What started out as a rough beginning to the season has suddenly turned around for Pato O’Ward. The Mexican driver finished 12th and 15th in the first two races but scored a top-five finish in the last race at Long Beach. O’Ward kept the momentum going today, earning his first victory of the season at Barber Motorsports Park.
This is the third career win for O’Ward, who has been rumored to have recently agreed to terms on a contract extension with the Arrow McLaren SP team. With concerns over his future apparently settled, O’Ward has been able to fully focus on his driving, and it certainly paid off today with the win.
The pass for the win came on Lap 62 as the front runners had just made their final pit stops. Entering Turn 5, Rinus VeeKay continued to lead but O’Ward made a daring move on the outside and went around the Ed Carpenter Racing driver to take over the lead.
“It sucks to be at war within your own team. So I’m glad there’s been more positive talks for the future,” O’Ward said. “I wanted to do it for these guys, for Arrow McLaren SP, for Chevy. They’ve swept this year so far, so great for them. I was tired of being 10th and 11th and fifth and I said let’s get a win under our belts so we can climb back into this championship race. We were fighting for the win, and we got in the pits, that was my chance. I got on my push-to-pass button and got him in Turn 5. After that, it was a cruise to victory lane.”
After starting on pole, VeeKay dominated the first half of the race. The 21-year old led 57 of the 90 laps this afternoon and still managed a podium finish, but O’Ward wasn’t the only driver to get around him. Reigning series champion Alex Palou use a couple of massive in laps before his final pit stop to jump ahead of VeeKay as well. Palou won this race last year, and had a solid runner-up finish today, finishing just 0.980 of a second behind O’Ward.
Both drivers begin the month of May with positive momentum. O’Ward is back in…
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