O’Ward delivers INDYCARs first double win day since 1981

WEST ALLIS, Wisc. — Pato O’Ward delivers the NTT INDYCAR Series its first double win day since at the Milwaukee Mile since Rick Mears in 1981.

This is O’Ward’s second win in mere hours and his third win on the season. His career win total jumped from ten to twelve in nearly seven hours.

The Snap-On Makers and Fixers 250 started yesterday but persistent rain and not enough daylight postponed the event to this morning.

Then, a further weather delay shifted the final 160 laps to resume at 6:00 p.m. ET and at long last the race continued.

In the lead was the earlier and eventual winner Pato O’Ward. He and half of the field resumed on older tires than the back half of the pack which delivered an awkward strategy until the end.

For over half of the remaining circuits the mix of strategies played out. Then a caution for the distressed Will Power after he shot into the outside wall turned the race upside down.

O’Ward was in the middle of picking cars off in the net lead. But after the caution he found himself out of the lead. In his place was Team Penske’s David Malukas on ten lap older tires.

Malukas had a few car gap to O’Ward and set sail in what looked to be the Chicagoans first career INDYCAR win. Then Caio Collet collided with the wall which set a 24-lap sprint to the finish.

Malukas who had his struggles with restarts earlier today in the Snap-On Milwaukee Mile 250 was struck with another poor one.

Second-place O’Ward and third-place McLaughlin took their fellow Chevrolet driver three-wide into turn one. O’Ward snuck through while McLaughlin failed to advance which left Malukas washed up in second.

O’Ward paced the field and combined to lead a race-high 119 laps. From there, he spaced his lead out and made quick work of the lapped traffic to win his second race of the day.

The Top Ten

The aforementioned David Malukas earned his first podium finish since Nashville Superspeedway from second. His sixth podium of the season won’t be as celebrated as Rinus Veekay’s first.

The Dane completed a bold move on Scott McLaughlin out of turn four for his first podium with Juncos Hollinger Racing. In the process, JHR captured their first podium since Conor Daly here in 2024.

McLaughlin earned his podium earlier today but had to settle for fourth in the second race.

Christian Rasmussen followed his earlier top ten up with an even better top five from fifth.

Then his fellow Christian and earlier podium finisher Christian Lundgaard finished sixth. He started the day with an average finish of 14th on ovals and leaves Milwaukee with a much improved 10.83 on the year.

Josef Newgarden rebounded from his DNF in the earlier event to a top ten from seventh.

Eighth and ninth were occupied by a Marcus. Marcus Ericsson completed his double top ten day in eighth. Then, Marcus Armstrong finished in ninth.

Finally, the now five-time INDYCAR champion Alex Palou finished tenth. He completes his fifth championship in six seasons with one race to spare as he and his whole No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing team can celebrate properly at Laguna Seca next weekend.

Below are the full results of the Snap-On Makers and Fixers 250 from the Milwaukee Mile.

Full Results