‘Championship Is Not Over’: Pato O’Ward Puts The Pressure On Alex Palou

TORONTO — Pato O’Ward had a comfortable lead over the final third of the race on the streets of Toronto, so he could have let his mind wander.

He could have taken just a moment — maybe a second — to wonder how much he could cut into Alex Palou’s championship lead on Sunday afternoon.

But he didn’t look to see where Palou was running. He didn’t ask.

That’s how far the gap was coming into the race, and when he heard he had cut Palou’s lead from 129 points to 99, O’Ward wasn’t going to let the big hill that he still must climb ruin an afternoon where he earned his second victory in the last three races. 

Palou, who has seven wins this year, finished 12th.

“It’s only, like, [down to] 99,” O’Ward said. “It’s a good chunk. His bad weekends are days like today. We need to make sure that we continue to have days like today. Not just one but a few. 

“I think we’re going to keep this conversation going until Nashville. That’s my goal.”

To keep the conversation running until the season finale at Nashville, O’Ward would need to be within 54 points of Palou. One of Palou’s best tracks comes next weekend at Laguna Seca Raceway. Then the final three races are at Portland International Raceway, The Milwaukee Mile and Nashville Superspeedway.

Palou won’t be able to clinch at Laguna Seca. He would have to be 108 points ahead of O’Ward after Portland to clinch and 54 points ahead of O’Ward after Milwaukee to seal his third consecutive title and fourth overall.

O’Ward is the only driver even remotely in the championship hunt. Kyle Kirkwood sits third in the standings at 173 points behind and Scott Dixon is 174 points behind.

“Obviously, we’re at a time in the championship where we’re going to have to get a little bit more into the conversation of getting our elbows out because that’s what I had to do today just to open the doors to having a chance to win this race,” O’Ward said.

“That’s the only way we’re even going to catch a whiff of making him sweat a little bit.”

Those elbows out included contact with Will Power. INDYCAR reviewed the move to see if O’Ward could have avoided it, as Power had slight contact with the barrier after knocking wheels with O’Ward.

Pato was cleared of any wrongdoing and INDYCAR ruled it a racing incident. He felt bad for Power but also said the driver who is on the outside of two-wide in that corner is risking contact.

“The problem is that it’s such a fine line that you’re battling with,” O’Ward said. “You don’t want to lose any positions.

“When you’re going through where you’re full opposite lock [of the way you’re turning], we basically hit square. When you hit tire to tire, both of our wheels got out of our hands. You had to, like, gather it back up.”

Power rallied back to finish 11th, one spot ahead of Palou.

Today, Palou was a victim of strategy. He started on the primary tires early and then needed to run on the alternate tires longer than other drivers. He led early but then was mired in traffic for the second half of the race.

“I chose the strategy,” Palou said. “There [with the strategy] is what we did wrong today. I was pushing for that strategy. I thought it was going to give us the best opportunity to win.

“The car was really fast. I wanted to be up front, trying to avoid being trapped in traffic. It happens. We knew it was going to be a risky strategy.”

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said if it weren’t for Palou, many would look at O’Ward as having a great season.

He also said he believes in miracles.

“Championship is not over,” Brown said on the FOX broadcast prior to the race. “A miracle might need to happen. But miracles can happen. That’s what makes the sport exciting.”

What the team must work on now is entering every race with full faith that they can pull off a win. Toronto, for example, typically hasn’t been one of the better tracks for O’Ward.

“I think the biggest challenge Pato and I have is to make everybody believe that no matter what, especially in INDYCAR, every time you take the green flag, that is an opportunity,” said team principal Tony Kanaan.

“We had a pretty good and intense meeting last night. I said, ‘We got to believe it.’ Days like this, it makes a big difference in our people. I think you give them an extra boost of confidence that we can do it, we can take the next step.”

That next step is more three-week stretches for O’Ward where he is battling for the win no matter the track.

“You need a car that you can attack with and that you can pass people,” O’Ward said. “I feel like you can’t just always rely on strategy. If we just relied on strategy today, I think maybe we would catch a whiff of a podium.

“But that’s not enough. You need something to be able to really fight your way forward … It feels really good to earn it today. It really does. Especially in a place that’s been a very tough weekend, basically every time we come here.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.