Inside The Garage: Did Pato O’Ward Need A Statement Victory?

Here’s what’s happening this week Inside The Garage: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Lexington, Ohio) — Pato O’Ward didn’t seem to carry too much angst about not winning this year, playing his streak of non-podium finishes as something that was just part of racing. But it is hard to deny the perception of O’Ward at Arrow McLaren. He’s the driver who has been there the longest. He’s the one who is also a Formula 1 reserve driver for McLaren. He is a competitor who has come second in the Indianapolis 500 and second in the season point standings, and team decisions appear to be made to lift him to the top. So the fact that he had not won in 2026, and his teammate Christian Lundgaard (who, based on rumblings, might not be his teammate for much longer if his contract doesn’t get renewed) had already won twice this year couldn’t be ignored going into the 11th race of the season. “I knew my win was coming,” O’Ward said at his post-race news conference Sunday after celebrating in Victory Lane. “Whether it was going to be in the last couple races or in the middle, I don’t know. “But obviously I made it happen [at Mid-Ohio]. …. I don’t think it’s a reason to lose motivation, lose hunger. I know it was just a matter of time for things to kind of click, or at least not go against us.” O’Ward needed a statement win, and he got one Sunday. He used a Lundgaard mistake to make a beautiful side-by-side pass about halfway through the event and then controlled the race the rest of the way. “I don’t really get rattled,” O’Ward noted. “There’s been so much noise, people writing me off already. But the people that actually watch — and they actually know what they’re watching — they truly know what’s going on. And they really do see that a lot of the times, it can be something that’s out of your control. “Honestly, this year there’s been quite a bit of that. That’s the nature of this sport.” It’s also the nature of a fan base that demands wins. “It’s not going to be the last time, and it’s not going to be the first time,” O’Ward said about the podium slump, which lasted 14 races since his last win at Toronto last summer. “I’ve had plenty of years here where they’ve been up and down, up and down. “But the most important part was everybody was writing me off, ‘Oh, what a horrible year.’ I’m still fifth in the championship, and this is my first podium. Rack up two or three more, and I’m fighting for the championship.” The 29-year-old from Mexico now has 10 wins, and he sits fifth in the standings, 94 points behind four-time series champion Alex Palou. Palou believes O’Ward could be a factor. If he’s going to be a factor, he’ll have to perform well at Nashville in two weeks, where he appeared to have the field covered last year until a blown tire ended his race. “You can see how much a win gives you. And not only on points — motivation, and confidence as well,” Palou told me and other reporters after the race. “I’ve been there. Hopefully not [for O’Ward], hopefully that doesn’t happen, but yeah, I see that.” O’Ward thinks he can make a run at Palou. “Obviously, it’s doable,” O’Ward said. “I think at this point last year I was somewhere [around there. And if it’s not first in the championship, a repeat of a second would be great. It’s not the end of the world. We’re obviously still working hard. We’re still getting better.” As a driver who gets disappointed in the moment, he seems to enjoy the battle and enjoy the competition. And yet there is a feeling that maybe he was frustrated, that he saw Lundgaard win and he just didn’t seem to have things go right. “For me, obviously papaya is a second family, and they will remain to be,” O’Ward said about the famed color of the organization. “I always try and give the best I’ve got. “There’s not once where [team principal] Tony [Kanaan] has come to me and he’s like, ‘I need you to try harder’ because I know he knows exactly how much I expect from myself and how perfect I want to be. And that’s how I do everything — jobs, investments. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing. That is what you want to do.” As they say, you create your opportunities. But O’Ward has been very adamant that he is focused on what he is doing. And he is also focused on doing it his way. “I keep working hard,” O’Ward said. “I obviously enjoy my life outside of racing, as well, which is very important, and along with that, you’ve got to enjoy it with your guys. “You have to. You never know when it’s your last time, your last win together. You never know. It’s so important to do that because that’s truly why we do this. We do this to win and to compete. What makes it so much sweeter is actually the people that we get to share it with after making these strong relationships within the team.” Bowman’s Outlook Alex Bowman does not have a deal yet for 2027 to remain at Hendrick Motorsports. After a rough start to the year, including missing four races because of vertigo, he has had back-to-back top 10s. “I’m just trying to do my part to try to help HMS be the best it can be right now and obviously trying to get things turned back around on the 48 side of things,” Bowman said on a virtual news conference last week. “I don’t feel like I’m racing for my job or anything like that by any means. So yeah, really just kind of week to week focused on trying to get pointed back in the right direction.” Bowman would like to get his 2027 plans solidified soon. “We’ve had a lot of different conversations and kind of trying to figure out what the best thing to do is,” Bowman said. “So I would say [I’d like to know] sooner rather than later, “t hasn’t been like the first thing on my mind by any means. I have really just been working hard at trying to get things pointed in the right direction.” In The News — FOX Sports CEO Eric Shanks, speaking on The Varsity podcast, indicated that President Donald Trump would wave the green flag for the Freedom 250 INDYCAR race in Washington, D.C., next month. Shanks: “With the President there waving the green flag and how we’re going to celebrate America … is going to be something that people are going to talk about for generations. …It’s going to be an incredible two-day show.” — Road-racing veteran Colin Braun will drive the Kaulig Racing No. 25 Ram this weekend in the race at Lime Rock. — In a lawsuit for $8.4 million of a $10 million sponsorship deal that ECR filed against Todd Ault (whose companies include sponsors Bitnile, askROI, etc), an Indiana appeal court upheld the dismissal of the case against Ault, but allowed ECR to re-file to try to prove it has a claim. The case simplified: ECR put logos on 2024 Indianapolis 500 cars Ault and his company never signed the deal. Social Spotlight They Said It “[My crew chief] stays on me and makes me be perfect each and every lap and does a great job of keeping me honest. He told me if I win today, I can get some chocolate, so I’m pretty fired up about that. — Chase Briscoe after winning Sunday’s NASCAR race at Chicagoland.