Pato O’Ward won the 16th and 17th races of the 2026 IndyCar season on Sunday, but not in that order.
The twin 250-lap races at the Milwaukee Mile were scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, but Saturday’s Race 1 was postponed after 90 laps due to rain, with Pato O’Ward in the lead.
IndyCar originally planned to finish the race on Sunday morning, but the weather forecast was going to push the end too close to the 1 p.m. start time for Race 2, so it made the unusual decision to move its completion to a 6 p.m. start.
O’Ward took control of Race 2 when he moved to the lead on lap 196 and never looked back as Scott McLaughlin and Christian Lundgaard joined him on the podium.
Read Also: THE INDYCAR FREEDOM 250 GRAND PRIX BROKE A TV RECORD
Season points leader Alex Palou finished fifth, but his top rival Kyle Kirkwood was right behind him in sixth and scored enough points to prevent Palou from clinching the championship.
Back to Race 1, it came down to a restart with 24 laps to go. A dominant David Malukas took the green flag with O’Ward behind him, but blew the start and allowed O’Ward to pass him on the inside and drive away for his second win of the day. O’Ward was the first to do that since Rick Mears at Atlanta in 1981.
“I’ve dreamt of weekends like this before, you know, having the doubleheaders, just a couple of times in my career, wishing like I want to win both of them in a weekend, and we got to win both in a day,” O’Ward said. “That’s definitely a dream come true for myself, and I’m sure for the team.”
SEE IT: 2028 INDYCAR IR-28 HITS THE TRACK IN INDIANAPOLIS
Palou defended his healthy points lead by taking it easy late in the race and finishing 10th, which was enough to claim his fifth championship in the past six years, which puts him third on the all-time list behind Scott Dixon’s six and A.J. Foyt’s seven.
“So proud of this team. Today was a really bad race for us, like we were suffering all the time, but I was like, just keep focused, keep on going,” Palou said during his post-race interview. “Anyways, it was great, man, great to have another championship and, yeah, ready for the next one.”
The IndyCar season wraps up with the Mission Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca on Sep. 6.
CHECK OUT THE AMERICAN CARS AND RACING YOUTUBE CHANNEL
