Mid-Ohio Indy 200 Race Results: O'Ward victorious amid Newgarden penalty woes

Pato O'Ward notched his second win of 2024 in the first venture of IndyCar's hybrid era at Mid-Ohio.

It was his first on-track win of the season; his victory at St. Petersburg came after Team Penske's post-race disqualification.

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O'Ward started behind championship leader Alex Palou, but it was another contender, six-time champion Scott Dixon, who headlined the race start with a mechanical problem consigning him to a first lap retirement.

It took until lap 56 of 80 for the lead to change hands, and it did so after a small delay during Palou's pitstop allowed O'Ward to sweep into first position.

AHUEVOOOO!!!! W!!!! Feels so good, awesome work @ArrowMcLaren pic.twitter.com/M43xMQgxoN

— Pato O'Ward (@PatricioOWard) July 7, 2024

Josef Newgarden took a high-speed detour through the grass at turn 11 soon after, and when pitting for new tires, he was over the speed limit which led to a drive-through penalty.

Oddly, Newgarden also broke the speed limit serving that punishment, and was hit with further penalization.

The Indy 500 winner eventually came home a lap down in 25th, and blamed a software issue for his problems in the Team Penske car.

Palou, meanwhile was snapping at the heels of O'Ward. Rarely more than second adrift, hounding his Chip Ganassi Racing car around every inch of the circuit.

O'Ward remained calm, though, and was faultless in the closing laps and power-slid around the final corner to clinch victory by mere car lengths to move up to third in the standings.

“This feels like the first win of the season,” the Mexican said post-race. “I know St. Pete we were P2 and ultimately ended up getting the win because Penske cheated, and yeah, the 500 was two corners short.

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REPOST TO CONGRATULATE PATO O'WARD FOR WINNING AT MID-OHIO! #INDYCAR

What a battle between the Arrow McLaren driver and Alex Palou. pic.twitter.com/2CxpyLVwX8

— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) July 7, 2024

“But we really pushed it [today]. I was pushing so hard. Watching Palou kind of trying to run away with it in the first stint, I said ‘no way, no way’.

“All my No. 5 guys, they've been working so hard. It just feels like we've had heartbreak after heartbreak after heartbreak and we've obviously had a tough battle trying to figure out this new tire this year.

“Yeah, it feels so good to give this to them. I know they're as happy as I am today, and we earned it. No one gave it to us. We had to earn it,” O'Ward added.

Palou's P2 ensured he extended his championship lead to 48 points over 11th-placed finisher Will Power.

Power will look to bounce back at the next IndyCar outing at the Iowa Speedway on July 13.

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