Pato O’Ward took the lead, thanks to pit lane misfortune, but a win is a win.
The driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet inherited the lead when IndyCar handed Will Power a drive-through penalty for speeding on pit entry on Lap 193. After he struggled a few laps, he put Power a lap down with 16 laps to go and drove his car to victory in the Snap-On Milwaukee Mile 250.
“Today we fought really hard for that one,” O’Ward said. “We were forwards, then backwards, then forwards. Good thing we stayed there.
“Yeah, just fighting hard, determined. I think that was a great showing of just the hunger that we have to turn these ovals around this year. That was second-to-last opportunity. A little bit finish off the last one.”
It’s his 11th career victory in 123 NTT INDYCAR SERIES starts, second of the 2026 season and second at the Milwaukee Mile.
Scott McLaughlin, right on the edge of tire life, gambled on a four-stop plan, after his teammate Josef Newgarden hit the wall on Lap 142, and hoped he could hold off challengers as long as he could with clean air.
“Once I got hold of some dirty air, that’s when the guys with the fresh tires were slightly better,” McLaughlin said. “I thought we held on really well. Our car came into its own in that stint. Excited to see what we have at the next run.”
After the last cycle of stops, he remained second and had a shot at O’Ward for the race lead with 19 laps to go, and came within a quarter of a second of the lead. Whether he waited too long to press the attack, O’Ward cleared Power with 16 to go and pulled away. McLaughlin brought his No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet to a runner-up finish.
“We made a lot of changes overnight,” he said. I was wrecking loose to start. Nearly spun at turn three. First lap is going to be a hell of an on-board. Look forward to watching that. Outside of that, the car was a lot better as the race went on, which is good, which bodes well for race one tonight.
“Yeah, just a bit frustrated. I think Pato as well, with lap traffic. Yeah, guys three laps down or something like that, racing to the death. I think at the same time what goes around comes around. We got plenty of memories. Going to be fun next time I get a lap down.”
Christian Lundgaard overcame two bad pit stops to round out the podium.
“Yeah, I mean, I felt pretty good yesterday,” Lundgaard said. “I knew race two was going to be just fine. I think we probably have one of the fastest cars out there. We put it to use today, which was nice.
“Just to echo what Scott said a second ago, the traffic is miserable out there. I don’t know if it’s the wind direction compared to last year that makes it so tough. Obviously we saw the outside in three and four last year work excellent. This year it doesn’t really seem to work as well.
“Yeah, you’re just trying to find clean air out there.”
David Malukas and pole sitter Alex Palou rounded out the top-five.
Kyle Kirkwood, Rinus VeeKay, defending race winner Christian Rasmussen, Marcus Ericsson and Louis Foster, the last driver on the lead lap, rounded out the top-10.
Pato O’Ward benefits from pit misfortune to win Race 2 at Milwaukee
Race summary
Palou led the field to green at 1:11 p.m. ET. Much like in Race 1, Saturday, the field settled into a green flag rhythm. Early movers included Romain Grosjean, who started 20th and made up 10 spots in the first five laps. Palou caught the tail-end of the field by Lap 18. Meanwhile, his championship rival, Kirkwood, worked his way from last to 16th on Lap 23. Dealing with lap traffic shrank Palou’s lead from almost four seconds to under two seconds, by Lap 26. By Lap 28, Newgarden closed to within a second of him. He pulled to Palou’s outside in Turns 1 and 2, but couldn’t complete the pass. This battle allowed O’Ward in third to close into within a second of Palou. Newgarden got a run down the backstretch to pass Palou for the lead on Lap 34. Caution flew on Lap 36, when Gorsjean got loose and spun out in Turn 2. Everybody, except Caio Collet (who was a lap down) pitted under the caution. Palou exited pit lane with the race lead.
Back to green on Lap 47, Palou didn’t pull away from the field like he did on the first stint. By Lap 56, however, he opened the gap. While all that happened, Kirkwood used all of the inch there was to pass Louis Foster for seventh and touched McLaughlin exiting Turn 2 on Lap 54. Palou caught the back-end of the field, again, on Lap 64. This time, however, he cleared lap traffic with ease and extended the gap to Newgarden by almost three seconds. He pulled out to over four seconds, when VeeKay passed Newgarden for second in Turn 2 on Lap 78. Palou, however, struggled to lap Nolan Siegel and VeeKay erased the gap to half a second. Newgarden kicked off a cycle of green flag stops on Lap 84. Palou pitted from the lead on Lap 89. He cycled out ahead of Newgarden, but only by half a second.
VeeKay pulled to Newgarden’s inside in Turn 3, drag-raced him down the frontstretch and overtook him into Turn 1 for second on Lap 94. VeeKay powered by Palou on the outside into Turn 1 to take over the race lead on Lap 100. Meanwhile, Kirkwood passed Lundgaard for fourth in Turn 2 and Newgarden for third in Turn 3 on Lap 108. VeeKay also struggled to pass lap traffic. Which let Palou reel him in and pass him into Turn 1 to retake the lead on Lap 125. While this happened, Newgarden kicked off a cycle of green flag stops on Lap 123. Palou pitted from the lead on Lap 126. Once again, he cycled out of pit lane with the race lead. Power was within a second, but Siegel held him up.
By Lap 132, Palou pulled out to a 3.4 second lead. Caution flew on Lap 142, when Newgarden got loose, spun and hit the wall in Turn 4. McLaughlin, along with Scott Dixon, stayed out under the caution to take the race lead. Palou pitted from the lead, and exited pit lane behind Power.
Back to green on Lap 158, and caution flew immediately when Grosjean got loose and rear-ended the wall in Turn 4.
Back to green on Lap 169, Power immediately took second from Dixon into Turn 1. He pulled inside of McLaughlin coming to the line on Lap 175 and passed him into Turn 1 for the lead. Kirkwood kicked off a cycle of green flag stops on Lap 191. Power pitted from the lead on Lap 193. IndyCar handed him a drive-through penalty for speeding. Santino Ferrucci pitted from the lead on Lap 196 and O’Ward cycled to the lead.
With 38 laps to go, O’Ward struggled with lap traffic. Which allowed McLaughlin to reel him in. After three laps, he put Ferrucci a lap down and pulled away from McLaughlin. With 22 to go, he struggled to put Power down a lap and lost all his advantage to McLaughlin. With 20 to go, he led by only a quarter of a second. McLaughlin backed off for two laps, before he pressed the attack again. O’Ward finally cleared Power with 16 to go and McLaughlin cleared him with 15 to go. With 13 to go, the gap was just a second. With 11 to go, O’Ward stretched it to 2.2 seconds.
Pato O’Ward benefits from pit misfortune to win Race 2 at Milwaukee
What else happened
O’Ward’s crew struggled to secure the right-rear tire under the first caution, and he exited pit lane in 14th.
“I kept getting stuck after that first pit stop,” he said. “I was like, ‘Shit!’ I just waited a little bit. Whenever the other sequences started, the yellows started coming out, restarts. I was like don’t forget about your two old pals in between your legs, let’s get this show on the road, yeah.”
Pato O’Ward benefits from pit misfortune to win Race 2 at Milwaukee
Nuts and bolts
The race lasted one hour, 57 minutes and 50 seconds, at an average speed of 129.204 mph. There were 10 lead changes among eight different drivers and three cautions for 37 laps.
Palou leaves with a 97-point lead over Kirkwood.
The NTT INDYCAR Series returns to action, today, at 6 p.m. ET, to resume the Snap-On Makers and Fixers 250.
