IndyCar Milwaukee 2: McLaughlin wins

The second race of the IndyCar series double-header on the old, venerable Milwaukee Mile was a chaos that could hardly be surpassed, not least of all in terms of the title fight. After the 250 laps of Sunday's race on the one-mile oval, Scott McLaughlin (Penske-Chevrolet) celebrated his third win of the season.

PHOTOS: IndyCar in Milwaukee (Sunday)

On the other hand, Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda), who started as leader of the championship, his closest rival Will Power (Penske-Chevrolet) and his teammate Josef Newgarden, who was eliminated from the title fight after a crash in race 1 on Saturday evening, experienced an extremely dramatic race.

RESULT: Race 2 in Milwaukee

Leader of the table Alex Palou with a defect before the start!

In contrast to the Saturday race, there was not a single grid penalty for the Sunday race. Josef Newgarden (Penske-Chevrolet) had secured pole position. Penske team-mate Scott McLaughlin, the pole-setter on Saturday, started the second race of the weekend from second place on the grid and thus once again from the front row.

Championship leader Alex Palou, for whom Sunday was the first match point to win the 2024 title, should have started the race from P10. But during the warm-up laps, the yellow/red Ganassi Honda with starting number 10 stopped in the pit lane! There was a technical defect in the electrical system and thus the first of a total of several scenes with far-reaching consequences in the title fight.

Palou's crew pushed the car backwards into the pits, while the Spaniard initially remained in the cockpit. In the pits, they managed to restart the engine for a short time.

But because the race had already officially started with the yellow flag, Palou found himself several laps behind. A little later, he got out to have the car repaired behind the pits. But that didn't mean he was out of the race yet.

Pole setter Josef Newgarden is wiped out at the start!

On the track, second in the standings Will Power started the race from P4. But when the green flag came out to allow the race to resume after five laps under yellow, the first crash occurred. And it involved none other than pole setter Josef Newgarden.

The green light was not given for the start. But not everyone noticed. In the second row, Marcus Armstrong (Ganassi-Honda) was pushed by his Ganassi teammate Linus Lundqvist, who was starting from the third row, whereupon Armstrong's car spun out of control into that of Newgarden, the driver in front.

Newgarden, who had already crashed out of Saturday's race, was stranded on the pit wall with his damaged Penske car and was out before the race had really started. Armstrong also had to call it a day. Meanwhile, McLaren driver Patricio O'Ward, who had won on Saturday evening, was very lucky not to be swept away as well.

Palou starts the race with a quick 30 laps deficit

The start was actually given the go-ahead on the second attempt. The one who set the pace was Scott McLaughlin. Penske teammate Will Power, who could hardly believe his luck in light of the Palou defect, was second. And Linus Lundqvist, who had so unluckily spun his Ganassi teammate Marcus Armstrong into Josef Newgarden, was third.

Meanwhile, behind the pits, Alex Palou, who had temporarily dropped out, climbed back into his #10 Ganassi Honda. The leader of the standings started the race 28 laps behind. He hoped to at least make up a few positions by covering more distance than Newgarden and Armstrong, who had crashed at the start.

This hope – and more – was to come true. When his car finally started running after a battery change, Palou not only overtook the crashed Newgarden and Armstrong in the “long-distance duel”.

Nolan Siegel (McLaren-Chevrolet), Patricio O'Ward (McLaren-Chevrolet), David Malukas (Shank-Honda), Pietro Fittipaldi (Rahal-Honda), who all retired from the race due to defects, as well as Graham Rahal (Rahal-Honda), Linus Lundqvist (Ganassi-Honda) and Sting Ray Robb (Foyt-Chevrolet) all left Palou behind.

Will Power takes the lead and virtual top of the table

After leading Scott McLaughlin for almost 40 laps, he put Will Power under enormous pressure and wanted to take the lead in the race. The first attempt didn't work. The second attempt, Power found a way past. Unbelievable: At this early point in the race, Will Power was actually no longer Alex Palou, the virtual leader of the table!

The first two pit stops were made under green. Power defended the lead against McLaughlin in both cases. The third pit stop was made under yellow on lap 118 because Sting Ray Robb had spun on the back straight. And during this third stop, McLaughlin's #3 Penske crew was faster than Power's #12 Penske crew. This allowed McLaughlin to overtake Power.

Two others, however, did not use this yellow phase to make a pit stop: Alexander Rossi (McLaren-Chevrolet) and Scott Dixon (Ganassi-Honda). The restart therefore took place with Rossi ahead of Dixon, McLaughlin and Power. There was a lot of confusion in the field, however, because numerous lapped drivers were in the middle of the leading group.

Will Power spins at the restart!

And so it happened that there was another crash on the lap after the restart. This autumn it was Graham Rahal who crashed into the wall after contact with Christian Rasmussen (Carpenter-Chevrolet).

Next, another scene with significant consequences for the title fight: When the race was about to restart, Will Power, of all people, lost control of his Penske Chevrolet while accelerating. The result was a spin with slight contact with the wall.

Apart from a bent front wing, there was no damage, but Power still had to come into the pits several times to have his tires and front wing changed. This left him a few laps behind. With the man who had been the virtual leader of the championship until a few laps earlier now temporarily in the pits, the action continued outside on the track.

Alexander Rossi led ahead of Scott Dixon. In third place, Scott McLaughlin was the first on the “real” strategy in the race. Behind him there was an exciting three-way battle between Santino Ferrucci (Foyt-Chevrolet) and Andretti teammates Colton Herta and Marcus Ericsson.

Exciting duel between McLaughlin and Herta for the lead

The next pit stops were then again made under green. And the last of five routine pit stops was also made without a yellow phase. However, it was not to be the last pit stop. The last 50 laps were led by Colton Herta (Andretti-Honda), who had only started from P18 and had made one pit stop less. The closest pursuer was Penske driver Scott McLaughlin, who had started from P2.

With 35 laps to go – McLaughlin was behind but had slightly fresher tires – the two were engaged in a thrilling duel for the lead. McLaughlin managed to overtake Herta on the inside, but the Andretti driver countered on the outside. It was a matter of centimeters!

In the second attempt, McLaughlin managed to overtake Herta and stay ahead of him. But with 22 laps to go, there was a final yellow phase. The reason was a crash by Sting Ray Robb. So it was time to pit one last time.

McLaughlin was dispatched the quickest. He kept the lead. However, it was not Herta who came out of the pit lane in second place, but McLaren driver Alexander Rossi, because he only had his tires changed and did not refuel.

The final restart with only eleven laps left to go was given the green light with Scott McLaughlin in the lead. Behind him, Ganassi driver Scott Dixon immediately stormed past Alexander Rossi into second position. And Colton Herta also immediately left the McLaren driver behind. A few laps later, Rossi was also overtaken by Santino Ferrucci.

After late yellow phase: McLaughlin wins ahead of Dixon

The two New Zealanders Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon ultimately decided the winner. The Penske driver beat the Ganassi driver by less than half a second. Andretti driver Colton Herta came third from 18th place on the grid. Santino Ferrucci and Marcus Ericsson complete the top 5.

In the end, Alexander Rossi was “only” sixth, ahead of Rinus VeeKay (Carpenter-Chevrolet; 7th), Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti-Honda), Romain Grosjean (Juncos-Chevrolet; 9th) and Penske driver Will Power, who managed to get back into the lead lap after his spin, but was unable to get beyond P10. Alex Palou finished P19 after his late entry into the race and thus defended his lead in the standings.

While Power was clearly the Penske driver with the best chances of winning the title at the start of Sunday's race, McLaughlin still had a very small mathematical chance. Josef Newgarden's last mathematical chance of winning the title, on the other hand, had already been dashed with the crash in Saturday's race.

The same applied to Scott Dixon, who had finished 10th on Saturday evening, and also to Patricio O'Ward, who had won on Saturday evening. Because when Alex Palou accepted the race on Sunday – albeit late – O'Ward was out of the title race. When the McLaren driver retired a short time later with gearbox damage, it was all over for him anyway.

Title duel in two weeks on the Nashville Oval

The 2024 IndyCar season finale will take place in two weeks (September 15) at the Nashville Superspeedway. Despite the word superspeedway in the official name, it is an oval that is only 1.33 miles long and has a banking of just 14 degrees.

The last time the IndyCar series competed at the Nashville Superspeedway was in the 2008 season. The winner was Scott Dixon. Apart from Dixon, who has won there three times, only Will Power and Graham Rahal in the current IndyCar field have racing experience on the concrete 1.33-mile oval east of Nashville.

Leader of the table Alex Palou went into the season finale with a 33-point lead over Will Power. Scott McLaughlin is third in the table and 50 points behind. This means that the moment Palou starts in Nashville, McLaughlin will also be mathematically out of the title fight.

The 2024 IndyCar title will therefore be decided between Alex Palou and Will Power. For both, it would be a third title if they were successful. It is already certain that the series of champions from either the Ganassi team or the Penske team will be extended to twelve consecutive years. The last IndyCar champion to drive for another team was Ryan Hunter-Reay in the 2012 season, who was then driving for Andretti Autosport.