O'Ward taking Indy 500 fourth place in stride

Pato O’Ward was in tears at the end of the last two Indy 500s where he came so close to winning. The Arrow McLaren ace wasn’t as close this year; a solid fourth was the best he was capable of achieving in the No. 5 Chevy, but he wasn’t crestfallen this time.

A year older, and more mature, the Mexican took the disappointing day in stride. As a whole, Arrow McLaren wasn’t the powerhouse of 2024, but O’Ward rallied back towards the front after falling backwards for a big portion of the 200-lap contest.

“I was struggling a bit,” O’Ward told RACER. “You know, I feel like there was a lot of inexperience in the front of the pack on the restarts, and I think that was bunching up a lot of guys, and it was a pick and choose. It was kind of like playing roulette, you know, red or black, and you have to pick a lane. You pick the wrong lane, you would get screwed.

“So we made up some spots and got screwed in other ones. I mean, we were just one (pit) stop shy of being able to get maybe two more cars at least, to have a fight for the win. I didn't feel like I really had it there. I definitely loosened the car up in the last [stint] to just get runs and start risking a little bit more.”

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O’Ward was shellshocked to see Alex Palou capture his fifth win from six races this season and reach victory lane at the Indy 500.

“We have to find out what this guy is eating,” he said. “I want some of that. I mean, he seems he's on a freaking insane run. I don't think I've ever seen that in my life. I hate to wait another 365 days, but we had a solid, solid points day. Sadly, the championship also seems like it's far away from us. It just seems to be his year, but we're gonna keep fighting.”