"For us as a team, though, we ticked a lot of boxes and got the teams' championship, which is what we were after.
Now, after spending part of the offseason in the United States and getting engaged to American partner Karly Paone, McLaughlin is focused and ready to get back to racing.
"Karly and I got engaged in New York; it's pretty special, she's from there," he told Supercars.com. "And for me to be able to think about something else after Newcastle — obviously the heart was sort of broken after that race — and to forget about racing and then focus on something else it was very important.
"I had a good time over there, forgot about racing for a little bit but (now I'm) really keen to get back into it."
McLaughlin won a season-high eight races and set a new record of 16 poles last year in his first season with the Shell Ford outfit.
Despite the disappointment of just missing his maiden title, Shell V-Power Racing managing director Ryan Story said the young Kiwi ace had come back from his break pumped.
"He's been working on channelling his fitness and getting his focus and his fitness back to where it needs to be," Story said.
"He's chomping at the bit and looking forward to getting back into a race car."
The 2018 Supercars season gets underway with the Adelaide 500 which runs from March 1-4.
