MONTEREY, Calif. — IndyCar newcomer Scott McLaughlin has signed a multiyear contract extension with Workforce Penske simply because the New Zealander heads into his first championship race since becoming a member of the sequence.

The extension is the third in a month given out by Roger Penske, who additionally just lately prolonged the contracts of NASCAR drivers Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano.

McLaughlin, who was final yr’s IndyCar rookie of the yr in a category that included Romain Grosjean and Jimmie Johnson, heads into Sunday’s season finale mathematically within the title hunt. His win final week at Portland was his third of the season and moved him to fifth within the standings, 41 factors behind teammate and IndyCar chief Will Energy.

McLaughlin moved to IndyCar after profitable three consecutive titles driving for Penske in Australian V8 Supercars. The 29-year-old assumed Penske was shifting him to NASCAR however as an alternative he was slotted for IndyCar.

“Actually for him it was a little bit of a danger to say, ‘Hey, let’s soar over and do IndyCar.’ I believe he most likely had extra confidence in doing one thing with the roof over his head,” Penske workforce president Tim Cindric stated. “However he was definitely drawn to racing in America and actually hadn’t thought-about an excessive amount of about IndyCar till we talked to him about how he thought that transition may go.

“I felt like after spending a lot time with him in Australia that he had the elements actually to drive any form of race automotive and achieve success. I believe all people has actually seen what we noticed in him when he gained the three Supercar titles for us.”

McLaughlin first joined Workforce Penske in 2017 and completed second within the Supercars championship with a series-high eight wins and document 16 poles. He gained three consecutive titles from 2019 to 2020 and gained 40 races in a four-year span, together with a series-record 18 wins in 2019.

McLaughlin additionally gave Penske its first win within the the distinguished Bathurst 1000 when he gained from the pole in 2019.

He moved to IndyCar with nothing left to perform in supercars and confirmed regular enchancment final season, then obtained his first profession victory on this yr’s opener. His second win was in July at Mid-Ohio and he dominated final Sunday at Portland by main all however six of the 110 laps.

“Workforce Penske has been such an enormous a part of my profession, serving to me get to the place I am at at present, so I am excited to proceed racing with Roger, Tim and your entire workforce properly into the longer term,” McLaughlin stated.

McLaughlin will race teammates Energy and Josef Newgarden, in addition to Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson, for the title Sunday at Laguna Seca Raceway. It is the tightest championship race since 2003.