In what is a very unique situation, IndyCar started and finished its second race of the Milwaukee Mile double-header weekend while the first race was still paused in red flag conditions.
Drivers lined up according to their Race 2 qualifying positions, and completed 250 laps on the historic oval in central Wisconsin.
Alex Palou held the lead from the opening lap, but was passed a couple times by drivers that were able to manage their tire wear better than he was.
READ MORE: IndyCar Milwaukee 2 – Full Race Results
Palou was able to get back to the front through snappy pit stops from this Chip Ganassi Racing crew, but it was not a dominant run that he is known to pull off with regularity.
Instead, it was Pato O’Ward that took victory in the 250-lap event. The popular driver spent a good portion of the first half of the race in the midfield, but moved forward when it mattered most.
O’Ward also overcame a slow pit stop early in the event, in which he attempted to drive away without a right rear tire attached.
Those troubles seemed not to matter, however, as he comfortably held the top position while the laps counted down.
The victory is the second of the year for O’Ward, and ensures he remains inside the top five in the points standings.
Crossing the line second was Scott McLaughlin in the #3 Team Penske Chevy. He led 28 laps and looked to have the pace to take victory himself, but ran out of time.
Christian Lundgaard rounded out the podium, and also overcame a small pit stop problem to cross the line third.
His slow stop was caused by a bizarre situation where the wheel nut from one tire changer rolled over in front of another, and caused the second crew member to think he had dropped his own wheel nut.
All worked out, and he helped Chevy to lock out the podium with his result.
Moving forward
A few drivers made up a large number of positions during their races, moving forward considerably more than expected.
David Malukas started in 14th, but crossed the line in fourth position.
Dwarfing that achievement, however, was Kyle Kirkwood. The Florida-native started in 24th after suffering from an ill-handling car in qualifying.
His crew made appropriate corrections, however, and he wasted no time climbing to the front. Kirkwood ended the day in sixth and kept his championship hopes alive for one more race.
The man his is chasing, Alex Palou, slipped back a bit from where he started and finished the day in fifth.
He increased his championship lead slightly, but cannot yet lay claim to his fifth IndyCar championship.
Palou has another chance to clinch the title later this afternoon, when the second portion of the other double-header race is set to continue.
On the other end up the spectrum, Will Power slipped down the order due to a speeding penalty on pit lane.
Instead of continuing his run in the top five, the veteran instead had to settle for 14th.
He was just behind rookie Mick Schumacher, who started in fourth and ended up in 13th at the end of the afternoon.
Wrecks for a few
The first caution of the race came out when Romain Grosjean spun coming out of Turn 2 on old tires.
He kept his car off the wall, however, and was able to continue with no assistance. The yellow flag allowed the full field to pit with no lost time.
Grosjean drifted further back throughout the day, and then spun on a restart later in the race. His #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda hit the wall hard, and his crew will have a lot of repairs to complete.
The second caution of the day was for Josef Newgarden. The two-time champion had been doing really well, and overtook Palou for the lead at one point early in the race.
He was running inside the top five, and just spun on his own. The nose of his #2 Team Penske Chevy touched the wall in the incident, and he was forced to climb from the car.
Newgarden has had a couple unforced errors on ovals this season, including during the Indianapolis 500 when he injured his foot in the resulting crash.
It is a tale of ups and downs this season it seems, as he ended the day in the 25th and final position.
A couple other drivers finished off the lead lap, but that was due to pace and pit strategy and not because of damaging crashes.
The unique weekend continues in just a couple hours’ time, when drivers are scheduled to return to the track and continue the remainder of the first race that was started on Saturday.
There are 90 laps complete in that event, with 160 left to go for full distance. O’Ward currently leads that event as well, and will look to take two victories in one day.
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