O’Ward pips Power as McLaughlin misses out in Milwaukee

The McLaren driver led 133 laps to head home Team Penske’s Will Power in the 250-lap race.

Power, who started fifth, benefitted from a well-timed caution in the midst of the pit stop sequence, which vaulted him into contention late in the piece.

Despite a late challenge on O’Ward, the Australian couldn’t quite pull off a pass to win and ultimately settled for second.

“Very difficult to pass,” said Power, who sits 43 points in arrears of IndyCar Series points leader Alex Palou with two races remaining.

“Not impossible, but the car was all over the place with the adjustments as you go through the run.

“Stoked to get on the podium with the Verizon Chevy. One more [position] is was we needed but Pato was super good and strong and he got through that traffic really well.

“Alex [Palou] is forever consistent so it’s hard to drop that points gap. We’re doing everything we need to at the moment. We’re executing good stops and strategy. We’ll keep digging and try make this a fight to the end.”

On the well-time yellow, Power said: “It was going to be interesting there. Either do a big undercut and make track position, which we lost in the first stint. Or you do what we did there and just hopefully catch a yellow. Oh my god… perfect timing, but I’ve had them on the wrong side so many times I’ll take it every time.”

From pole position, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin led the first stanza of the race despite coming up on traffic by lap 20.

A three-second lead quickly diminished as the first round of pit stops approached and Chip Ganassi Racing hard charger Linus Lundqvist shot to the lead with a pass on Lap 49.

Rookie Linus Lundqvist TO THE LEAD!

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— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) August 31, 2024

O’Ward was the first to pit on Lap 61 while McLaughlin went long and came in on Lap 66. Lundqvist lost the lead after a slow pit stop due to an issue with the right rear tyre change.

O’Ward shot to the lead with the undercut and Andretti Global’s Colton Herta was second after he pitted early, leaving McLaughlin third and Lundqvist fourth.

Herta took the lead on Lap 78 before the first caution flew on Lap 84 for the spinning Dale Coyne Racing car of Katherine Legge.

McLaughlin opted to stay out while Herta, O’Ward and those behind him pitted. That put the #3 slightly out of kilter with the leaders and ultimately hurt his chances.

Come Lap 114, O’Ward passed Herta for second and by Lap 119 had McLaughlin and led the race.

He stretched his advantage out to a 10-second lead leaving McLaughlin to fend off hard charger Santino Ferrucci of AJ Foyt Racing.

Having not pitted under yellow, McLaughlin was forced to pit earlier than the leaders and came to the lane on Lap 138.

After the pit stop sequence, O’Ward maintained his lead. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden executed a massive undercut and shot from outside the top 10 to second having pitted on Lap 131.

Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson made a similar jump to third leaving Palou fourth and Power fifth while McLaughlin dropped to sixth.

MARCUS ERICSSON AND JOSEF NEWGARDEN CRASH RIGHT IN FRONT OF ALEX PALOU!

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— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) August 31, 2024

It wasn’t long before the second caution flew when Newgarden and Ericsson collided at Turn 1 on Lap 147. That promoted Palou to second, Power to third, McLaughlin to fourth, and Ferrucci to fifth.

The final caution came out on Lap 185 amid the final pit stops when Herta lost his left front tyre, which wobbled its way onto the track.

🎵 You picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel. 🎵

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— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) August 31, 2024

After a lengthy yellow, O’Ward maintained his lead ahead of Ferrucci and Power. Lundqvist vaulted back to fourth ahead of quiet achievers Christian Lundgaard and Conor Daly.

The final stanza of the race saw O’Ward control proceedings. Power got close to challenging O’Ward for the lead in the final stanza as traffic baulked the McLaren driver, but the Team Penske pilot couldn’t make headway.

Daly came home third with a late charge for Juncos Hollinger Racing while Ferrucci was fourth and Palou tightened his grip on the IndyCar title with fifth.

Lundqvist was sixth, Alexander Rossi was seventh for McLaren, and McLaughlin wound up eighth. Lundgaard and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon rounded out the top 10.

The second leg of the Milwaukee Mile double-header takes place on Monday (AEST) at 4:30am.

Results: IndyCar Series, Hy-Veey Milwaukee Mile 250s Race 1