Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin won last weekend’s Grand Prix of Portland to score his third IndyCar triumph of the season and in dominant fashion. And while he only gained one spot in the points table, he remains technically in the hunt for the championship, 41 points behind the guy who finished right behind him last Sunday.
Should Portland runner-up Will Power win the 2022 IndyCar championship this weekend at Laguna Seca – and he now sits 20 points clear at the top of the table – the current discomfort within the Penske camp will be forgotten. But should he lose by fewer than 10 points – and to Chip Ganassi Racing’s six-time champion Scott Dixon – there will be a huge question for Penske management to answer: should McLaughlin have been asked to move aside for Power for the good of the team?
It would have been exceptionally harsh on McLaughlin, who took pole and led 104 of the 110 laps on the 1.964-mile road course just outside Oregon’s largest city. He was flawless. But in truth his championship chances are negligible, Power’s considerable, and over the past dozen years the Aussie veteran has
