INDIANAPOLIS — As an Indianapolis 500 rookie in 2020, Pato O’Ward finished sixth. The next year, he was fourth.
Last year, O’Ward finished second to winner Marcus Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing.
By using that mathematical progression, O’Ward may be preordained as the winner of Sunday’s 107th Indianapolis 500.
But the driver from Monterrey, Mexico knows that it isn’t always in the numbers.
“Yeah, we’ve got a sixth, a fourth and a second, so there’s not another spot to get,” O’Ward said.
He knows it won’t be easy, but he is prepared for the battle.
“I’m looking forward to a dogfight,” said the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren Racing. “I think the race is going to be tougher than ever. There’s a lot of very competitive race cars.
“We hope to be one of them and have a shot in it at the end.”
O’Ward has had a great start to the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season with three second-place finishes in the first five races. He trails Indy 500 pole winner Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing by just six points entering Sunday’s 107th Indianapolis 500.
O’Ward starts fifth, the middle of Row Two, after qualifying his Chevrolet at a 233.158 miles per hour average in last week’s qualifications.
Palou starts on the pole after setting the fastest Indy 500 Pole Run ever at 234.217 mph in the No. 10 American Legion Honda.
Although Palou’s pole run is not faster than Arie Luyendyk’s track record set in 1996, Luyendyk’s run came on the second day of qualifications and did not count for the pole.
At 23, O’Ward is young, aggressive and feels at ease with high speeds.
“Comfort, I guess,” he said. “You’ve got to be comfortable in ovals. You’ve just got to work really hard with the engineer and understand each other. They’ve got to know what you like and what you need from the race car to extract everything out of it.
“Ever since I joined the team, we have a very strong oval package, not just superspeedways but short ovals. Indy is a different beast in itself. The closest to Indy would probably be Texas, but it’s not. They’re two very different animals.
“But we have had a lot of success. I’ve had very strong results at all the ovals. I don’t know what it is. I just think the car is good. Like the car, the package that we have has been good ever since I’ve joined, and I just keep molding it a little bit to what I like, and we keep getting stronger and stronger.”
Alexander Rossi, one of O’Ward’s teammates at Arrow McLaren, believes O’Ward has found that “sweet spot” at the Indianapolis 500.
“Really?” O’Ward responded incredulously. “I don’t like to get too ahead of myself. I’m trying to make my race car the best it can be in traffic and be comfortable. Everybody saw what can happen when I’m comfortable in a race car in Texas. That’s the best thing I can do for myself.
“On race day, we’ll see what we’ve got.”
O’Ward is confident that his car and his team have what it takes to finish the Indianapolis 500 in Victory Lane. He is one of IndyCar’s youngest stars with a big personality.
Arrow McLaren has grown into one of the power teams in the paddock and together, they are ready to achieve some big things.
“Oh, it would be one of the proudest moments of my life to be able to give this very special team at Arrow McLaren their first 500 win,” O’Ward said. “I’d love to be the one that gives them that.
“We’ve been on this journey for four years now, and we just keep on building.”
Unlike recent Indianapolis 500s, the weather on Sunday is expected to be in the 70s instead of the 90s. With potential cloud cover, that could keep the track temperature cool.
Some of the top drivers in IndyCar want a hotter track so it separates the field and keeps the fast drivers away from the slow.
O’Ward’s setup to possible victory is simple, however.
“I want a good car in traffic,” he said. “That’s what I want. I don’t care if it’s hot or cold.”