How O'Ward achieved McLaren's first win of a big weekend

Pato O'Ward took his and McLaren's third win of the 2024 IndyCar season in race one of the Milwaukee double-header ahead of title contender Will Power, but a stealthy fifth place means Alex Palou has a shot at clinching his third championship in race two on Sunday.

IndyCar's first race at the iconic Milwaukee Mile since 2015 was shaped by high tyre degradation on the resurfaced track that meant huge gains from early pitstops and undercuts, but also stages where passing or even lapping slower cars proved a huge challenge.

O'Ward and McLaren mastered it all best in terms of both pitstop timing and sheer speed, while all kinds of madness happened in their wake.

MCLAREN'S KEY MOVE

The potential power of the undercut had been obvious in practice, and McLaren proved it was emphatically there on race evening with a very early first stop for its third driver Nolan Siegel - who immediately started unlapping himself from the leaders on fresh tyres.

Siegel had been too far back in the first stint for that strategy to make much difference to his position, but O'Ward was far better placed as he ran fifth in the first stint.

His pace on fresh tyres turned that into the race lead once all the other frontrunners pitted, with Andretti following McLaren's trend and getting its cars in early too and launching Colton Herta from fourth (which he'd leapt into from 10th on the first lap) to second.

Staying out slightly longer meant pre-stops leaders Linus Lundqvist (Ganassi) and Scott McLaughlin (Penske) fell to third and fourth. Polesitter McLaughlin had led the first 49 laps before getting caught up trying to lap Lundqvist's team-mate Kyffin Simpson - who made life rather easier for Lundqvist.

Palou had started only 12th, seven places behind Power, and they ran sixth and 14th at first. But Palou was one of the first to pit for stop one and Power one of the last - and that translated to Palou being 11th and Power 14th after the stops.

HERTA'S BRIEF MOMENT OF GLORY

Having come into the race 67 points behind Palou and third in the championship, a win could've given Herta a reasonable shot at taking the title fight to the wire. And he looked like he might pull that off when he passed O'Ward for the lead on lap 79 of 250 as they tried to lap Rinus VeeKay.

A yellow for a Katherine Legge spin four laps later prompted most to quickly bank another pitstop for fresh tyres. But Penske kept the slightly puzzled McLaughlin out, putting him at a 20-lap tyre life disadvantage to most of his rivals but giving him track position again.

Palou and Power both gained ground in those stops, emerging seventh and 10th - despite the first of two near-misses in the narrow pits in which Palou nearly hit Power's right-rear tyre changer.

Though McLaughlin initially held his own up front after the restart, O'Ward made sudden progress as the race neared half-distance, taking Herta for second on lap 114 then McLaughlin for the lead five laps later.

Crucially for the race's outcome, McLaughlin then held Herta off - the pair falling as much as 10 seconds behind O'Ward before the next pit sequence.

NEWGARDEN AND ERICSSON'S RISE AND FALL

McLaughlin's Penske team-mate Josef Newgarden triggered those stops by pitting first on lap 132. He'd been second in qualifying but was carrying an engine-change penalty, and was running only 15th when he came in.

Such was the power of the undercut, that became second place once all the stops were complete, with Andretti's Marcus Ericsson rising from eighth to third.

But the cushion O'Ward's big lead over McLaughlin and Herta had given him meant he could afford to be one of the very last to stop and still hold the lead over Newgarden and Ericsson, while McLaughlin and Herta's relatively late stops dropped them to sixth and 11th. Palou and Power pitted together in the middle of the pit sequence and gained more ground - up to fourth and fifth.

Podium contenders come together!@josefnewgarden and @Ericsson_Marcus are into the wall!

📺: #HyVee250s - Race 1 on Peacock pic.twitter.com/2kZEl0LY1T

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 31, 2024

O'Ward quickly re-established a seven-second lead over Newgarden and Ericsson, who then triggered the next yellow with 103 laps to go when Ericsson's attempt to pass for second turned into a spin that took both into the wall - and elevated Palou and Power to second and third.

HERTA CAUSES A CURVEBALL

It looked like the final pitstops wouldn't change much as, with everyone spooked by the power of the undercut earlier in the race, few chanced staying out long once McLaughlin (from fifth) began the stops with 65 laps to go.

But there was another twist as Herta prompted a yellow by shedding his left front wheel when released from his stop before it was properly fixed.

That caution came right in the middle of the field's stops and temporarily meant only Power, Conor Daly, Lundqvist, O'Ward, Christian Lundgaard and Santino Ferrucci were on the lead lap, with O'Ward and Ferrucci having completed their stops.

They duly moved back up to first and second, with Power taking the restart third and Palou seventh but at least back on the lead lap having been waved around the pace car so it could pick up O'Ward.

While O'Ward controlled the race from there and gave McLaren another IndyCar win a few hours after its Formula 1 team had filled the Italian Grand Prix front row, Power got past Ferrucci for second with 28 laps to go but could only get Palou's championship lead down to 43 points with two races remaining as his rival progressed to fifth by the finish.

Power starts race two on Sunday six places ahead of Palou in fourth, but needs to make sure Palou is no more than 53 points ahead at the end to keep the title fight alive to the Nashville finale in a fortnight.

Herta, McLaughlin and O'Ward retain very remote mathematical title shots for another 24 hours.

DALY'S FAIRYTALE

Though Ferrucci had driven another extremely combative race to come from 19th on the grid to victory contention for AJ Foyt's team, he couldn't hang onto a podium in the final stint.

That instead went to fellow underdog Daly, who took his first IndyCar podium since 2016 and the best result of his Juncos Hollinger team's time in the series so far.

He'd flown from 25th on the grid to 14th with a brilliant outside line move on lap one then struggled to make further progress until the handy late yellow/pit timing gave him chance to show the pace he and the Juncos car had when with the leaders.

We're not crying, you're crying 🥹#INDYCAR // @ConorDaly22 pic.twitter.com/UUifldDJGQ

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) September 1, 2024

Ferrucci lost fourth to Palou when Daly's team-mate Romain Grosjean (seven laps down after suspension repairs following a clash with Kyle Kirkwood and Christian Rasmussen) assertively unlapped himself but managed to repass the champion and get his top-four result back.

Lundqvist and McLauglin ended up sixth and eighth, sandwiching O'Ward's team-mate Alexander Rossi.