How Milwaukee weekend gives O'Ward future championship aspirations despite "challenging" 2026 season
- Dan Jones
- 2 hours ago
- 8 min read
There was nothing extraordinary in the Friday morning media bullpen session prior to IndyCar's double-header Milwaukee weekend.
In fact, it was complete business as usual. Pato O'Ward was his jubilant self, answering questions about his favourite Dolly Parton song, moments after having a chuckle with Álex Palou as to what Scott Dixon will be like as a teammate for 2027.
There was therefore nothing headline-grabbing about him saying: "we've got two [races] this weekend, I wanna win them both".
O'Ward is a racing driver, there's no disputing that he would like to win, But for him, it wasn't a throwaway comment, it was a true statement of intent.
"I came into this weekend like 'I have a good car, I can win, I can win both of them'. It's just phenomenal that we got that on tape," O'Ward smiles. "Boy backing up with the facts, you know. Backing it up."
"Yeah, I mean, I told you. I told you in the video," he exuberantly makes clear. "I showed Álex. Wait until I do my dump later. It's going to be a good one. On Instagram, not in the toilet," he adds, in case anybody needed clarity.
Although it was not in the fashion that he may have intended, O'Ward was correct to back himself, becoming the first driver to sweep a double-header weekend since Josef Newgarden took home both Iowa victories in 2023.
It was more than just that for O'Ward though. It has been a season that has puzzled both him and McLaren in several ways, most notably on ovals. Two fourth-place finishes, a seventh and an 11th gave for miserable oval results prior to Milwaukee, considering O'Ward has taken at least three oval podiums in each of his last five seasons and is often amongst the discussions as one of the best oval drivers in the series.
But Milwaukee proved different for O'Ward. The Mexican was on the pace from the off, qualifying within the top four for both races and earning himself a first-place start for Race 1 after others ahead of him were penalised for engine penalties. That form continued into the race, where O'Ward comfortably led the opening exchanges of the race before the red flag was waved whilst he was leading.
With Race 1 unable to be ran on Saturday evening due to conditions and further rain eliminating the possibility of restarting on Sunday, O'Ward's Race 1 momentum had to temporarily be paused, but it did little to stop the Mexican's blistering pace.
Despite not competing for the lead in the opening phases and being pegged back with a slow pitstop which dropped him to the mid-pack, it never felt as if O'Ward was fully out of the picture. He made methodical progress in the final two stints, showing incredible bravery on the Lap 168 restart to vault him back into contention before a perfectly-executed final pitstop window put him in the driving seat to claim a second victory of 2026.
Unless you're Palou, wins can come few and far between for almost all of the field given the competitiveness of the series and each win should be rightly celebrated. For O'Ward, that was different. Despite just winning a race, he had the unusual distinction of leading in another, with another race to prepare for as a golden opportunity lay in front of him to win two races in a single day.
Although it may have taken the misfortune of others, O'Ward seized the opportunity that presented itself, completing a historic Sunday sweep as he became the first driver to win two races in a single day since Rick Mears won a couple in Atlanta back in 1981.
"We were determined today," O'Ward reflected after his second win of the day. "We were determined to keep ourselves in the fight, keep ourselves in the opportunity of anything that came our way that we could take advantage of. I'm super proud of everybody.
"For Arrow McLaren, like I said, it's been such a challenging year at the ovals for me. This closes it out exactly how I had it in my mind coming into the weekend."
Although O'Ward is correct in saying that it has been a challenging year on ovals, there is also no shying away that it has not been smooth-sailing year on all track types. Even after his Milwaukee victories, his three podiums this year is a season-low tally with his time at Arrow McLaren. Albeit, that is made slightly sweeter given that all three of those podiums had him standing on the top step, a feat described by O'Ward as "pretty crazy".
It was made more ironic by the fact that exact statistic was on O'Ward's mind as he lined up behind David Malukas on the Lap 226 restart.
"Before the last yellow, I was like, 'the two podiums I've had have both been wins. It would suck for the third one to be a second'. Racing gods heard me."
It has been very much a confusing year for O'Ward and McLaren, who have entered weekends unable to replicate incredible pace that they had showed at tracks 12 months ago. Despite inconsistency seemingly being the only constant, O'Ward has matched his career-best top fives in a season with 10, whilst also having six finishes outside the top 10.
It makes it a different year to comprehend, with a lack of silverware disappointing but not one that has necessarily been bad from a points perspective.
"For us, it's just the bad days are really bad," O'Ward reflects of his year. "My great days have been fantastic. My good days have been, good, solid top fives. But my bad days have really sucked.
"I'm one hungry competitor. I love to go out there and compete and to challenge. It really is a bad day whenever we're not able to do that. I feel like this year there's been more of those than not."
There are no surprises therefore that the weekend changes the complexion of O'Ward's entire season. He had previously sat in fifth in the championship ever since the 'Month of May', somewhat unable to match the form showed by Palou, Malukas, Lundgaard and Kyle Kirkwood week-in, week-out, with a rather inevitable feeling that is where O'Ward could end up at season's end.
Suddenly, he lies just four points off second in the championship, with a very realistic chance of finishing as the championship runner-up for the second consecutive season.
"Expect the unexpected. The whole year just been waiting, waiting, waiting. It just never kind of came to us and just kept slipping here and there.
"Coming into this weekend knowing there were 100 points on the table, having a good car here was crucial to having a shot at second in the championship I love that opportunity. I'd love to end it like that and kind of just pick it back up because, like I said, the rest of the year I felt a little bit of a lost puppy really."
There's no denying that O'Ward's weekend was historical, and the jubilation in Victory Lane was beaming from him ear-to-ear as he celebrated his monumental accomplishment.
But it was overshadowed by more history taking place alongside him, as Palou donut-ed moments after O'Ward, celebrating a fourth consecutive series championship and a fifth in sixth years, moving him exclusively to third in the all-time championships pecking order behind the generational greats of Dixon and A.J. Foyt.
O'Ward has on occasion been Palou's closest challenger throughout the Spaniard's success, most notably losing out in the 2021 season finale as both hunted for a maiden championship. O'Ward and Palou had led what had been aptly nicknamed "the youth movement" that year, as the 22-year-old O'Ward and 24-year-old Palou, alongside the likes of Rinus VeeKay and Colton Herta, took the fight to long-time veterans such as Dixon, Josef Newgarden and Will Power across the 16 races.
A last-race collision dropped O'Ward to third in points as he watched his closest rival celebrate a championship. It had nevertheless been a mighty impressive year for O'Ward and it felt like destiny that him and Palou would become the dominant forces for years to come with both having the potential to become multi-time champions.
Palou has more than fulfilled on that promise that was shown five years ago, but for O'Ward, he has had to watch Palou take a further four championships, all whilst being unable to be in title contention in the closing rounds of each season.
But there is no doubting that on days like his day in the sun at Milwaukee, O'Ward and McLaren are certainly able to take the fight to Palou, the next challenge being on how they sustain it over the course of 17 races.
"If I keep doing that every race, for sure he's got no chance. I'll tell him, 'enjoy looking at my rear wing.' But right now I've been looking at his," O'Ward remarks.
"I think the biggest opportunity is going to be the new car [which debuts in 2028]. But that doesn't mean we're going to stop pushing this current package. They're going to keep pushing as well. Every step they take, every step we take, we keep pushing the boundaries. I feel like we're always a little bit of a step behind because it has taken a little bit to get up there.
"They deliver and they execute. He doesn't have the best car everywhere. The guy [Palou] also does some pretty magical things in it. He's obviously human. He will make mistakes just like we all do. But the amount of times that he does make mistakes, he could always back it up with a win. Those are truly the times that give you the faults of having an issue. Going into a weekend, we can back it up with a win, we'll kind of rebalance ourselves into this championship."
That process of McLaren aiming to win a championship and an Indianapolis 500 in the short-term takes a monumental shift next season, with the impending arrival of defending Indy 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist and six-time champion Dixon, who Palou attributes as a basis for a lot of his own success.
It creates one of the most star-studded driver line-ups in recent IndyCar history, with the team having four Indianapolis 500 winners actively involved in operations, with the consideration of Team Principal Tony Kanaan and Sporting Director Ryan Hunter-Reay.
And there's no doubting that there has been a fair amount of risk involved in that decision, with Kanaan opting to drop the high-flying Lundgaard, who has proved himself to be the only driver capable of matching O'Ward since the Mexican joined McLaren in 2020. It also comes off the back of what has now been McLaren's most successful season in IndyCar since they re-joined the series in 2020, with their five victories usurping the three achieved in 2024.
"There's been plenty of switches and changes in my Arrow McLaren career," O'Ward adds on the matter. "I think these guys [Dixon and Rosenqvist] are going to embed perfectly. They're professional. Their knowledge is going to be an up-leveling to our program.
"They're also good guys, good guys in and out of the track. That's important for the chemistry. That's important to build an atmosphere and a quality team that ultimately is going to raise everyone's game."
How successful McLaren will be in raising their game remains to be seen until the green flag flies on the Streets of St. Petersburg in 2027 and it will indisputably be a mammoth task to topple Palou over the course of a season. But for O'Ward and McLaren, it is weekends like at Milwaukee that give them hope, hope that the ultimate success will soon come their way.
"He's raised that bar, [Palou] and Ganassi. That No.10 car has been unbelievable. Must be nice.
"One day we'll get there. One deal we'll be there. It will be soon."
Comments