IndyCar: Pato O'Ward aiming to achieve rare feat in first full season

Pato O’Ward’s first full IndyCar season at Arrow McLaren SP has been full of highs, and he is on pace to achieve a rare feat because of it.

While he isn’t a rookie, Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward is a first-year full-time IndyCar driver and has exceeded many expectations throughout the 2020 season.

The 2018 Indy Lights champion sits in fifth place in the championship standings with 13 of the 14 races on the schedule in the books. While he hasn’t yet found victory lane, he has led 204 laps, fourth most among all drivers, and his average finish of 8.0 is fourth best in the field.

Until his 22nd place finish in the 12th race of the season at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, his worst result of the year was 12th, tied for the best worst result among all drivers with that of points leader Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing.

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O’Ward has come close to securing his first career victory on several occasions so far this year, including in races at Road America, Iowa Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Unfortunately, he has not yet been able to take the checkered flag in front of the rest of the field behind the wheel of his #5 Chevrolet.

But one thing he has done is something that hasn’t been done in quite a several years. No non-Team Penske Chevrolet driver has beaten a Team Penske Chevrolet driver in the standings since 2016, when Josef Newgarden, who ended up signing with Team Penske after the 2016 season, finished ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya, whom he replaced ahead of the 2017 season.

Simon Pagenaud won that year’s championship and led a Team Penske top three sweep with Will Power in second place and Helio Castroneves in third. Newgarden finished in fourth.

Chevrolet drivers Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan of Chip Ganassi Racing finished in sixth and seventh, respectively, while Montoya finished in eighth.

The top non-Chevrolet Team Penske driver in 2017 was Ed Carpenter Racing’s J.R. Hildebrand in 15th place. All four Team Penske drivers finished in the top five. In 2018 and 2019, it was Ed Carpenter Racing’s Spencer Pigot in 14th. The three (Castroneves left after 2017) Team Penske drivers all finished in the top six in the former and the top five in the latter.

Newgarden currently sits in second place in the standings, and O’Ward cannot mathematically beat him. But O’Ward cannot be passed by Pagenaud, as Pagenaud sits in eighth entering the season finale.

With Power currently sitting in fourth place, O’Ward could end up finishing ahead of two of the team’s three drivers. No Chevrolet driver has finished ahead of multiple Team Penske drivers since Dixon won the championship in 2015 driving for Chip Ganassi Racing when they were still powered by the bowtie.

If O’Ward were to win a race this season, he would end another Team Penske streak that dates back to the 2016 season. Chevrolet teams have won 32 of the last 65 races, and Team Penske drivers have been responsible for all 32 of those victories.

The last time a driver took a Chevrolet to victory lane competing for a team other than Team Penske was in September of 2016, when Dixon won at Watkins Glen International Speedway behind the wheel of his #9 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing. Chip Ganassi Racing switched to Honda after the 2016 season.

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Tune in to NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, October 25 for the live broadcast of the 2020 IndyCar season finale, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg from the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. O’Ward is set to start this race in sixth place.

IndyCar: Pato O’Ward aiming to achieve rare feat

By Asher Fair | Oct 25, 2020

Pato O’Ward’s first full IndyCar season at Arrow McLaren SP has been full of highs, and he is on pace to achieve a rare feat because of it.