WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Scott McLaughlin won at the Milwaukee Mile in the second half of a race weekend doubleheader that featured some dramatic twists for championship contenders Alex Palou and Will Power.
McLaughlin took the lead from Colton Herta in a Turn 1 pass on Lap 218 of 250 and hung on through a late restart and a charge by runner-up Scott Dixon, who finished 0.4558 seconds behind.
“That was the most fun race I’ve had in IndyCar,” McLaughlin told NBC Sports’ Georgia Henneberry after his third victory this season and second consecutive on an oval. “It was a blast. We just stuck with it. Wasn’t quite good enough at the start, we just changed it up, and it was awesome. I’m pumped.
“I did a terrible job yesterday. We really worked hard on it. I hardly slept last night. I got four and a half hours sleep because I was so stressed about what I did wrong (Saturday) and what I could do better. Just really lucky to have this group. We’ll just keep working. All you can do is win races now. So we’ll just have fun.”
Despite qualifying 17th, Dixon set an IndyCar record with his 142nd career podium in his 401st start as he and McLaughlin made it a 1-2 finish for New Zealand drivers.
“Had it gone a few more laps, it looked like (McLaughlin) was starting to burn his fronts off a little bit,” Dixon told NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch. “Sweet to have a Kiwi 1-2. The pit stops were on point. Yesterday was a mess and qualifying Saturday put us in a big hole. To come from 17th, just one more, would have been cool.”
Colton Herta was third, followed by Santino Ferrucci and Marcus Ericsson.
Alexander Rossi, Rinus VeeKay, Kyle Kirkwood, Romain Grosjean and Power rounded out the top 10.
After stalling on the pace laps and losing 29 laps in the pits, Palou finished 19th, his second-worst finish in 16 races this season.
But the Chip Ganassi Racing star still leads Power by 33 points heading into the Sept. 15 season finale at Nashville Superspeedway.
“I’m a bit sad and disappointed today,” Palou told Henneberry. “We just couldn’t really do anything. We tried everything to try not to lose many laps. It was out of my control, the team’s control and (Honda’s) control.
“So it’s a sport. It is what it is. But we tried everything. We were getting happier and happier getting more points, one point, one point. It was not a great day but could have been a lot worse, could have been a lot better obviously but on to Nashville.”
After leading 64 laps, Power, who trailed by 43 points entering the race after a second place Saturday, spun on a Lap 132 restart. He lost a lap changing the front wing on his No. 12 Dallara-Chevrolet and finished 10th.
“It was like a faster than normal restart, or maybe it was because I was starting back there,” Power told Welch. “I was in second gear and just caught me by surprise. Did not expect that. I was really happy to keep it off the wall and not get hit by anyone. Yeah, we lost a lap changing that wing.
“Long shot now. God gave us a chance there, and I kind of let it go. That’s the season, man. You just can’t have those mistakes. It’s going to be a bit hectic on those restarts. We were back there. So maybe it would have been better to stay out. I don’t know.”
McLaughlin also is mathematically alive for the championship entering Nashville, trailing Palou by 50 points.