O’Ward celebrates belated but welcome St. Pete win

With the disqualification of Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden for his illegal use of push-to-pass power at St. Petersburg, Arrow McLaren has been awarded the victory with Pato O’Ward, who placed second on the road in the No. 5 Chevy. The win represents …

With the disqualification of Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden for his illegal use of push-to-pass power at St. Petersburg, Arrow McLaren has been awarded the victory with Pato O’Ward, who placed second on the road in the No. 5 Chevy.

The win represents a joyous moment for the three-car team which missed out on trips to victory lane in 2023 with O’Ward, Alexander Rossi, and former driver Felix Rosenqvist. It also marks the first IndyCar win at Arrow McLaren for Gavin Ward in the team principal role.

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With Newgarden’s demotion, the No. 2 Chevy Penske driver falls from first to 11th in the championship. Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin, who placed third at St. Pete and was also disqualified, has dropped from 10th to 27th and last in the standings. O’Ward improves from sixth to fourth.

“It’s awesome to get a win and a real strong result for the amount of effort this team puts in,” O’Ward said. “This team is just full of an incredible group of characters and they have been grinding so hard to try and get results like this. And I think it’s the first of many hopefully for me in this role as a team principal. I was hoping to celebrate this first one for me a little bit different way in victory lane with all our team, but when you win, you win. So we will enjoy this.”