A chaotic weekend at the Milwaukee Mile provided a podium for Scott McLaughlin, a set of tricky races for Scott Dixon and Marcus Armstrong, a double victory for Pato O”Ward, and a fifth INDYCAR championship for Alex Palou.
Race 1
McLaughlin initially took pole, but had to start ninth due to a penalty. He fell down to thirteenth by lap six, and Armstrong was able to jump Dixon off the start.
Meanwhile, out front, Felix Rosenqvist had taken the lead, and held a six second gap over Josef Newgarden, and Pato O’Ward.
By lap thirty, McLaughlin had maintained thirteenth, while Armstrong and Dixon remained down the order. Drivers, including the Kiwi duo of McLaughlin and Armstrong, filtered into the lane on lap fifty-three, sending them towards the back of the pack.
On lap sixty-five, a yellow flag was brought out due to rainfall, and the race remained under yellow until lap ninety, where the reg flag was finally shown.
The race was eventually postponed to the next day, and resumed on lap 100. O’Ward swept into the lead, while McLaughlin sat in thirteen, Dixon in fourteenth, and Armstrong in nineteenth. Dixon was able to get ahead of McLaughlin, while Ericsson soon jumped the #3 Penske to move McLaughlin down to fifteenth.
Drivers started to split strategy on lap 120, which promoted Dixon to third, and Armstrong to seventh. McLaughlin exited the lane in nineteenth, with the aim to move forward and gain places as drivers made their own stops.
Newgarden suffered a dicey moment on lap 140 as Rinus Veekay made a move, which almost left the former champion against the wall.
By lap 150, McLaughlin remained the lead Kiwi in eleventh, ahead of Dixon in twelfth. The first full course caution came out on lap 152 for an incident involving Mick Schumacher, where he lost control and was lucky to avoid the wall.
The race resumed on lap 163 with David Malukas leading over O’Ward. Armstrong sat in fifth and was soon passed by his teammate. McLaughlin started to work his way around others on the high line, and soon sat on Armstrong’s tail in eighth.
Will Power emerged as a late contender for the win and looked to be in a comfortable position to challenge O’Ward and Malukas. With fifty to go, McLaughlin sat in fifth, with Armstrong in eighth, with Dixon in fourteenth.
Power soon found himself in the marbles and in the wall, forcing him into the pit lane with damage, which brought out a full course caution.
The race resumed with forty laps to go. McLaughlin sat in a provisional podium position and was soon challenged by Armstrong, who had found pace while utilising the high line. Dixon remained down in thirteenth, trailing Alexander Rossi.
Yet another full course yellow was brought out, this time for Caio Collett, who found himself in the wall after heavy contact with Newgarden.
With twenty-four laps to go, the race went green again. Both Armstrong and McLaughlin looked extremely competitive at this point, with McLaughlin holding third, ahead of Armstrong in fifth.
It looked like McLaughlin had done enough to hold onto third, but fell to fourth late in the race as Veekay made his move on the Kiwi while McLaughlin was lapping Dixon.
McLaughlin did not have enough time to catch back up to Veekay, leaving the Kiwi in a close fourth place after a very competitive race.
O’Ward was able to take advantage of engine spluttering for Malukas to take the win, while Palou sealed his fifth INDYCAR championship with one race remaining, becoming only the second INDYCAR driver in history to win four in a row.
Armstrong was able to come home ninth, with Dixon classified in eighteenth.
Race 2
Race 2 kicked off with Palou taking the lead, with McLaughlin in sixth, and Dixon and Armstrong floating just outside the top 10.
McLaughlin had fallen to eighth by lap thirty, with Dixon in twelfth, and Armstrong in thirteenth. Newgarden started to pressure Palou out front, with O’Ward close behind. Schumacher remained in a solid fourth, ahead of Louis Foster in fifth.
A full course caution was called due to a spinning Romain Grosjean, which called everyone bar Collett into the lane for a change. McLaughlin emerged in fourth place, with Armstrong in tenth, and Dixon in twelfth.
McLaughlin had moved into third by lap fifty, and sat as one of the highest movers in Race 2 so far. The Kiwi was soon jumped by Veekay, and now sat in a comfortable fourth.
McLaughlin soon started to battle with Kirkwood for sixth, and was told to let Kirkwood by so as not to hurt his podium chances. Armstrong started to lose sight of Power ahead, and Dixon started to pressure Armstrong behind.
Drivers started to head into the lane around lap ninety, with Palou still leading over Newgarden, Veekay, Christian Luundgard, and Foster.
With drivers starting to split strategy, Dixon and Armstrong sat in first and second by lap 127. Both had a comfortable gap behind, but were holding out for a caution to swing the race in their favour. However, no caution came, and both had to pit soon after – leaving Palou to take the lead yet again.
Newgaerden spun and hit the wall, bringing out another full-course caution, bringing most of the field to the lane – with McLaughlin electing to stay out.
The race resumed but was brought to a halt as Grosjean hit the wall, ending his day. Armstrong was lucky to avoid the Frenchman as he veered up the track, ending up firmly in the wall.
McLaughlin led the field to green on lap 169, with Dixon starting second. McLaughlin was able to hold onto the lead, but Dixon soon found himself falling down the order.
McLaughlin headed into the lane on lap 194, aiming to finish the race on this set of tyres. The Kiwi held onto second, and was in a battle between himself, O’Ward, and Lundgaard. However, the Kiwi was able to maintain his pace to bring home a second place – a well deserved podium after a hard season so far.
It was a trickier race for Dixon and Armstrong, with Dixon finishing fifteenth, with Armstrong right behind in sixteenth.
INDYCAR will now get ready for its season finale on September 6th, where all gloves will be off with the championship already tied up.
