Alex Palou looked like he was preparing a knockout punch with five races to go, one that would end Pato O’Ward’s hopes of captur ing the IndyCar Series championship, but O’Ward turned the tables on his rival in Toronto and landed a big shot of his own to keep the title quest alive as the season reaches its final rounds.
O’Ward’s victory in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevy and Palou’s misadventures with race strategy that left him in 12th place with the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda meant a championship lead of 129 points was carved to 99 with Laguna Seca, Portland, Milwaukee and Nashville Speedway left to run.
Taking more slices out of Palou’s lead is by no means a guarantee, but as Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto event proved, O’Ward is more than capable of delivering huge results while under significant pressure.
“It’s only like 99, it’s a good chunk,” O’Ward said. “His (Palou’s) good weekends are days like today. We need to make sure that we continue to have days like today. Not just one, but a few. I think we’re going to keep this conversation going until Nashville. That’s my goal.”
Palou has finished inside the top 10, usually deep inside, at 11 of 13 races in 2025, which either means Toronto’s 12th-place run was an aberration, or it was long overdue – a balancing of the scales in a season where adversity has rarely visited the Ganassi driver.
To have a chance at taking Palou down and securing his first IndyCar crown, O’Ward knows he’ll need more Toronto-like outcomes at the last four races and four more Toronto repeats for Palou to be overtaken and denied his fourth championship in five years.
“Obviously we’re at a time in the championship where we’re going to have to get a little bit more into the conversation of getting our elbows out because that’s what I had to do today just to open the doors to having a chance to win this race,” O’Ward said. “That’s the only way we’re even going to catch a whiff of making him sweat a little bit.”
