IndyCar Preview: Milwaukee 250
- Dan Jones
- Aug 21
- 8 min read
A champion may be decided and the season may be coming to a close, but there's nothing better to soothe those end-of-season blues with some frenetic IndyCar short-track racing around the world's oldest operating speedway. There is nothing quite like the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin - which plays host to Round 16 of 17 in the 2025 IndyCar season.
What happened at Portland?
In Team Penske's worst season since the turn of the millennium, their only driver not contracted for next season was the one who finally put them in Victory Lane in 2025.
After 15 winless races for 'the Captain's' squad, Will Power finally broke Penske's deadlock after nailing the strategy before holding off late race challenges from Christian Lundgaard and Álex Palou. It was a statement victory for Power who remains without a seat for 2026, with the team still deliberating whether to pick Power or David Malukas to drive the No.12 car next season.
Lundgaard had claimed his first pole position in Arrow McLaren colours on Saturday, but Pato O'Ward was promoted to the pole after Lundgaard had to take an engine penalty. Heading into Portland, O'Ward remained Palou's only championship challenger with his starting position crucial into a potential turn of the tide.
However, a mechanical failure left O'Ward helpless in the early stages, as he went 10 laps down. That gave Palou an open goal into sealing his fourth IndyCar championship in five seasons which was completed with a third-place finish, continuing his 100% podium record on road courses this season.
It was finally the confirmation of Palou's championship that had felt inevitable even before the 'Month of May'. In a historic season, Palou has taken eight wins from 15 races including that of the Indianapolis 500. He became the first driver in over 20 years to seal the championship with multiple rounds left in the season and is still within a possibility of equalling the record amount of wins in a season if he wins at both Milwaukee and Nashville.
FOX Sports averaged viewership figures of 708,000 - their fifth consecutive race below 750,000.
You can read the full race report here, the DIVEBOMB IndyCar Podcast's race review here and my gradebook here.
With Palou's points lead unassailable we have our first answer into what the end-of-year standings will look like. However, there is still the potential for plenty of change within the top 10, particularly in the battle for third place. Top 10 are as follows: Palou - 626
O'Ward - 475
Dixon - 411
Lundgaard - 398
Kirkwood - 387
Power - 342
Rosenqvist - 337
Herta - 333
Armstrong - 331
Malukas - 287
All you need to know about Milwaukee
There truly is nothing more IndyCar than racing around a 149-year-old horse track on the outskirts of Milwaukee.
'The Mile' was built in 1876 with motorsports first featuring at the venue in 1903 with the circuit eventually being paved in 1954 whilst IndyCar's history goes back to 1937 as part of the AAA Championship with this weekend's race being the 116th IndyCar event.
The oval had been a staple on the schedule until 2015 as it was dropped for the following season. However, Milwaukee made a surprise return to the schedule last season as it hosted a double-header. 2025 sees it drop to a singular race as one of it's races was replaced by IndyCar's visit to the Thermal Club.
As is inferred by the name, the oval is a mile long - 1.015 (1.633 km) to be precise, with relatively flat banking of just nine degrees. Despite that, the circuit saw fantastic racing last season with traffic being the major challenge for those who will be looking to celebrate in Victory Lane on Sunday.
The flat nature of the circuit can produce an interesting dynamic as mentioned by Lundgaard when speaking to media earlier this week: "I would say it's probably the biggest outlier [of ovals in the 2025 schedule], in all honesty. I'd say most of them are very similar. The Mile is very flat. There's hardly any banking.
"For European drivers, it kind of tends to favour them more because it essentially is just a very high-speed corner, like from a road course? It feels a lot more familiar to the Europeans."
O'Ward and Scott McLaughlin are the defending winners at the circuit as they took a victory apiece last season. Both races were chaotic, featuring nine cautions in the two races including pile-ups at the start and clashes between drivers competing for victories.
With Power's future still up in the air, another victory this weekend would be a statement win as he looks to add his name again on the Milwaukee role of honour, trying to follow up in his 2014 success.
Scott Dixon is the other active winner at the circuit, victorious in 2009.
The circuit was subject to severe flooding just a few weeks ago, but the series have re-assured that the venue is in suitable condition for IndyCar competition - although it remains to be seen if it will have an effect on the racing product.
Sunday's race will take place of 250 laps with 10 sets of tyres available to the 27 drivers. The race also has a new title partner in Snap-On after Hy-Vee pulled their IndyCar funding at the end of last season.
In more sponsor news, Miller Lite will celebrate their 50th anniversary on Jacob Abel's car this weekend. Abel's car has also changed from the No.51 to the No.50 to celebrate the occasion.
Devlin DeFrancesco and Sting Ray Robb will also compete in their 50th IndyCar race at Milwaukee.
What to expect from Milwaukee
The championship fight may now be over but there's plenty on the line for many so expect racing to be frenetic at Milwaukee.
Marcus Armstrong was confirmed this week to return to Meyer Shank Racing next season - the first driver market news that has been announced for the 2026 season. With seats still expected to be open at AJ Foyt Racing, PREMA Racing, Dale Coyne Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Juncos Hollinger Racing, drivers have less and less time to prove why they should be in one of those seats next season.
There's also several drivers who have a point to prove for other reasons. Josef Newgarden has been the dominant force on ovals for several seasons but has not tasted victory in 2025 - and is on course for his worst season since his rookie year in 2012. Despite this, Newgarden has still been the strongest driver on ovals this season. A mechanical failure at the Indianapolis 500, a crash at Gateway and the most unfortunate of caution timings at Iowa have meant that Newgarden has not claimed that illusive victory thus far. The next two races pose a great chance to turn that around for the series' oval specialist.
McLaughlin also remains winless like his teammate and will desperately want to replicate his win of a year ago to avoid his first winless year since 2021. McLaughlin is regarded as a very strong oval driver - but has let himself down on ovals thus season through a multitude of poorly-timed crashes.
There's also many drivers who will be fancied for their first IndyCar victory this weekend. Conor Daly ran very well at both Gateway and Iowa earlier this season and also claimed a stunning podium last season at Milwaukee after an eight-year podium drought which also marked Juncos' first IndyCar podium.
The AJ Foyt duo of Malukas and Santino Ferrucci may also be outsiders. Malukas could well have found Victory Lane at both Gateway and Iowa if things didn't fall out of his grasp and needs a strong result to show to Roger Penske why he should be in Power's seat next season. Ferrucci on the other hand finished fourth in both races last season and is one of the most exciting drivers to watch on short ovals.
Christian Rasmussen has been electric on all four ovals this season and stands alongside O'Ward and Palou as the only drivers to finish in the top 10 in every oval race this season. Rasmussen has always been on the limit of aggression and was criticised for his involvement in his accident with Daly in Portland. However, Rasmussen is not afraid to make bold moves and make multiple lanes work and performed very well in his first non-Indy 500 oval race at Milwaukee last season.
Palou and O'Ward also have a battle to look out for. Although not a formally recognised award, O'Ward leads Palou by a singular point in the oval championship. It would be a monumental achievement for Palou to claim that award considering the time he took to develop to ovals once he had joined the series - and only claimed his first oval victory this season. O'Ward however has claimed the 'award' previously and is regarded as one of the finest oval racers in the series. He will be the slight favourite considering his oval history and run at Milwaukee last year.
The two also seem to have a lock on the top two positions in the championship, but the battle for third between Dixon, Lundgaard and Kyle Kirkwood is certainly on. Lundgaard in particular has struggled on ovals relative to his teammates and competition and will face an uphill challenge to beat Dixon over the course of two races, but the Danish driver remains confident:
"At the end of the day I think it's going to be mathematically easy to pass Scott Dixon. At the end of the day, if you finish fourth and fifth in every race, it's not going to be tough to make the difference if he's around us.
We need a little bit of luck. We need a good result. We need for him to have a worst result obviously. By us winning two races, obviously that's going to make life very easy for us from a standings standpoint. All we got to do is we got to learn, we got to be aggressive and we got to be consistent, be in the fight, in the hunt at the end of the race."
Portland also saw Honda seal the manufacturer's title over Chevrolet which has now means all but one of the official end-of-year awards have been decided. The Rookie of the Year battle remains hotly contested between Louis Foster and Robert Shwartzman. Abel remains in mathematical contention but would need a near-miracle to snatch the crown away. Foster currently has the edge on Shwartzman by two points and has the superior oval experience. However, Shwartzman has impressed greatly on the ovals this season and has claimed two top 10s in addition to his Indianapolis 500 pole. It is a fascinating storyline to follow throughout the Milwaukee and Nashville weekends.
The podium at Milwaukee also has the unique quirk of featuring a local delicacy - the cream puff. Look out for those who reach the rostrum to hit each other in the face with some cream - which always leads to some amusing images!
Timings
Practice: 10:00 CT (16:00 BST) Saturday
Qualifying: 13:05 CT (19:05 BST) Saturday
Group Session: 15:45 CT (21:45 BST) Saturday
Final Practice: 16:30 CT (22:30 BST) Saturday
Race: 13:20 CT (19:20 BST) Sunday
The championship fight may be done but that's no excuse to keep your eyes off the action in Milwaukee. With a first-time winner on the cards, drivers trying to seal their futures and those trying to resurrect their seasons - it is all gloves off! DIVEBOMB will bring you all the news and updates throughout the weekend as well as post-race analysis.
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