Alex Palou is the IndyCar Series' two-time defending champ, and the current points leader, but Pato O’Ward is the betting man’s driver of choice this Sunday, even if Palou has captured four of the first five race wins this season in an historically torrid start.
The 26-year-old Mexican driver, who coined the aforementioned phrase last season during a news conference venting over the series’ lack of urgency in expanding its footprint to his native country, is arguably the sport’s most popular driver.
O’Ward enjoyed an historic qualifying session of his own over the weekend, becoming the first Mexican to position himself on the front row for the Indianapolis 500.
In doing so, O’Ward has inched closer to fulfilling his lifelong dream at Indy. The Arrow McLaren driver took third in qualifying for this Sunday’s 109th running of the Indy 500. He knows speed at the speedway, but he also knows heartbreak.
“The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” has slipped through his fingertips twice, when he finished runner-up in 2022, and last year, losing the lead to eventual champion Josef Newgarden on the final lap.
While Newgarden reveled in back-to-back crowns, O’Ward was left to ponder another what-if moment, perhaps one that is soured further by the latest drama to hit IndyCar.
This past Sunday’s tech inspection violations by Team Penske found that Newgarden and teammate Will Power’s cars were sporting illegally altered attenuators. Newgarden’s 2024 car, now on display in Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, had the same modifications to the attenuator that the two penalized cars on Sunday did.
Newgarden and Power will now start from the rear of the field, while Penske also announced via social media Wednesday that three of the team’s highest-ranking members, including team president Tim Cindric, have been dismissed. O'Ward himself is completely fed up with Penske.
When you add in Palou qualifying sixth and rookie Robert Shwartzman on pole, the first newcomer in 42 years with that distinction, O’Ward looks primed to win his first Indy 500.
History on Pato’s Side
Outside of the pole position, the race winner statistically has started on the front row. In fact, the winner has come from the front row 41.3% of the time.
And while two-time Indy 500 champion, Takuma Sato, qualified second ahead of O’Ward and likely will be in the thick of things himself in his “Indy only” outfit, the outside front row starter has won 13 times. That is second only to the polesitter’s 21 wins in the history of the Indy 500.
“We had a very quick car all month, and we’re going to continue to have it in the race,” O’Ward said, addressing the media post-qualifications. “So now we can work on that and see what we can make happen.”
A personal-best qualifying coupled with what appears to be the proverbial stars aligning for O’Ward might very well be the difference between post-race agony in 2024 and milk-soaked celebration in 2025. That’s when "Pato Who?" will be replaced without question by Pato O’Ward, Indy 500 champion.