McLaughlin was the main challenger to Alex Palou in the non-championship event's 20-lap final, which was split into two segments, but couldn't usurp the Chip Ganassi Racing driver who had previously topped his qualifying group and won his heat race.
The 30-year-old New Zealander trailed Palou by 5.792s at the flag, but still sported a smile during the post-race media availability after earning $350,000 in prize money that he revealed will go towards his mortgage.
The first segment of the final saw the field settle into a rhythm with minimal passes made in an effort to conserve tyres, which could not be changed at the half-time break.
“In the final race, we were pretty conserving, looking after our tyres at the start, being smart, knowing there's guys that were going crazily slow, almost too slow I feel like, from a racing perspective,” McLaughlin said.
“[At] the start of race two [second segment of the final], I tried to have a go at Alex, but ultimately he was just a little bit faster with that clean air.
“It was always going to be clean air was going to be king this weekend. I settled in, tried to maximize what I had. That was second today.”
Uniquely, the second half of the final was not a double-file restart as the field was lined up in single file instead. McLaughlin still pressed briefly, but Palou built up enough spacing with his initial launch.
“I had a really good run actually,” McLaughlin said. “I sort of felt that's where Alex was going to go.
Source: Autosport