Written by Archie O’Reilly and Dan Jones
IndyCar’s doubleheader weekend at the Milwaukee Mile - a return to the schedule for the historic short oval after nine years of absence - delivered two classic races.
Pato O’Ward became the first non-Team Penske oval winner of the season for Arrow McLaren in the opening race, before Scott McLaughlin took Penske back to victory lane for the second. And it was a weekend of championship dramas, off-track contention, storied outcomes and vintage racing.
DIVEBOMB delves into some of the winners and losers…
Winner: Milwaukee Mile
The decision to return to the Milwaukee Mile has been wholly vindicated. Both races were a reminder of the splendour of IndyCar and its racing product and the value of ovals as, in the words of Scott McLaughlin, “the backbone” of the series.
It felt like a return to ‘Old Iowa’ - something IndyCar missed out on at Iowa Speedway this year amid a track repave and struggle to nail a package for the first hybrid-era oval race. But IndyCar and Firestone have seemingly learned from the shortcomings that led to Iowa being a processional affair and rectified the package - both for Gateway and Milwaukee.
Even without the fluctuations in points atop championship, the races were captivating frenzies of action. Milwaukee saw the return of tyre degradation through stints, which fed into a show of glorious chaos often seen at Iowa.
There were legitimate passes for the lead that have been few and far between since the introduction of weight via the hybrid system. And unlike at Iowa this year, lapped traffic was valuably a race-defining factor and drivers - whether for position or not - had to be creative to make and time passes across multiple open lanes.
It was a race weekend that brought out the very best in drivers and teams. In the words of Scott Dixon: “I love the challenge. Qualifying was a mess, practice [too]... it was full of highs and lows. That kind of sums up Milwaukee.”
Thank you, IndyCar. And long may Milwaukee remain.
Archie
Winner: Pato O’Ward
It was a statement victory from Pato O’Ward in Race One. I’ve gone into more depth about his saga with Mark Miles below, but O’Ward absolutely silenced any criticism that was coming his way over the weekend after his dominant performance at Milwaukee.
After O’Ward’s mechanical failure in Gateway, which would repeat in the second race at Milwaukee when the Mexican was running in the top five, his goal for the remainder of 2024 was clear. Win races.
It’s the first time in O’Ward’s career that he has won three times in a season, and the first time McLaren have done it since their switch from Schmidt-Pedersen Motorsports. It was an undeniable victory, in which O’Ward was supreme throughout, and only enhanced his reputation as one of the strongest oval drivers in the series.
All that with a car that seemed particularly difficult to drive in qualifying, O’Ward still wound it to seventh and sixth. It raised a question if McLaren are really a top team, or just the team that are fortunate enough to have O’Ward in their stable. Veteran teammate, Alexander Rossi has had two podiums in his stint at Arrow McLaren, O’Ward has had 12 in the same period.
It’s a victory that only reputed O’Ward’s popularity and reputation within IndyCar, and put quite the statement towards comments directed at him. Things like this are only going to help IndyCar host a race in his home country.
Dan
Winner: Scott McLaughlin
Now a two-time oval victor, Scott McLaughlin is very quickly becoming the complete IndyCar driver, only four years on from driving a single-seater car for the first time.
By taking pole for the opening Milwaukee race, along with a front row for the second, he has now won a pole position on each of IndyCar’s last five oval weekends - five of the last seven on offer on an oval. The last time he qualified lower than second on an oval was for the 2023 Indianapolis 500.
By his own admission, the first Milwaukee race - McLaughlin’s first on a flat oval - did not go to plan; he made too many mistakes and his car did not handle well in traffic. But after problem-solving overnight, he led 85 laps and commanded the second race.
He inherited the lead as Josef Newgarden was eliminated by a start-line crash before losing the lead to teammate Will Power on Lap 44. He reclaimed the point for the final 32 laps after a hard-fought duel with Andretti Global’s Colton Herta.
Third in the standings and only 50 points back from the lead, McLaughlin could have been in the thick of the championship battle without St. Petersburg disqualification, a Long Beach mechanical and being crashed out by Power in Toronto - all issues out of his control.
He has had an excellent 2024 season.
Archie
Winner: Conor Daly
Conor Daly was chosen by Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR) to replace Agustin Canapino with one objective: elevate the No.78 entry into the Leaders’ Circle.
The opening two races were unfortunate as Daly was innocently spun at both Gateway and Portland. Still, he finished 13th and 22nd to draw level on points with his former No.20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy on the Leaders’ Circle bubble.
It had not been the finest weekend for JHR leading up to the pair of Milwaukee races either. They were left searching in practice and Daly qualified lower-mid-pack. But, starting 25th due to an engine penalty, Daly provided an inspired Race One display.
Within two racing laps, he had made up 11 positions with bravery in holding the outside line and had overturned his engine penalty (and more). He was positioned opportunely when a caution then fell with around 50 laps remaining.
He restarted sixth before surging into the podium places. And while he may have got into the position to capitalise with some slight fortune, there was no luck in Daly building a 14-second buffer to Santino Ferrucci in fourth by the chequered flag.
It was a momentous moment for Daly, taking a second career podium on his 113th start - the first in eight years - and a first for JHR in IndyCar. It was fitting given Daly won Ricardo Juncos his first car racing championship in Star Mazda in 2010.
A mechanical issue in Race Two scarcely matters as Daly now has the No.78 entry a likely insurmountable 15 points inside the Leaders’ Circle heading into the finale after an initial five-point deficit pre-Portland.
Archie
Winner: Santino Ferrucci
It has been a sensational year for Santino Ferrucci, which, until this point, had gone quite under the radar. His Milwaukee performance certainly was not that, taking home a couple of fourth-place finishes, his best results anywhere in his career, outside the Indianapolis 500.
It could have been better for Ferrucci, he was checked up with Will Power in Race One which cost him a shot at a podium. But Ferrucci will be satisfied with the weekend he had. Once again, like Iowa and Gateway, his style of racing on restarts, similar to his haircut, was electric, not afraid to make daring moves on unfavoured lanes, which has become a trademark Ferrucci move over the course of the season.
Ferrucci has quite clearly defined himself as one of the best oval drivers in the field, his seven best career results to date are all on ovals. It’s a tenth top ten of the season for the American, the 11th for the team. The team had 11 top tens in total from 2020-2023. It’s the first time in the team’s history a driver has had that many top tens in a season.
It feels odd in many ways that Ferrucci’s future with the team is not confirmed, after the turnaround that he has provided them, but the way he’s driving right now is not doing him any harm.
Dan
Loser: Mark Miles
Mark Miles was the brunt of much criticism over the Milwaukee weekend, and maybe he was the one who brought it upon himself. After the announcement that the NASCAR Cup Series would head to Mexico City from 2025, there was the inevitable debate over IndyCar in Mexico City - an idea which has been toyed with for years with the popularity of Mexico’s own, Pato O’Ward.
Miles’ comments were choice. Stating that Mexico’s previous IndyCar star, Adrián Fernández, was more popular than O’Ward (who has more follower than IndyCar themselves on Instagram), before saying O’Ward was gaining traction and appearing on ‘some billboards.’
It caused quite the reaction amongst the paddock. The likes of Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi were quick to support O’Ward’s popularity, whilst O’Ward tweeted ‘Speaking of Billboards. Guess who is not on one,’ with a picture of a billboard outside the circuit promoting the NASCAR Truck Series, which happened the week before.
Miles was only placed in a more awkward situation after O’Ward’s victory, where the Mexican, Power and Conor Daly, joked about IndyCar in Mexico City, and comments of Pato, who?
It’s only further raised worries about the ability of IndyCar management not supporting their standout, most popular driver, with comments like these, and a lack of desire to grow and support the series. IndyCar’s growth is pedestrian, and maybe all this was reflected by Miles’ comments.
Dan
Loser: Will Power
If Will Power is not crowned the 2024 IndyCar Champion after the next round at Nashville Superspeedway, the second race at Milwaukee will be the one that is pinpointed where he lost the title.
And it’s a shame. Power was superb in Race One, maximising his day with a second-place finish, where he did not have the machinery behind him to challenge Pato O’Ward. And although it was a strong day for his title rival, Álex Palou, the gap continued to close at the top.
And when Palou wouldn’t fire on the pace laps, the opportunity was in Power’s hands. The swing, at points, had become three in Power’s favour. But his spin on the Lap 131 restart has made his championship chances go from possible to unlikely. An unnecessary wing change put the Australian a lap down, and ended his day in 10th.
On the face of it, Power did his goal, beat Palou in both races. However, when you unpick the details of it, it’s a huge opportunity missed for Power to take a huge step toward a third title. Yes, Nashville still has the ball in Power’s court, however, his chances of a championship now rely on where Palou finishes, and with his form over the last two seasons, that’s a difficult thing to bank on.
Dan
Loser: Rahal Letterman Lanigan
After an extremely rough 2023 oval campaign, things had looked to be on the up for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL).
The Indianapolis 500 did see Graham Rahal return for Last Chance Qualifying again but the three other entries automatically qualified, including Takuma Sato making the Fast 12. Barring early-crasher Pietro Fittipaldi, the team had race finishes of 13th, 14th and 15th.
A similar trajectory was emerging elsewhere too. Rahal picked up an eighth-place finish at Iowa - a weekend that could have seen a double-top-10 finish if not for a tyre failure - and was tracking similarly at Gateway before a mechanical issue.
But Milwaukee was a huge struggle.
Christian Lundgaard finished ninth and 12th, owing partially to attrition and well-timed cautions but impressive nonetheless. But the team’s overall performance was a cause for concern and a marker of regression back to 2023 form.
Fittipaldi’s two qualifying laps were slower than Indy NXT pole-sitter Louis Foster’s two-lap average speed as he placed last for both races. The RLL cars made up three of the slowest four qualifiers for the first race and the bottom three for the second.
Worryingly familiar to last year despite off-season work at improving, Rahal complained that his car was the worst he had driven on an oval as he finished 20th in the first race and was crashed out of the second. Fittipaldi came home 18th and 21st after a second-race mechanical issue.
Archie
Loser: Josef Newgarden
It’s been a season to forget for Josef Newgarden, and Milwaukee seemed like an opportunity to at least give a happy memory to round out the season, instead it became a complete nightmare.
Newgarden would take an engine penalty prior to the weekend, lining up in 11th for Race One. And as Newgarden has done throughout the course of his career, showed excellent pace to put him in contention for victory, before colliding with Marcus Ericsson which eliminated both drivers from Saturday’s running.
Sunday provided a redeeming chance for Newgarden, lining up on pole, before Linus Lundqvist and Marcus Armstrong failed to see the yellow, piling into the back of the re-liveried Penske, and giving him successive 27th place finishes.
The oval swing towards the end of this season seemed to have provided a real opportunity for Newgarden, potentially putting him as the pre-season favourite. A weekend many expected him to dominate, completely crumbled, through no fault of his own.
It sums up a large part of Newgarden’s season, with nine finishes outside of the top ten, certainly not the standards that he aspires to. A weekend with so much promise and expectation failed to live up to any expectations. It compounds a completely miserable season for Newgarden, who will be looking forward to the closure of the season at Nashville Superspeedway.
Dan
Loser: Marcus Armstrong
Things had looked so good for Marcus Armstrong. An oval rookie, the Chip Ganassi Racing sophomore had picked up two top-10 finishes in his first three completed oval races after a mechanical issue early in the Indianapolis 500. That looked set to continue at Milwaukee.
Armstrong - along with equally-impressive teammate Linus Lundqvist - out-qualified esteemed teammates Alex Palou and Scott Dixon for both races. He placed seventh for the first and, in only his fourth oval qualifying session, qualified third for the second race.
That was where things went downhill.
An engine penalty for the opening race meant Armstrong dropped nine places to start in 16th. And Ganassi got the strategy very wrong as he bidded to move forward.
They rolled the dice on an audacious two-stop strategy, which was extremely misjudged as a four-stop proved the preferred route. Armstrong was left to hold on in fuel-save mode with highly-degraded tyres as he was swallowed up by others on fresher rubber. The strategy was eventually abandoned and Armstrong finished three laps down in 21st.
The second race then lasted mere metres for third-place starting Armstrong. Confusion around a waved-off start left him collected at the line by teammate Lundqvist, ending his day before racing had commenced as he was sent crashing into pole-sitter Josef Newgarden.
Archie
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