The Team Penske driver has never qualified or finished higher than 14th in his previous tilts at the Month of May, but has an air of confidence as his fourth begins.

McLaughlin is fastest so far after two rain-shortened days of practice, with race pace the early focus, especially given April’s Open Test was also heavily weather-affected.

“Obviously, running through a lot of race trim stuff, a lot of traffic stuff,” he recounted.

“A lot of it’s also, for me, I feel like I’m improving year in, year out, and you just never stop learning.

“Sometimes it takes a little bit to get back into the rhythm of things around here and understanding the timing.

“That’s how guys like Takuma [Sato] have won this race – understanding that stuff – and I’m trying to get a handle on that pretty early.

“We’ll work on qualifying here tomorrow and whatnot, but at the same time, I think we’re in a lot better shape.

“For me mentally, just I’m a bit more focused on the right things, not being blase on the little details because it takes every little detail to be good here, and I think we made the most of our time.”

Invited to speak more broadly about his outlook for his fourth Indy 500, McLaughlin again chose to highlight the experience of two-time race winner Sato.

“I feel really good,” he said.

“I understand the race a lot more for sure. I think you just build a bit of experience every year, and it’s just invaluable, that experience.

“Someone like Taku who’s done 15 [Ed: 15th this year], you want to have that experience, but you just try and soak everything up like a sponge and understand what you want from the car, and I feel like I’ve got a pretty firm understanding of what I want from the car, especially on an oval.

“It’s just a matter of putting the pieces of the puzzle together, and I think I’m in that frame of mind and that experience level where I can really sort of take it to the next level.

“Hopefully we can do that this year.”

While it is not until Fast Friday that the turbo boost is turned up in readiness for qualifying, the fact that the #3 Penske crew is already switching focus from race pace speaks to its confidence on that front.

“Even yesterday when we had those limited running, I felt really good there just from a balance perspective, and just had that confidence today,” remarked McLaughlin.

“But yeah, ran some really good runs in pretty dirty air deep in the pack and was able to pass a few cars, and that’s always a good sign.”

Day 3 Practice is set to start at the earlier time of Thursday at 10:00 ET/Friday at 00:00 AEST.