Power took the lead on Lap 175, led 19 laps, and came to the lane on Lap 193 with the lead when he was stung with a drive-through penalty and finished 14th.
Prior to the pit stops, Power had led McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard and Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin. Pato O’Ward was fourth for McLaren and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou fifth.
During that pit stop sequence, Lundgaard suffered a slow pit stop that took him out of contention for the win. Meanwhile, Pato O’Ward leapfrogged Scott McLaughlin and took the lead after Power’s penalty.
The race ran green to the finish on Lap 250 and O’Ward hung onto the win over McLaughlin.
“Just a little bummed I couldn’t get through lapped traffic there faster,” said McLaughlin.
“I thought we had a little more left for the #5 (O’Ward). Congrats to Pato.”
The start of the IndyCar Series Snap On Makers and Fixers 250 at the Milwaukee Mile, led by Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward.
Palou led the field to green with O’Ward alongside, who was quickly usurped by Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden early.
The Spaniard led until Lap 34 when his American rival caught and passed him for the lead. A lap later, Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean spun out of 11th to bring out the caution.
That neutralised the field and brought them to the pits for their first stops. Palou retook the lead from Newgarden. Mick Schumacher rose one position to third while Scott McLaughlin climbed three places to fourth. Power, meanwhile, was up one place to ninth.
The biggest loser in that sequence was O’Ward, whose car was dropped with the right rear wheel still unfastened, relegating him to 15th.
The surprise packet of the second stint was Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rinus VeeKay, who rose from 11th at the start of the race to the lead by Lap 100.
Palou retook the lead Lap 125 from VeeKay, and the pair pitted together on Lap 126.
The big winner out of the third round of pit stops was Power, who rose from fourth to second. Newgarden was third and McLaughlin fourth. VeeKay, however, couldn’t continue his race-leading speed and dropped down the order.
Will Power on track during Race 1 of the Milwaukee Mile double-header. Image: James Black
Racing remained green until Lap 141 when Newgarden spun out of fifth on his own. At that moment, Palou led hard-charger David Malukas. Power was third, McLaughlin fourth and Kyle Kirkwood fifth.
Pit stops followed on Lap 147, led by Palou. McLaughlin and Scott Dixon elected to stay out and assume first and second respectively. Power was the biggest benefactor in that sequence, vaulting Palou and Malukas.
Grosjean suffered his second spin of the day on the Lap 158 restart. This time, he hit the wall and took himself out of contention.
After a brief intermission, the race resumed on Lap 169. Power quickly dispatched the off-strategy Dixon who plummeted down the order and eventually finished 15th.
Lundgaard and O’Ward were the big movers on the restart, gaining four and five spots respectively to third and fourth by Lap 172 while Malukas and Kirkwood fell four places each to ninth and 10th.
With fresher tyres, Power took the lead from McLaughlin on Lap 175. The Team Penske pilot then lost second to Lundgaard on Lap 187.
Then came the race-defining pit stops. McLaughlin pitted first on Lap 193 followed by O’Ward, who leapfrogged the New Zealander in the lane.
Power was penalised for speeding in the pit lane and served his drive-through.
Scott McLaughlin on track during the first race of the Milwaukee Mile double-header. Image: Joe Skibinski
Ultimately, it was O’Ward who controlled the contest to the chequered flag. McLaughlin was second and Lundgaard third.
In slightly odd circumstances, the first leg of the Milwaukee Mile double-header will resume at 8am AEST. Just 90 laps were completed before rain stopped proceedings.
“We’ve got to reload and go again. It was fun. The more racing, the better,” said McLaughlin post-race.
“We’re definitely better in traffic. I thought we were better at the end of the race.
“Compared to the start, I was wrecking loose at the start, so we fixed that.
“I learned a lot today for Race 1. We’ll go again. I’ve got to go from 17th. We’ll see how we go.”
Coverage is live and exclusively on Stan Sport in Australia.
Results: IndyCar Series Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250, Milwaukee Mile
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Laps/Diff
Gap
1
5
Pato O’Ward
Arrow McLaren
250 laps
2
3
Scott McLaughlin
Team Penske
0.792
0.792
3
7
Christian Lundgaard
Arrow McLaren
2.746
1.954
4
12
David Malukas
Team Penske
3.288
0.543
5
10
Alex Palou
Chip Ganassi Racing
12.044
8.755
6
27
Kyle Kirkwood
Andretti Global
17.531
5.487
7
76
Rinus VeeKay
Juncos Racing
18.7
1.169
8
21
Christian Rasmussen
Ed Carpenter Racing
22.784
4.084
9
28
Marcus Ericsson
Andretti Global
24.084
1.3
10
45
Louis Foster
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
26.862
2.778
11
20
Alexander Rossi
Ed Carpenter Racing
1 lap
1 lap
12
14
Santino Ferrucci
A.J. Foyt Enterprises
0.504
0.504
13
47
Mick Schumacher
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
2.833
2.329
14
26
Will Power
Andretti Global
3.349
0.516
15
9
Scott Dixon
Chip Ganassi Racing
5.61
2.261
16
66
Marcus Armstrong
Meyer Shank Racing
21.501
15.891
17
6
Nolan Siegel
Arrow McLaren
22.125
0.625
18
77
Sting Ray Robb
Juncos Racing
2 laps
1 lap
19
8
Kyffin Simpson
Chip Ganassi Racing
6.796
6.796
20
60
Felix Rosenqvist
Meyer Shank Racing
7.351
0.554
21
19
Dennis Hauger
Dale Coyne Racing
11.025
3.674
22
15
Graham Rahal
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
3 laps
1 lap
23
4
Caio Collet
A.J. Foyt Enterprises
4 laps
1 lap
24
18
Romain Grosjean
Dale Coyne Racing
95 laps
91 laps
25
2
Josef Newgarden
Team Penske
100 laps
5 laps