By David Morgan, Associate Editor
LEBANON, Tenn. – Rolling off from pole Sunday in Nashville, Pato O’Ward cemented himself as the man to beat for the first half of the NTT IndyCar Series season finale, but that all soon came to a crashing halt.
O’Ward led all but 10 of the first 126 laps of the race and was holding a steady lead over Will Power, but a tire failure in Turn 2 seemingly out of nowhere wound send him into the outside wall and wipe out any chance of being able to close out the season on a high note.
Ahead of Sunday’s season finale, O’Ward expressed his goal of finally winning a race from the pole in his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, but that quest will have to wait until next season.
“Front right tire failure,” O’Ward said of the problem that landed him out of the race early. “It’s one of the worst feelings. It’s not the first time that’s happened here for me. I had one last year at a tire test actually.
“I feel for the team. We really had such rockets under us this weekend. We were just going through the motions that race. We were handling it. We were doing everything right.
“It’s just a real shame to first be worrying about, is the tire going to be OK? And secondly, just ending the year like that whenever you have such a great car and such a great weekend up to that point to prove to it. Yeah, I feel for the team, but I’m proud of everybody.”
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As he broke down the crash that ended his day, O’Ward put the onus on Firestone to deliver an improved tire for 2026, with the heightened risk of racing on high-speed ovals and the hard hits that can come on these types of tracks when a driver has a issue and inevitably ends up in the wall.
“Hopefully Firestone can help us out for next year because it sucks kind of knowing that can be a possibility and multiple cars getting that issue,” said O’Ward. “The guys that are hitting the wall at 200 mph is us. And I can tell you, you can really feel those hits.
“So, I really hope they can somewhat fix that for that not to be a concern because we don’t like to go racing with that in the back of our heads.”
Sunday’s crash aside, it has been a career year for O’Ward, scoring a runner-up finish in the championship and scoring a pair of wins at Iowa Speedway and Toronto.
He and the team will now look toward putting Sunday’s disappointment behind them and regrouping over the offseason to try and finish one place better in the championship next season by dethroning four-time and reigning champion Alex Palou.
“It’s been a growing year, I must say,” O’Ward said of the season to date. “It’s been a successful year. I know in racing it’s either you win or bust, you know, but I think there’s a lot of value in seeing the growth that I have had this year, that the team has had this year.
“Ultimately, it seemed like there was two championships going on, and it was Alex Palou with himself and us, the rest of the field. I think there are many ways to see how it went, but I think all in all it’s been successful.
“We’re obviously proud of our efforts and how we keep on getting stronger and stronger. You know, we want to be in this position next year, but even closer to fighting for that championship.
“But yeah, I’m very pleased with how this year has gone, even though there’s obviously been quite a few things that stand out not being perfect, but there’s always things to work on and keep getting better.”
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