IndyCar driver Scott McLaughlin He miraculously walked away from a horrific accident before the Grand Prix of Alabama.
The 32-year-old Team Penske driver was in the middle of practice at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, on Saturday, March 28, when his car flipped and crashed behind a fence at the end of the course. Multiple media outlets have reported that McLaughlin was not injured despite the horrific appearance of the collision.
Shortly after the incident, McLaughlin assured his fans that he would be back in shape for Sunday’s race.
“That’s on me. P14 for the program tomorrow. So proud of #Thirsty3 and everyone at @team_penske for putting our battery car together,” McLaughlin wrote on Instagram Saturday night. “You’re still quick, and we’ll be ready to go to work in the morning.”
During the live TV broadcast, Fox Sports 1 commentators explained to viewers how close McLaughlin came to a potentially catastrophic situation. Dashcam video showed the driver bringing his hands to his head to brace himself as he swerved the car just enough to avoid a head-on collision in the safety zone.
“That must be a 150 mile per hour impact on the tire stack,” the analyst explained, before clarifying that the speed may have been closer to 170 miles per hour.
“Guys, at the end of the day, this is all [safety] the machines did their job perfectly,” one of the reporters told viewers. “Slow down the car.”
His colleague agreed, he said. “[The safety equipment] he allowed Scott to slow down again [be saved] from bad influence. Bad incident here at Turn One.”
FS1’s team of analysts compared the tightest safety harnesses inside McLaughlin’s car to a “restorative F14. [fighter jet] on an aircraft carrier.”
“Those ropes kept McLaughlin on the field and not in the park,” the reporter explained on air.
Moments after the crash, McLaughlin was shown getting out of his “completely destroyed” car with the help of local emergency crews. He welcomed other members of the Team Penske pit crew and eventually went on his own.
Scott McLaughlin in March 2026.
Sean Gardner/Getty ImagesLater in the day, McLaughlin thanked his Team Penske crew for helping get his car back in shape for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Alabama.
“I’m very lucky for my team, but not only #thirsty3s but everyone in car 2 and car 12 entered today,” he wrote on Instagram. “Then I built a new car to have the courage to send it to qualifying. Thank you team. Sports team, this thing is ready to go tomorrow.”
McLaughlin joined Team Penske in the IndyCar Series in 2021, making his official debut at the Firestone Grand Prix in St. Petersburg, Florida. He later finished third in the IndyCar Series in 2023 and 2024 and had his best showing at the Indy 500 in 2024, where he finished sixth.
