Mid-Ohio not just a win, but a power play for O’Ward, Arrow McLaren

Pato O’Ward earned Arrow McLaren’s third triumph of the season, but it was the first of its kind in 2026 as the team won on pure pace where no strategy plays were required to reach victory lane.

Teammate Christian Lundgaard came close at Barber Motorsports Park with an epic drive and a huge strategy gamble that ultimately left him in second place, but was fortunate to be fast again at the Indianapolis road course and capitalize on the mistakes of Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Global while their drivers ran 1-2 to secure the win in the No. 7 Chevy.

Lundgaard and race strategist Kyle Moyer delivered a masterful result at Road America where a poor weekend by the team, compounded by Lundgaard hitting Scott Dixon on the opening lap and needing to pit, was turned into another epic charge that ended with a last-to-first finish and second win of the year for the No. 7 crew.

But Mid-Ohio’s Honda Indy 200 was the first of its kind for the team this season where it was fast from the outset in practice, earned pole with Lundgaard, and nearly led every one of the 90 laps – 45 for O’Ward and 41 for Lundgaard – to dominate all phases of the event. The result required no explanations and certainly had no asterisks involving other teams and any errors they made to ease Arrow McLaren's path to first place. 

It might have taken 11 races to do so, and also ushered in O’Ward’s first podium let alone victory of the year, but there’s no mistaking how much of a statement the Mexican and his No. 5 crew – along with the rest of the team – made as the championship heads into a brief break before an unrelenting push to the season finale.

“Honestly, I wasn't really worried,” O’Ward said of the extended wait to spray champagne. “I've been in this business for a long time. I know there's plenty of other guys that have had many more years than I have, but I've got plenty under my belt to understand how things flow. The bad luck doesn't last forever, but the good luck also doesn't.

“Today was a simple showing of execution, and even coming off of Road America, I had so much pace. I've had so much pace in the last two road courses. Sadly, Road America we weren't even able to fight because we got hosed by that yellow. But this weekend it was an all-green race.”

Overtaking Lundgaard when he made a slight mistake and paring the championship gap to Alex Palou from 117 points to 94 with seven races left to run was an important achievement for O’Ward, who holds fifth in the drivers’ standings.

“I knew my win was coming,” he said. “Whether it was going to be in the last couple races or in the middle, I don't know. But obviously I made it happen today. It's just nice to kind of put ourselves in a position to keep on climbing, keep on building on this great momentum that we've had, because I do feel like some good results have ran away from us just from little details. But today I really want to thank my guys for giving me an amazing race car and in the pits. Like I said, that is so important.”