O’Ward, Arrow McLaren Conquer Toronto
Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
By Dennis Krause
Over the years, the streets of Toronto have proven to be the most difficult track for Arrow McLaren in the NTT INDYCAR Series. Sunday, great strategy, fortuitous timing on a pit stop and a driver not willing to concede the series championship, delivered an unexpected but well earned win for Pato O’Ward and Arrow McLaren in the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.
“It's a big day,” said O’Ward. “It's a very big day. It feels pretty special in a place that has arguably been one of the biggest headaches every single year that we come here.
“It just feels good. It's a really good feeling that we didn't just nail the strategy and get lucky, but we also had to earn our win today. It wasn't given to us. We had the car to be able to do that.”
The win was O’Ward’s second of the season, coming just eight days after his win at Iowa Speedway. It was also the ninth of his career, third on a street course and first at Toronto.
“I love the sound of those statistics. Hats off to the boys and girls at Arrow McLaren, also Team Chevy.
“We keep making our Sundays so much harder than what they have to be,” commented O’Ward, who started tenth. “Qualifying has been not our friend. But Sundays have been. I feel like the gist of this year for at least the No. 5 side, it feels like it's always a recovery Sunday, always been a recovery Sunday. We keep fighting our way forward.
“Today it was a very similar post to what I had in Mid-Ohio. We got hosed in timing in the qualifying here. We've been struggling a bit on the alternate (tire), which sadly is the one you need to transfer (in qualifying).
“I knew I had such a strong car on the preferred tire for the race. I had a car that I could attack with. I had a car I could really put it where I needed to, at least just to get by people. We had to get really aggressive there sometimes. We had to get our elbows out a little bit if we want to keep this championship somewhat of a conversation.
“It's always good to feel that way, and that gives you that little extra edge to make these days come to fruition. They did a great strategy. I made sure that I was going to be the winning one.”
Photo by James Black/Penske Entertainment
According to team principal Tony Kanaan, the key to Sunday’s win was getting off the alternate tire early.
“I think it was when he came off of the green (alternate) tires. On that restart, just cleared the field. Then obviously a lot of people were wondering what was happening. I was getting texts. We knew we were in control.”
O’Ward agreed that was the moment he felt the pieces were falling together and he had a shot at winning.
“We had a great pit stop, the first pit stop. It was freaking awesome. The guys were great. We pushed hard in, we pushed hard out. We undercut everybody that was on the alternate. That was the first step.
“The second step, we could have just kind of maintained there and waited for the other guys to start peeling off. I didn't really want to do that. I started picking them off one by one.
“When we positioned ourselves, I think we were fifth in line with four cars in front of us, tried to make a bit more with the fuel. (Rinus) VeeKay was super strong. That's why I said that I need to be behind the lead car. It's a lot tougher if I was behind maybe Kyffin (Simpson), as well. I don't think I would have had the opportunity to overcut on VeeKay. It was just positioning myself to make it happen.
Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
Kanaan added that the team’s strategy could only go so far.
“I mean, strategy wouldn't go without a team to perform on the pit stop and a driver that can actually pass some cars. You saw how aggressive he was on that restart.
“For strategies to work, you cannot only depend on luck. We knew, we talk about a few strategies last night. This was one of them. But everything had to be well-executed.
“When he pulled it off, I was still holding my breath. I'm not a very good spectator, to be fair. 15 laps to go, I could not stop pacing around.
“But yeah, it work out pretty good.”
With the win, and championship leader Alex Palou’s uncharacteristically bad day strategy-wise, O’Ward narrowed the points gap to Palou to 99 from 129 to keep himself and the Arrow McLaren team in the title conversation. While the odds of catching Palou with four races remaining are long, Palou isn’t ready to concede anything.
“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.
“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. That's the only way we're even going to catch a whiff of making him sweat a little bit.”
Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
For Kanaan, there was particular satisfaction in conquering the streets of Toronto, a track that has bedeviled the team in the past.
“Yeah, I think my 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.
“I think 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. To me, that's what sometimes I have a hard time vocalizing because I've been into very successful organizations, part of trying to build a really good one.
“We use days like this to say, See, that's how we do it. More important than the win and everything else, I think it's what we're trying to build here, to be able to not have a car winning seven races, having us challenging that.”
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.