Less than one week on from the Freedom 250 held in Washington D.C., IndyCar was already racing once again as the series visited a fan favourite venue – the Milwaukee Mile. With mixed weather conditions playing havoc, a Championship on the line and scores to settle up and down the grid, the famed oval sure gave everyone a lot to talk about last weekend.
Here are The Paddock Chronicle’s Key Takeaways from Milwaukee.
The Inevitability of Álex Palou
While he may not have won a race since Portland and is currently on his longest streak of races without a win or a podium since 2022 (four races here Vs four races then), Palou didn’t need to do anything drastic to win his fifth IndyCar title in Milwaukee. Qualifying on Pole and finishing in fifth place for the second race, it was after the first race (that happened both both and after) that Palou became Champion, driving sensibly to a P10 finish.
With Kyle Kirkwood forced to fight back all weekend after a crash in practice, the title was Palou’s barring any major calamities. While Lundgaard, O’Ward and Malukas all had strong weekends too, it was all too little too late to stop Palou from achieving the inevitable. He has now won four titles back to back with Will Power as the only driver able to beat him in the last six years.
Laguna Seca is the setting for the season finale where Palou has an average finishing position of 1.5. Will the Spaniard end his season in style with one more victory? Or can anyone beat him and give us a tiny glimmer of hope for 2027?
(Not) Racing in the Rain in Milwaukee
Earlier this season in Nashville, IndyCar was forced to postpone its race from Sunday to Monday due to the weather conditions making it too dangerous to race around the oval. Fast forward to this weekend and the weather was once again casting a dramatic shadow across the weekend.
Wet weather caused a delay for the first of the two races set to start on Saturday. The race then got going with the series hoping to get halfway through at least to fulfil the necessary championship requirements. However, rain came early and after a long red flag period, the remainder of the race was postponed until Sunday morning trackside. However, things got messier from there. More inclement weather on Sunday morning then forced IndyCar to do something rather bizarre. The second race of the weekend would go ahead at its original time with the remainder of the first race to be completed a few hours afterwards.
What this meant for teams and drivers if any of them were involved in incidents was unclear and to make matters worse for fans circuit side and around the world, the communication around all this was not as clear as it could have been and left many scratching their heads. For a Championship that just had a record making and breaking weekend in Washington, the handling of events in Milwaukee left a lot to be desired.
O’Ward Returns to the Top in Milwaukee
While never really in Championship contention all season, Pato O’Ward has shown flashes of why many rate him so highly as an IndyCar driver. Outshone by Lundgaard for much of the season, the Mexican driver began to turn that around when he won for the first time in Mid-Ohio. That level of performance was again on display in Milwaukee. Having shown immense qualifying pace (Pole Position for Race I and P2 for Race II), O’Ward then translated that initially in the latter of those races.
Despite slipping down the order early on, strategic moves and neat pit stops from his crew enabled O’Ward to jump back into the mix later on in the race. He jumped into the lead ahead of the likes of McLaughlin, Palou and Lundgaard and proceeded to win his second race of the season. He did so under unique circumstances. Because of how the weekend unfolded, O’Ward won Race II while simultaneously leading Race I – which he then went on to win later the same day too, making it a clean sweep for the Arrow McLaren driver.
Rick Mears was the last driver to win two races in a single day in IndyCar. This happened back in 1981 in Atlanta so O’Ward is in rare territory here. His double win also puts him ahead of Malukas in the standings now and firmly in the mix for P2 in the Championship. O’Ward is back.
Veekay Shines in Milwaukee
Juncos Hollinger Racing tend to fare well in Milwaukee with Conor Daly grabbing a podium for them at the venue in 2024. This time out, Veekay did what he’s been doing all season long – demonstrating why he’s one of the best drivers on the IndyCar grid. Two top ten finishes came his way this weekend, taking his total for the season up to eight. One of those included his first podium for Juncos Hollinger and his first since Toronto last year.
Leading around Milwaukee at points across the weekend, the Dutch driver looked to be on another level here and continues to impress, leaving everyone aching to see him in a title fight in 2027.
Lundgaard’s Statement Drive
One of the reasons that Arrow McLaren decided to drop Championship contender Christian Lundgaard from their team for 2027 was because of his performance on ovals. Admittedly, they’ve not been his strongest circuit type. But that changed in Milwaukee – a venue he’s driven well at in the past with only one result outside of the top ten in his time racing here. Sixth place in Race I was followed up/preceded by a third place finish in Race II, keeping teammate O’Ward honest throughout and putting the notion of racecraft on ovals to bed.
With one race left with Arrow McLaren before his departure, Lundgaard could still clinch P2 overall in the Championship, denying O’Ward in the process. For a driver that is being dropped because of a lack of performance, that would be one heck of a mic drop.
A Mixed Bag for Everyone Else
The Good
Scott McLaughlin bounced back in Milwaukee after a heart breaking crash in Washington D.C when fighting for the lead. P4 and P2 were just what the Team Penske driver needed in what was a strong weekend for the team with five out of their six results all in the top seven.
It was a quietly good weekend for Ericsson too who, despite being pretty anonymous throughout, had two top ten finishes in Milwaukee. Less quite was Christian Rasmussen who again delivered at the scene of his first IndyCar victory one year ago. P5 and P8 for the Dane was just what the doctor ordered after a string of bad results.
Mick Schumacher continued on his string of consistent and decent results after an excellent qualifying saw him start in P4 for Race II. Contact with Hauger didn’t help the German but he still came away with a P12 and P13 finish, putting his results on a firm upwards trend from the start of the year.
Marcus Armstrong returned to the top ten for the first time since St. Louis with a P9 result in Race I. Foster returned to the top ten too with a P10 finish in Race II – his first time back since Detroit.
The Bad
Ferrucci, Grosjean, Robb, Collett, Hauger and Rahal all had weekends to forget that were also rather indicative of their seasons. If you looked at performance alone, these drivers would all surely be in danger of being axed from their respective teams (probably not Rahal though) ahead of 2027.
The Unfortunate
It was an unfortunate weekend for Will Power in Milwaukee. With a race winning car underneath him, the bad luck that plagued him at the start of the year caught back up with him. A drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane denied him the win in Race II while a close battle with Lundgaard and Siegel in Race I resulted with the Aussie driving into the wall and out of the race.
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IndyCar returns for its season finale in Laguna Seca on September 6th.