O'Ward: Milwaukee race win "what I've been searching for"

Credit: Joe Skibinski

Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward took his second race win of the year in Race 2 in IndyCar's trip to the Milwaukee Mile.

It's been a chaotic weekend so far as Race 1 was delayed on Saturday afternoon due to rain at the track in Milwaukee. When the race finally got underway, only 90 laps were completed before more rain brought out the Red Flag, forcing racing to wait until Sunday.

Race 1 was set to be complete on Sunday morning, but further showers meant that Race 2 would be completed at its scheduled time, with the completion of Race 1 following later that evening. These circumstances created a unique situation for O'Ward, who won Race 2 from second place on the grid while sitting in the lead of Race 1.

"First time I win a race and I'm leading another one at the same time. That's a new one," O'Ward told the media after the completion of Race 2.

O'Ward had qualified fourth for Race 1 but made his way up to the front by the time the Red Flag was brought out. He then started second behind championship leader Álex Palou for Race 2, but after battling with Palou, Will Power, Arrow McLaren teammate Christian Lundgaard and more, O'Ward came out on top in Sunday afternoon's race to take his first oval race win of the year.

O'Ward has won at the Milwuakee mile before, and was specifically searching for the magic that brought him his first win at the track in 2024 heading into this weekend.

"I mean, it's quite different to a lot of the other ovals that we go to," he said after the race. "It was one that just sat very comfortably with me as soon as I came to test here in 2024. That was my first race here, that we also won.

"I don't know what about it really. It's been a place... I mean, I wouldn't say every race I've done here has been phenomenal because last year I was kind of just... I just know what I needed this weekend, coming into this weekend, in order to put myself in a position to at least feel like I'm back in 2024 here.

"That's what I've been searching for. Definitely on the edge, for those of you that were watching. But it's a show, right?"

Credit: Amber Pietz

Despite having now five oval race wins to his name and being known for his strong performances on oval tracks, O'Ward has self-admittedly struggled this season. His previous best finish on an oval track in 2026 was fourth place, scored at both Phoenix Raceway and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Preparing for this weekend after struggling on oval tracks this year, O'Ward knew that brute force was his best option for getting a good result.

"Hunger," he said when asked about what went into his performance this weekend. "Kind of not taking no for an answer. Putting all our cards on the table really. Even for me, like, to close out this season, there really isn't much on my mind. If we try this, is it going to put us in a bad position? It's like if you don't try it, you probably will just accept defeat at this point.

"Yeah, I'm open to just finding something because obviously all year it's been a big struggle. I've never struggled in an oval. I've always been really strong. Going into an oval weekend for me, even when we have double weekends, it was like we can win both of them. If we don't win both of them it's because one of them went a little bit unlucky, maybe get on the podium or something.

"They were always weekends that I had kind of in my pocket as like a savior for my championship to keep on racking up the points. This year it's been the absolute opposite a lot of places, sadly.

"Yeah, we've turned it around - at least for race two, while still not finishing race one. But we're leading the other one. I'm confident we're going to make this car better so we can be a little bit more comfortable to not get my engineer and Tony [Kanaan] over here some more gray hairs."

Momentum into 2027

Since O'Ward's struggled in 2026 have been no secret, closing out this season with a win will be a huge relief for the Mexican driver as he looks forward to his future. But for O'Ward, building on one year after another isn't always the reality of his situation.

"If we compare what last year was versus this year, it definitely doesn't look like we built off of it," he commented. "Every year's different. Every year we change the tire. What we learned from a previous event usually doesn't translate. Aka, one of them was actually here. So glad we had the test to actually find what this year's tire was going to do.

"So yeah, you just got to treat every year like it's a new one. Obviously the experience of the races under your belt is what ultimately allows you to make maybe wiser decisions. Yeah, just because I did well here previous year doesn't mean it's going to be good the next. Also vice versa. You might have done very badly, doesn't mean you're going to do bad again."

But before heading into 2027, O'Ward will have to complete two more races, one of them coming up shortly as he aims to win the second (or first, depending on how you look at it) race at the Milwuakee Mile this weekend. The race resumes at `18:00 ET Sunday evening.