O’Ward wins Milwaukee 250 as Power closes in on Palou in title race

Mexican Pato O’Ward of McLaren won the first of the two IndyCar races at the Milwaukee Mile on Saturday but Will Power closed the gap on championship leader Alex Palou with just two races remaining.

Penske’s Power finished in second spot with Conor Daly of Juncos Hollinger Racing in third place while Spaniard Palou of Chip Ganassi finished fifth.

Power began the race 54 points behind Palou but cut that advantage to 43 points and will hope he can further erode that advantage in Sunday’s second race of the Milwaukee Mile double header.

But, depending on the outcome Palou could wrap up the championship title on Sunday if he finishes far enough ahead of the Australian.

“Alex is forever consistent, so it’s hard to drop that points gap, but we’re doing everything we need to at the moment. We’re executing,” said Power.

“(We have to) keep digging and try to make this the go to the end,” he said.

The final race of the season is the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville on September 15.

After a tricky race, Palou, who started 12th on the grid, was content with his fifth place and hoping for better in Sunday’s race.

“I think the beauty of this weekend is that you get to do it all again tomorrow. Hopefully we can improve a little bit the car. I think we learned quite a lot. Everybody did the same, but hopefully we can be a step above everybody,” he said.

It was the third win of the season for O’Ward, his career best return,

“It was getting a little gnarly there in the end, but glad I could bring it home for the boys. They were fantastic at pit stop. Strategy was amazing. We worked on the car really hard yesterday to really have something to fight with today. Team Chevy, they brought the power with us and super stoked for all the team,” he said.

Daly, who did not have a spot in the series earlier in the year, moved up 22 spots from his starting position to earn Juncos Hollinger their maiden podium and his first since 2016.

The American, who in July was brought in by the team, was delighted to have repaid the faith shown in him.

“We’ve had a lot of bad luck the first two times together and everyone, I think, was starting to ask was this the right choice? And thankfully, they gave me the car,” he said.

“My goal is to be on the podium in this series and it’s been far too long since I’ve been on the podium, so it’s nice to get another one. I just love racing in this series, and I’m just happy to be here,” he said.