Scott McLaughlin shares emotional message after getting US citizenship

IndyCar star Scott McLaughlin announced on Tuesday (April 29) that he has finally received US citizenship. The New Zealand driver has been racing in the American open-wheel series with Team Penske since the end of 2020.

At age nine, McLaughlin moved to Australia. He steadily progressed in his racing career there en route to winning three consecutive Supercars Championships with Team Penske from 2018 to 2020.

Before that, in 2016, he met his wife, Karly Paone, who hailed from New York, during a trip to Las Vegas. They got married in Malibu, California, in November 2019 and welcomed their daughter, Lucy Violet, in October 2024. The family resides in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Scott McLaughlin became the final member of the family to become a US citizen on Tuesday. He shared the news via an X post, writing:

"So honored to be able to join my daughter and wife as an American Citizen. Consider myself very lucky to now have dual citizenship in 2 amazing countries."

Scott McLaughlin is charting a similar performance graph in IndyCar as he did in Supercars. The No.3 Chevrolet driver's results have been consistently improving. He has finished third in the championship for the last two years and is a strong contender to topple Alex Palou from the top spot.

However, McLaughlin has had an underwhelming start to this season. Apart from earning pole position at the first race in St. Petersburg, the Team Penske driver doesn't have substantial highlights to show off. With two top five finishes and a dead last finish at the Thermal Club, he stands eighth in the standings.

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The story of how Scott McLaughlin met his American wife Karly Paone

Scott McLaughlin with his wife Karly Paone at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Source: Getty

Scott McLaughlin met his wife Karly when he was on a boys' trip to Las Vegas, including serving as a mechanic for his friend competing in the Las Vegas Karting SuperNationals. Fortuitously, Karly took her first-ever trip to Sin City at the same time because her friend was big on karting.

For them, it was a chance meeting at the event where McLaughlin didn't reveal his real identity. Instead, he led with a white lie, claiming he was a mechanic. She shared this story with the world via a social media video in 2020, where he was present as well (via Supercars).

"We asked what each other did and you said you were a mechanic and I was like 'Oh OK, cool, whatever that means'. Next couple of days I followed him on social media and he had like 40,000 followers at the time and I’m like, 'what?' No one I knew has that many followers on Instagram, so I was like, 'oh weird'.

"You were like, 'Yeah, I’m actually a race car driver' and I’m like, oh. Yeah, I didn’t really quite get it until I first visited in April and went to Phillip Island and then I was like, 'Oh, so you’re kind of like a big deal, you're pretty good at this'."

McLaughlin has received his US citizenship in an opportune week. He will be competing in IndyCar's Children's of Alabama Grand Prix this upcoming weekend as the defending two-time race winner. The Kiwi driver already has an extreme celebration plan in place if he achieves the three-peat.