uh, your people there.
Um, I think that would be very, very cool. But I don't know.
I think he's on the, he's got his, he's got his lottery ticket to, to, to nascar.
He is gonna be a star. I think he's gonna
get a big contract. .
I think you're absolutely right. Being Red
Bull backs never hurts either.
Uh, no. All right, Scott, uh, two races left, two
that you like, two that you're good at.
What do you think about the last two?
What's, what's your predictions for these last two rounds? Well, I
Think we can, I honestly think we can, we could win out if we, if we really put our heads together.
Um, you know, I think I, I know I can win it.
Milwaukee, I love that place.
And we're really strong in Iowa.
Um, so there's, I know it's a little bit different, but still it's an oval, short oval.
Um, and then, and then Nashville, you know, Andre, we're really strong there last year, but I think we can be better after a year thinking about it.
Um, but yeah, I, I, I'm, I'm excited.
Good, good way to finish, get some momentum, work with my stand a little bit more with Ben Breman now being my, my engineer, plus my, um, strategist.
So it's that, that's been a, a whole learning process as well.
Um, I think we can finish off with some really good momentum and bring ourselves into 2026 in a good Way.
And more importantly, where are we getting beers after Nashville?
Well, we're talking about that on Sunday.
Um, I definitely need to schedule, um, something I would lump, you know, it'd be cool.
I really think we should go to a karaoke bar or like, like we should rent out a karaoke bar Speaking my language right now. Yeah.
Careful what you wish for. Uh,
Like an indie car after party at a karaoke bar would be like, I know, three karaoke bars in Nashville. .
Yeah. You, I feel like if you get a big enough one,
you would learn a lot about many people about their song choice.
I always said that one of the, one of the best things you could do for a championship is to get the entire field together, like two or three weeks before the season starts and just lock them in a room for five hours with an open bar.
Yeah. I feel like everybody would leave there
with a whole new level of understanding and respect for each other.
Sure. Like, it always would happen at the end of a season.
You're like, this guy that I hated all year long, we went and had beers at the, like the after party, after the banquet or whatever.
It's like, hey, he is actually a pretty good guy. This guy, I like
This guy.
Yeah. It's not, it's not about going
and get hammered, it's just about like, just learning about people.
Yeah. . Like, it's like,
and you would learn a lot, like imagine like Robert Schwarzman like up there and like grabbing whatever.
Like he, he probably rap, right? Just rapping.
Yeah. Like, You'd learn a lot about like what,
like someone's song choice.
I don't know what like below would shoot.
I don't know if you could even get him to do it. That
Song. Tequila.
Yeah. Yeah. What What's your,
what's your go-to karaoke jam?
I'm like, You know that song Dancing in the Moonlight? Yeah.
Oh hell yeah. Hell yeah.
That, that gets the bath going, dude, I'm telling you.
All right. 'cause like everyone hears it. They're like, oh.
And it starts slow and then when it start and it just starts hammering it, it's, it's really good.
But I need a few before I do that. Or it's Mr.
Brightside, but that's just like, it's like, That's a classic. Like
It's a classic. Get everyone going.
Yeah. Gets everybody, yeah.
Everybody into the mood. I can see both.
There's actually a good one too. Love story. Taylor Swift.
That, that's actually a very good one.
If you want to get a whole bar going, that's a heater. All
Right. It's
Obviously has happen.
Yeah. We're gonna make this a thing.
This is definitely going down at some point.
Okay. We'll we'll
Make it like the official off track after party.
Yeah. I I, we could get it sponsored.
It's a write off. It's a, it's a business expense, Tim.
Yes, yes. Let's do it. We,
And I, and I say this with, with almost no joke.
I don't need to be paid this year.
If it goes towards that, I'm okay with it.
I'll tell you, I need to be paid.
I haven't had a great year, so .
Alright, well look, we got two left.
We're excited about 'em. Um,
you actually are also part of the problem.
Uh, as you may remember, our broadcast was delayed slightly due to, uh, golf going along. And we know you're a big
Cat guy.
I saw I was, I was this close to spraying you this morning on, on, uh, I was, I I was actually sitting on the toilet.
No, joking. . That's
Where my best sweets come from.
Yeah. And I was like, nah, I'll let this one slide . I
I'm just gonna go after Townsend instead. .
Yeah, you should have. 'cause I had had double down.
I got so many responses being like, yes, you're right.
That sport sucks. Let's go racing.
And as a big golf guy, you were part of the problem.
So hopefully there's no golf holding us up this week.
That's a little bit for sure. Yeah.
All right. We got it Started,
they started the broadcast when we were on the roll rounds.
Right? Like, like all we were,
Well got, we got IndyCar to delay the race by a couple minutes, which was huge.
Yeah. Like a lot of series would not do that.
But, um, IndyCar played ball in a big way, which is great.
And then we started, we got the race start on FS one and then we switched over to Fox at some point, like 10 lap, something like That.
Yeah. It's still decent be it
Will be good.
It was good, man. I mean, considering that issue
and then going head to head with Cup at the Glen, like I know, I actually thought that was very solid.
Yeah. Yeah. They, it's, um, alright. No dramas Fox.
Alright buddy. Uh, well enjoy the rest of your nap time
and thanks for coming on and we'll see you in a couple weeks, Boys.
Thank you. Appreciate it.
This has been off track with Hinch and Rossi.
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