Yahoo Autos Win in Race No. 1 at the Milwaukee Mile Adds to the Headlines for O’Ward
Pato O’Ward dominated Saturday’s news at the Milwaukee Mile, so it seemed appropriate that he also control the headlines after the race.
O’Ward led 133 of the 250 laps to win Saturday’s IndyCar Series 250-lap race, the first half of a weekend doubleheader. The second race is scheduled at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday.
O’Ward, who will start seventh Sunday, rolled home almost two seconds in front of second-place Will Power, who made up a bit of ground in his pursuit of point leader Alex Palou. Only two races remain on the schedule, however, and Palo has a 43-point lead. If Palou leaves the track Sunday with a lead of 55 or more points, he’ll lock up the championship with the Sept. 15 season finale at Nashville Superspeedway to go.
A surprising third Saturday as IndyCar returned to the Mile for the first time since 2015 was Conor Daly, who charged from a 25th starting spot to climb into the top 15 in the early laps. The podium finish was his first in eight years.
Santino Ferrucci was fourth, and Palou, on the brink of another championship, took fifth.
The win was O’Ward’s third of the season.
O’Ward, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, was in the middle of a round of controversy at Milwaukee as he voiced disagreements with IndyCar officials about the series’ failure to schedule a race in Mexico City. NASCAR announced this week a 2025 Cup Series race at Autodrome Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, while O’Ward told reporters he had worked overtime with IndyCar officials in pursuit of an IndyCar race there.
Newgarden, Ericsson park after crash
The one-mile oval’s turn 2 was the site of a lap-147 crash that forced Josef Newgarden and Marcus Ericsson from the race.
Newgarden and Ericsson were racing for second when their cars met side-to-side in the turn, the resulting spins putting both cars in the wall and out of competition.
The crash also was a big moment for point leader Alex Palou, who quickly turned low on the track to avoid the mess. He went on to finish fifth.
McLaughlin fades to eighth
Pole winner Scott McLaughlin led the first 48 laps of the race and appeared well on his way to a podium run.
McLaughlin also led 32 laps in the middle part of the race, totaling 80—second only to winner Pato O’Ward—for the day, but he dropped to eighth in the finish order.
The Results
Results Saturday of the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s Race 1 NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 1.015-mile Milwaukee Mile, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (6) Pato O'Ward, Chevrolet, 250, Running
2. (5) Will Power, Chevrolet, 250, Running
3. (25) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 250, Running
4. (19) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 250, Running
5. (12) Alex Palou, Honda, 250, Running
6. (4) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 250, Running
7. (3) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 250, Running
8. (1) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 250, Running
9. (26) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 250, Running
10. (17) Scott Dixon, Honda, 250, Running
11. (23) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 250, Running
12. (15) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 250, Running
13. (8) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 250, Running
14. (13) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 249, Running
15. (2) David Malukas, Honda, 249, Running
16. (14) Jack Harvey, Honda, 249, Running
17. (24) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 249, Running
18. (27) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 248, Running
19. (18) Katherine Legge, Honda, 248, Running
20. (21) Graham Rahal, Honda, 248, Running
21. (16) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 247, Running
22. (10) Colton Herta, Honda, 246, Running
23. (20) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 244, Running
24. (9) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 243, Running
25. (22) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 238, Running
26. (11) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 146, Contact
27. (7) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 146, Contact
Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 123.758 mph
Time of race: 2:03:01.3451
Margin of victory: 1.8215 seconds
Cautions: 3 for 38 laps
Lead changes: 7 among 5 drivers
Lap Leaders:
McLaughlin, Scott 1 - 48
Lundqvist, Linus 49 - 67
O'Ward, Pato 68 - 77
Herta, Colton 78 - 86
McLaughlin, Scott 87 - 118
O'Ward, Pato 119 - 185
Power, Will 186 - 194
O'Ward, Pato 195 - 250
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings: Palou 514, Power 471, Herta 426, McLaughlin 422, O’Ward 413, Dixon 403, Kirkwood 360, Newgarden 358, Rossi 321, Ferrucci 306, Lundgaard 283, Rosenqvist 282, Armstrong 267, Ericsson 262, VeeKay 256, Lundqvist 245, Rahal 237, Grosjean 224, Fittipaldi 168, Robb 163, Simpson 157, Siegel 137, Rasmussen 133, Malukas 117, Harvey 110, Agustin Canapino 109, Theo Pourchaire 91, Daly 86, Tom Blomqvist 46, Ed Carpenter 45, Toby Sowery 45, Legge 40, Callum Ilott 39, Luca Ghiotto 27, Helio Castroneves 26, Kyle Larson 21, Takuma Sato 19, Tristan Vautier 12, Juri Vips 11, Colin Braun 10, Ryan Hunter-Reay 6, Hunter McElrea 6, Marco Andretti 5
