Pato O’Ward wins an exciting race one of the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250

The NTT IndyCar Series made its return to the Milwaukee Mile on Saturday night for race one of the Milwaukee Mile 250. Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin started the race on the pole with teammate Josef Newgarden starting second. However, Newgarden was issued a nine-starting grid penalty moving David Malukas up to second and Newgarden started 11^th.

Scott McLaughlin led the opening 48 laps until he ran into traffic and his car started to lose speed because of the dirt air. This allowed Linus Lundqvist to catch up and pass him at the exit of Turn 2. Lundqvist led up to lap 67 when Pato O’Ward took the lead after pitting six laps earlier.

O’Ward led up to lap 77 when he was passed by Colton Herta on the inside of Turn 3. Five laps later, Katherine Legge spun at the backstretch which brought out the first caution of the race. Everyone made a pit stop and Scott McLaughlin was back in the lead on lap 87.

McLaughlin led up to lap 118 when got into dirty air and Pato O’Ward took the lead on lap 119. On lap 147, the second caution came out when Marcus Ericsson lost control of his car at Turn 2 and hit Josef Newgarden.

Pato O’Ward continued to lead until he made his last scheduled pit stop on lap 186 and Will Power was the new leader. A lap later, the third caution came out when Colton Herta’s car lost a wheel at Turn 2. On lap 195, Pato O’Ward would take the lead for the third time and led the last 55 laps to win his third race of the season by 1.8215 seconds over Will Power.

Conor Daly, who started 25th, finished in third place, while Santino Ferrucci finished fourth, and Alex Palou finished fifth. There were 667 passes, of which 326 were for positions.

Race 2 of the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 happens on Sunday at 2:30 pm on USA Network. Subscribe to Fubo to watch all of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season. Purchase tickets for all IndyCar races today on StubHub and Viagogo.

Finishing Order: