IndyCar's most popular driver may have solved his biggest problem

Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward opened up the 2023 IndyCar season looking like the championship favorite, recording back-to-back runner-up finishes in races he should have won. A plenum fire event on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida cost him a sure victory, and at one point he had 26 of his 27 rivals a lap down at Texas Motor Speedway.

He still entered the streets of Long Beach, California with the points lead, but a disastrous weekend sent things into a bit of a tailspin for the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet. The following month, he crashed out of the Indy 500 while battling for second place, and a mistake while trying to make up ground on the streets of Detroit, Michigan all but knocked him out of the championship battle.

The fan-favorite Mexican driver ultimately finished the 2023 season without a win, something he ominously predicted was a possibility after a near-perfect day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in May only resulted in a runner-up finish.

But what O'Ward did down the stretch in 2023 was far less talked about. When it comes to consistency, drivers such as Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Alex Palou and Scott Dixon come to mind first, while O'Ward is largely overlooked.

Yet in the season's final 10 races, O'Ward finished no lower than 10th place, recorded four podium finishes, and posted an average finish of 5.8.

In a series as competitive as IndyCar is, consistency is key.

In fact, had the series champions in each of the three most seasons replaced all of their wins with second place finishes (and the runners-up become winners), they all still would have won the championship.

That list even includes 2023 Alex Palou, who became the first five-win champion since 2016 in a year when he also became the first driver in more than a century to finish in the top eight in every single race (including seasons with at least 17 races).

O'Ward unfortunately seemed to be reverting back to his old habits in 2024. He ran into teammate Alexander Rossi in Long Beach and hit just about every car he came across at Barber Motorsports Park, including that of teammate Theo Pourchaire. Then at the Indy road course, his frustration with the team became evident over the radio.

But since then, O'Ward has gone on another strong run, recording two podium finishes and an average finish of 5.2 over the course of the five most recent events, including a runner-up finish in the Indy 500.

Except this time around, he finally has a win to show for it, having overcome an early deficit before holding off Palou to take the checkered flag on Sunday afternoon at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Sometimes it really is just about "seeing the ball go through the hoop". And while O'Ward was credited with the win on the streets of St. Petersburg to open up the 2024 season, it was Team Penske's Josef Newgarden who took the checkered flag and stood atop the podium. It took until 45 days later for the result to be overturned and O'Ward to be declared the winner.

Prior to Sunday's race, O'Ward hadn't stood atop the podium since July 2022, when he won at Iowa Speedway. Even then, Newgarden was well on his way to a doubleheader sweep before a late shock failure sent him into the wall. So O'Ward really hadn't gone out and taken a win on outright pace since May 2022, when he won at Barber Motorsports Park.

Now he finds himself in third place in the championship standings, which would match his best career result from the 2021 season.

Over the last two seasons, O'Ward has come up just short on quite a few occasions, and when he hasn't, it's because he hasn't been a contender at all.

While it's going to take a bit more than sitting in third at the midway point of the season to be able to determine whether or not a serious threat to Team Penske or Chip Ganassi Racing, the two teams that have won every championship since 2013, has truly emerged, O'Ward certainly looks to be the driver best positioned to break up the status quo.

The fact that he has drastically improved upon his consistency and finally been able to capitalize on it with a trip to victory lane shows that perhaps he has indeed turned a corner.

Though the focus has been on Newgarden when it comes to the fact that six of the season's final eight races are oval races, let's not forget that O'Ward is also a two-time series oval champion, winning the title in both 2021 and 2022. Could more wins be in store for the 25-year-old now that he's gotten the monkey off his back?

Both races of this weekend's Iowa Speedway doubleheader are set to be shown live on NBC, with the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 set for 8:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 13 and the Hy-Vee One Step 250 set for 12:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 14.

Start a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss either race from the four-turn, 0.875-mile (1.408-kilometer) Newton, Iowa oval before the series moves exclusively to Peacock for the following weekend's race in Toronto!