WEST ALLIS, Wis. (Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024) – Pato O’Ward won the first race of the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s on Saturday, and Will Power tightened his NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship duel with Alex Palou with two races remaining this season.

O’Ward earned his third victory of the season in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, beating the No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet of Power to the finish by 1.8215 seconds. O’Ward’s seventh career victory came after three consecutive finishes of 15th or lower since late July, effectively removing him from the title race.

SEE: Race Results

“We had a really tough weekend last week in Portland, and this is a great way to bounce back,” O’Ward said. “We have another opportunity tomorrow. The car was fantastic. It was getting a little gnarly there at the end, but glad I could bring it home for the boys. They were fantastic on pit stops. Strategy was amazing.”

Live coverage of the second 250-lap doubleheader race on the 1.015-mile oval starts at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday on USA Network, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network. Palou will seal his third championship in four years if he wins and leads the most laps. Otherwise, the title race will go to the season-ending Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on Sunday, Sept. 15 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Conor Daly finished third Saturday in a stirring drive in the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, his best race since a career-best result of second in June 2016 at Detroit. Daly thrilled the crowd with 51 on-track passes, the most of any driver in a race this season, using every available racing line on the track.

Santino Ferrucci placed fourth in the No. 14 Phoenix Investors Chevrolet of A.J. Foyt Enterprises, with championship leader Alex Palou rounding out the top five in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Palou’s lead to second place Power, which was 54 points entering this race, was trimmed to 43 points.

The top five finishers in Saturday’s race each were from different teams, just the second time that has occurred this season. The other time came at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding in March, also won by O’Ward.

This was a race of varied pit strategies and plenty of action on the lead lap and in lapped traffic as the NTT INDYCAR SERIES returned to the historic oval for the first time since 2015. There were a season-high 667 on-track passes and 326 passes for position – the most on record at the Milwaukee Mile.

Various “undercut” and “overcut” ploys were tested by teams during early stops in hopes that perhaps either fresh Firestone Firehawk tires, racing in less traffic or an opportune caution could deliver a win.

Instead, O’Ward won on pace after starting sixth in the 27-car field. He took the lead for good under caution on Lap 195 when Power made his final pit stop. O’Ward’s last stop came on Lap 186, handing the lead to Power.

Two laps later, the last of three caution periods was triggered when the front left wheel dislodged from Colton Herta’s No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian when it wasn’t tightened during his pit stop on Lap 185.

Power and a group of three other leading cars had to make their last stop under that caution, and O’Ward cycled to the front, where he would stay. O’Ward led a race-high 133 laps.

After his final stop under that caution, Power cycled into third place behind O’Ward and Ferrucci. Power eventually passed Ferrucci for second, with Daly passing Ferrucci for third on Lap 224.

A thicket of lapped traffic slowed O’Ward, and Power pounced to within .3 of a second on Lap 236. But Power never was able to make a passing attempt for the lead, and O’Ward threaded a needle in 150-mph traffic to pull away from Power over the closing laps.

“It was getting wiggly,” O’Ward said of his car’s handling under pressure from Power. “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.”

Said Power, who won last Sunday at Portland International Raceway: “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.”

The metronomic Palou rebounded from the 12th starting position for his 13th top-five finish in 15 races this season. He was in trouble early, mired in mid-pack, and just missed a two-car accident on Lap 147 that eliminated Indianapolis 500 winners Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet and Marcus Ericsson in the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda of Andretti Global from the race.

But as he seemingly does with the consistency of sunrise and sunset, Palou found a way to drive into the top five despite falling a lap down in seventh when the final caution flew during his out lap after his final stop. Palou and a handful of other drivers got the wave-around during that final caution, returning him to the lead lap.

“A little bit unlucky with that yellow,” Palou said. “We were a bit aggressive to try and get the lead. Not the luckiest of days, but a top five. The car was amazing.

“Looking forward to tomorrow. I’m happy that we got a good solid day. Hopefully we can be a step above everybody tomorrow.”