BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WISH) — A wild week for Scott McLaughlin was capped off with a race victory on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park.

The Team Penske driver led 58 of 90 laps en route to winning the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst.

“The car was unreal,” McLaughlin said. “You can’t beat pace sometimes. And the strategy that we were on – the three-stopper – we needed to go as fast as we could and put some pressure on the people that were doing two (pit) stops.”

This marks McLaughlin’s second straight win at Barber.

This year’s victory came after a tumultuous week for Team Penske. On Wednesday, McLaughlin, along with teammate Josef Newgarden, were disqualified from their results in the season opener at St. Petersburg, which took place in March. Meanwhile, fellow teammate Will Power was docked 10 points.

“We got through it as a team, which I’m super proud of,” McLaughlin said.

After reviewing data, IndyCar discovered that Team Penske “manipulated the overtake systems” so the drivers could use push to pass on starts and restarts during the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

The announcement sent shockwaves throughout the paddock and created a firestorm of responses.

As a result, this week definitely felt different for McLaughlin, but as he told News 8 Sports’ Andrew Chernoff on Sunday night, he was able to remain focused on the task at hand.

“For me, I just approached it just like any other race,” McLaughlin said. “I was super focused on just making sure I was hitting my marks. You can’t control people’s emotions. You can’t control the headlines. You’ve just got to focus on just what you’re doing.”

One of the weirdest parts of the race Sunday was when a mannequin, named Georgina, fell from a bridge and landed next to the track. One of the cars on the track soon ran over her arm, which was on the track.

“I have to be honest, I was pretty frustrated when I saw it happen,” McLaughlin said with a smile. “I thought it was the yellow, but it wasn’t. It was for another car. If that was the yellow that cost (us) our race, I would have been pretty mad.”

Barber is known for its unique artwork located around the circuit.

Georgina found her way back to the media center by the end of the race, and McLaughlin was able to get his photo next to the mannequin.

McLaughlin even posted on X, formally known as Twitter, on Sunday night. The post showed a beer that was he was drinking to honor Georgina:

The NTT IndyCar Series will visit Indianapolis next for the Month of May. The next race on the calendar is the Sonsio Grand Prix on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 11. The 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 will then take place on May 26.

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