Pato O’Ward held off Will Power by 1.8215 seconds on Saturday in the first race of the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s in West Allis, Wis.
O’Ward earned his third victory of the season and seventh of his career to rebound from a recent slump. The driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet had finished no better than 15th in his previous three races, all but eliminating his title hopes.
O’Ward, who led a race-high 133 laps, said he was having trouble handling his car as Power came on strong at the end of the race.
“It was getting wiggly,” said O’Ward, who started sixth in the 27-car field. “It was reminding me a little bit of like qualifying, just getting a bit on the nose (loose handling). The car was changing a lot from the start of the race to the end of the race.”
Despite coming up short, Power inched closer to IndyCar standings leader Alex Palou, whose 54-point cushion was trimmed to 43 with two races remaining.
Power, who won last Sunday at Portland International Raceway, was also having issues with his No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet toward the end of the race.
“The car was all over the place with adjustments as you go through the run. I’m stoked to get on the podium. One more (place) was what we needed, but Pato was super good and strong, and he got through that traffic really well. Alex was super consistent, so it’s hard to drop that points gap, but we’re doing everything we need to at the moment. We’ll keep digging.”
Conor Daly finished third, Santino Ferrucci settled for fourth and Palou, who began the race 12th, rounded out the top five.
It was Palou’s 13th top-five finish in 15 races this season and he can capture his third title in four years if he wins and leads the most laps in the second 250-lap doubleheader race on Sunday.
–Field Level Media