Pato O’Ward dominates Milwaukee and shows his popularity with his first victory on an oval since 2022

WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Pato O’Ward remained in the headlines Saturday, winning the first race of a doubleheader at the Milwaukee Mile, where he spent the weekend questioning IndyCar management for allowing NASCAR to sweep the series at one race in Mexico City.

O’Ward, from Monterrey, Mexico, is IndyCar’s most popular driver and is desperate to compete in his home country. Instead, NASCAR said this week that it will race in Mexico City in June, and O’Ward is upset that there is no more room for IndyCar.

The situation escalated when IndyCar CEO Mark Miles said promoters in Mexico City felt the series and O’Ward weren’t popular enough to warrant anything other than a lease to stage the race themselves.

That irked O’Ward, who has organically and steadily built his fan base and is probably second only to Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez in popularity in Mexico.

His answer was Saturday’s win at Milwaukee, his third win of the year but his first on an oval at Iowa Speedway in July 2022. The three wins are the most in a season for an Arrow McLaren Racing driver and came at a few hours after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. , their F1 counterparts, took the lead in qualifying for Sunday’s race in Italy.

O’Ward led 133 of 250 laps and came to the post-race press conference wearing a sombrero. Runner-up Will Power immediately said, “We should really be in Mexico City, not NASCAR.”

O’Ward replied, “Pato who?”

The win overshadowed the championship battle between points leader Alex Palou and Power, who started the race with a 54-point deficit over the IndyCar title holder.

But Power finished second, cutting Palou’s lead to 43 points with two races remaining, both on ovals.

Conor Daly, who was out of the ride earlier this season but was hired last month to finish the year for Juncos Hollinger Racing, finished third in JHR’s first podium. It was Daly’s first podium of 2016 and he celebrated by pouring celebratory champagne all over his face.

“It feels amazing,” Daly said. “I’ve had a lot of bad luck and I think a lot of people have wondered if this is the guy to do it. They gave me the car to do it. I want to do well in the series. My goal is to be on the podium in this series and to it’s been too long since I’ve been on the podium, it’s nice to get another one.”

Chevrolet took the podium on IndyCar’s return to Milwaukee after an eight-year absence.

Santino Ferrucci, who was second late, relinquished the position to Power as his AJ Foyt Racing team has an alliance with the Power Penske group. Daly used the moment to slip his way and Ferrucci dropped to fourth.

Palou finished fifth and is still in control of the title race, which concludes after Sunday’s second race in Milwaukee and then next month with the finale at Nashville Superspeedway. Palou has never won an oval, while Power has 10 career wins on ovals, including one at Milwaukee.

Power has also competed in Nashville before, while Palou has not. Both drivers are looking for a third IndyCar title. For Palou, it would be his third in four years, while the Power won the 2022 title between Palou’s two campaigns.

Palou was blocked twice at stops by Power, who was in the stall in front of him. It forced Palou to get aggressive to get around Power’s car – and had to make an evasive maneuver when one of Power’s tire changers was awfully close to the edge of the pit as Palou spun around his rival of title.

He was actually fined for “hitting another team’s equipment” while walking away. Power insisted he didn’t play the pit stops and didn’t play clean Palou.

Next

IndyCar races Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile in the second part of a doubleheader weekend.

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AP Auto Racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing