McLaughlin "pissed" at Supercars rivals' Bathurst tactics criticism

McLaughlin held off Shane van Gisbergen in a thrilling finish at Mount Panorama last Sunday to claim he and Alexander Premat's first Bathurst crown.

But his Penske squad was later charged with a team orders breach for instructing Fabian Coulthard to slow down behind the safety car in the final third of the race.

The controversy led Erebus Motorsport boss Barry Ryan to accuse Penske of "blatantly cheating".

"What they're [Supercars rivals] saying is completely wrong. I think it's ridiculous. We didn't do anything of that sort," said McLaughlin, speaking on Fox Sports' The Loud Pedal podcast.

"Bathurst is always unpredictable and there's always woulda, coulda, shoulda stories, and I think there are some people in other teams that should be focusing on their internal team issues before they kick on about us.

"And that's what pisses me off a lot about the whole thing."

The team orders breach means the results of the race are technically provisional and will stay that way until the matter is heard by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport next week.

McLaughlin being stripped of his win is highly unlikely, with fines and teams' points penalties the expected outcome should the team be found guilty.

McLaughlin admitted that he is frustrated by the controversy and believes he is a deserving Bathurst winner.

"We deserved to win that race, I believe we won it fair and square, it just sucks we have to deal with all this stuff and what probably should be the greatest week of my life," said McLaughlin.

"I'm not going to lie, it has been a bit sad and it could have been a lot better for us to enjoy it.

"I think from my point of view and Alex's point of view, we have enjoyed it as a pairing. But it has been a bit noisy and frustrating not to fully enjoy it."

McLaughlin's Penske team-mate Coulthard said he wanted to "clear his name" after feeling he had been made a scapegoat in the team orders controversy. "

He's struggling. It's been bloody hard for him, for the team, for Alex and I too, it's not the place we want to be in," McLaughlin said.

"As we always do we'll stick together as a team and get through it.

"But what I'll say is social media is out of control. So-called fans sending him death threats to drivers like Fabian is pathetic.

"People sending that kind of bullshit to real people who have families, who have real lives, for me it's unacceptable and it's all created by the media controversy that has been blown out of proportion."

McLaughlin's Bathurst victory was the final item on his Supercars wish list and the Penske driver has expressed an interest in NASCAR.

While McLaughlin is under contract for 2020, Roger Penske has hinted that a chance in the US could come in the "near future" but added it would not be an immediate switch to the Cup Series.

"We're running in three different series [in the US], we've got a job to do here, we're committed to our sponsors on a long-term basis, so we have to look at that," said Penske.

"I think that we want him to come over. He'll have to start as we did here, but he's got a good future and you'll see him in America I'm sure in the near future."