Barber Motorsports Park is a punishing track for any driver. It’s physical, daunting and full of surprises, and Scott McLaughlin got a recent painful reminder of that.
The Team Penske driver made headlines for a less-than-ideal reason after he spun and slid backward through the catchfence at Barber course in Alabama. McLaughlin was thankfully OK, and the crash looked worse than it was, he said afterward.
But the challenges of recovering from that wreck, switching to a backup car and still trying to compete in the fastest racing series in the world are gigantic. And they were highlighted in the third episode of “All In,” a real-time docuseries from FOX Sports, INDYCAR and Shadow Lion.
“As soon as I got out of the car, my first thought was my daughter and my wife,” McLaughlin said in the latest “All In” episode titled, “Every Second Counts.”
“Thank god I was OK. As much as that was theatrical — and going through a fence, it was pretty legit — but it wasn’t the hardest hit I’ve had.”
The crash was during practice, just hours before qualifying, meaning not only was the car wrecked but also that McLaughlin and his Team Penske crew had to rush to get the backup car ready to qualify well and salvage the weekend.
That takes more effort and people than you might expect, especially in a short time frame. INDYCAR racing is a team sport, like all motorsports, and no one is like the Team Penske organization with historically dominant INDYCAR and NASCAR teams.
The latest “All In” episode also revisits the 2025 INDYCAR season, which was filled with drama around the team, from McLaughlin’s heartbreaking crash during the warm-up laps for the 2025 Indianapolis 500 to Team Penske receiving notable penalties for illegal car modifications. The latter led to multiple executive firings, including Tim Cindric, previously the team president.
“I was really sad for him, sad for me because I knew I probably wouldn’t get the opportunity to work with him again,” McLaughlin says in “All In.”
“It was controversy, it’s quite distracting, but I think it lit a fire under everyone’s belly to keep going.”
Then the unexpected happened when Cindric returned to Team Penske this season, now as a race strategist for McLaughlin and his No. 3 Chevrolet team.
“Scott’s done a very good job of positioning himself to try to be the benefactor in all this,” INDYCAR on FOX broadcaster James Hinchcliffe says in the latest episode. “But Tim Cindric returning is something that I don’t think a lot of people saw coming.”
As McLaughlin explains, some people might laugh or smirk, but the driver from New Zealand doesn’t care because he believes Cindric is the best at what he does.
“If I had to choose one word to describe last season, it’s just a bad dream,” Cindric says in “All In.”
McLaughlin said he’s thankful to have a second chance to work with Cindric, as they push to rebound this season but specifically contend for the 2026 Indy 500 crown on May 24 on FOX.
Featuring INDYCAR drivers and insiders — along with INDYCAR on FOX’s Hinchcliffe, Townsend Bell and Will Buxton — “All In” examines the biggest challenges, the pressure points and the high-speed competition of racing in the series.
Each episode features its own focus on a driver, team or series storyline. And the latest one dives deep into McLaughlin and Team Penske’s challenging past year, as they now eye 2026 victories.
Watch “All In” on the INDYCAR On FOX YouTube page, FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports App, FOX One, as well as INDYCAR and INDYCAR on FOX social channels.
