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Pato O'Ward Returns

Off Track with Hinch and Rossi Jul 15, 2025 26 min

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About this episode

Pato O'Ward shares insights on his 2025 IndyCar season, highlighting his first win, improved race consistency despite qualifying struggles, and adapting to hybrid changes. He discusses the evolving competitiveness of races, especially post-Indianapolis, and the impact of tire strategies and yellow flags. O'Ward reflects on beating Josef Newgarden at Iowa, his relationship with teammate Christian Lundgaard, and upcoming plans including Formula 1 test runs. The conversation also touches on his new Indianapolis home, challenges with qualifying, and his goal to improve at Toronto.

Topics: indycar 2025 season race consistency qualifying challenges hybrid system impact tire strategy iowa race win teammate dynamics formula 1 testing track performance race evolution

Pato O'Ward is back to talk with the guys after his win at race one in Iowa this weekend, where he takes us through the win, lets us know his honest opinion on the season so far, and goes into what he has in store for the rest of the season.

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This is off track.

Apologies in advance if my internet goes away. 'cause they're still here.

Fixing is your six is your $6 million house.

Not having internet . Man, you're broke. Bitch.

Spend all the money on your plane, .

Oh, See now I don't feel, now I feel like I'm not the guy with the worst internet on the show. This is tremendous.

Somehow, Somehow you still are . God.

Wait, all 12 pixels of You are bad.

What is the towel behind you?

It's not a towel. It's, Becky was filming an audition.

Is it a pro? Oh, who are you talking to? Me Or Patto.

And then these are fluffy pillows.

That's so nice. They look very soft. They're

Really soft.

Is it all Rh? Uh, these are, yes. Yeah.

I feel like, I feel like you're the, I think you're the kind of guy who, when you buy your house, you just went like to the RH catalog and you're like, yeah, this room, let's make this page 17.

Just all that, uh, bedroom. Yeah.

Page 28. Just make, just do that.

No, no. We mixed it up. We mixed it up. Okay.

'cause you can tell when everything is alright.

You can tell like, it's got a, it's got a feel.

So I think it's important to like mix it up, you know?

I'm just glad you got that whole bookcase for two full items, .

Oh, I know. I'm still in the process.

Yeah, We'll send you some books.

people, people might not know.

Uh, you bought a house in Indianapolis last year, um, and you're officially like a Hoosier.

Like you, I mean obviously Texas is still home.

Mexico's still home, but like you're an indie now for most of the time.

Yeah, I'm, I, I spent a lot of time here.

I haven't in June for some reason I was barely even here.

So I've really enjoyed my week this week here and last week here.

Um, I love it.

It's, I'm not used to all this green in Texas and Mexico.

All these beautiful big trees with like, you know, however many shades of green exist here. Uh,

Big landscaping guy.

You have one less, you have one less big tree though than you started with. I feel

Like two .

Two do. You could share what happened. Well,

Two that I had to take down.

The other one wasn't even mine, but it landed on my house. .

Sure. So

Welcome to the Midwest .

Welcome to the neighborhood.

Your neighbors were throwing trees at your house.

Yeah, my neighbor's tree fell on my house.

Um, finally three months later the roof is fixed. .

Um, Nice. And

I had to take two more down because they're just massive man.

They're massive trees.

And some of them started angling towards my house and I was like, Hmm, I'm gonna check these out.

And yeah, well they were dead so had to take 'em down. ,

Just walk the perimeter on anything that looks like it's landing distance from the house.

That one's gone. That one's gone.

Anything that would land on the house. Yeah.

And looks dead gone. .

Gotta go. Gotta go. Yeah.

Well buddy, uh, thanks for coming on.

Uh, coming off a pretty solid weekend at Iowa.

Took me a second to remember where we were. .

Yeah, it was good man.

Um, first win of the season for me, which uh, obviously is always a good feeling.

Yeah. First one for team Chevy.

Um, you know, it's always a good feeling to get that one, like that first one out of the way.

Um, and race two was, race two was pretty hectic.

Um, you know, all those yellows, uh, were landing good and bad for people.

That, that last one was real bad for me, .

So, uh, that kind of took us out of contention to, to win it, but, uh, made our way back up and it was a, a very good, you know, good, very good points weekend.

Uh, would've loved to have been on the podium twice, but, um, it's all good. So

Kind of talk to me about that because you've had, you've had this really impressive year in, in so many ways, right?

I feel like from the outside at least it feels like your consistency is better than it's ever been.

You are maximizing your days on Sundays, whether you qualify well or especially on the days where maybe you have an issue on Saturday, you guys are really recovering well on Sundays.

It's points, points, points.

You're always there thereabouts.

I know this was the first one of the season, but like, let's be honest, not a lot of people have won this season 'cause Pelle keeps <inaudible> winning everything.

But do you feel like it's been a big jump forward for you in terms of like, the kind of season you have to have to put together a championship run? Yeah,

I think mentally I'm in the best.

You know, I'm, I'm in a great mental space with what I know what I need to be doing.

Um, I do, I do think it's been my worst year qualifying wise.

Uh, whether it's unlucky or just pure pace, you know, there's, there's been a few that have been extremely strong.

But all the other ones I find myself more doing recovery drives rather than just, you know, starting from a good spot and like trying to go forward in a way.

So, um, I always, you know, I always try and maximizing qualifying just like everyone else.

'cause especially now it's just, it's so freaking important to do these, to do these, um, these qualifyings because the, the track position ke it just, it feels like it gets more and more important.

Um, but I would say that's actually been a weakness this year.

Like we've been starting further back, uh, more times than not.

And that makes it feel like maybe it hasn't been an amazing year.

But I do think just seeing how we've recovered in races and then, uh, the consistency that well, maybe when we do suck, we actually come out pretty okay in a race.

Um, those, those pay off at the end of the year.

And I've seen that, I've saw it with like Will power in 22 when he won the championship.

I've seen it with polo with Dixon.

You know, you just, you always, you sometimes have to put your ego aside and just accept that, um, that maybe it's just not gonna be your weekend.

And just try and save what you can.

And I think that's what's positioned me in second in the championship, you know?

Uh, 'cause it hasn't been like, oh my God, we've won three races.

No, not really. Obviously Palau keeps winning everything.

Kirkwood has won also a lot of races, but we are ahead of him in the championship because of the consistency and just being there.

Um, you know, trying to be there in in in top five, top tens in every race.

But, um, I mean, just typical IndyCar season, you don't know what's gonna throw at you, you know? So

Walk us through, you know, the listeners on this show have gotten plenty of opinions from James and I, um, not so much Tim, even though he likes to share them in terms of like our thoughts on the racing this year, right.

In 2025 in IndyCar.

I think I, I'd, I'd love to hear your opinion.

We kind of agree that before Indianapolis it was pretty, the races were boring.

Like there wasn't, forget there was one winner.

The races themselves were just not very good.

Indianapolis was a pretty decent show.

I think Detroit was better than we've seen in the past.

And then it's kind of continued that evolution, you know, through Road America, through mid Ohio, through Iowa.

Um, do you kind of feel that same way and, and what do you put down the, or what is your reason you think for why the beginning of the year was what it was?

I think the start of the year was boring because, well, one, there was no yellows like anywhere.

Um, I do think, you know, when we have the yellows in races that just at some point that's gonna host some people and at some point it's gonna help some other people.

And then that's when you're gonna start seeing the big shifts from back to the front or front to the back.

Um, I do think the yellows coupled with, you know, maybe some circuits now that you can make the un preferred tire work.

Um, I think that also helps a lot.

Um, you know, because it, the start of the year, like for example in St.

Peter, I mean everyone, when you start seeing people get creative with like passing and stuff, that usually means that there's one's at a tire disadvantage or one car is in, in a different tire.

That's what usually makes things, um, a little bit more, uh, a little bit less follow the leader, I would say.

Um, I think mid Ohio was a perfect example of that.

Um, and you know, I I don't think it's one specific thing.

I think it's just the yellows coupled with tracks that now allow you to actually make, you know, the un preferred tire work.

Because look at St. Pete man, look at Long Beach.

I mean you couldn't make those, you couldn't make the un preferred tire work at all.

Well I think, I think that's the, the big thing, right?

We came out with a new alternate that was supposed to have a bigger separation from the primary tire, but then the hybrid weight that we didn't have for the beginning part of the year, it was just too much.

So ultimately I think it's kind of, we're finding an equal Librium a little bit.

Teams are understanding a little bit what you have to do with the car, uh, to make it work.

And also we're now getting to tracks where we've had the hybrid, so you kind of have that knowledge going in.

Whereas at the beginning of the year, we were seeing St.

Pete for the first time with the hybrid and all that sort of thing.

So it is, it is an interesting thing.

I mean, I think ultimately the problem still stems a little bit from the hybrid, um, but that is what it is.

How did you feel, you know, coming into this year after everything that you guys had learned in 24 with the hybrid, how have you found ways to, to make it benefit you more?

Or do you feel, still feel like it's kind of just this tool that you can't really do anything to, to be better or different?

Yes, yes and no.

I do think that it's changed things around in terms of how I can extract more money, money more pace, uh, more pay from it equals money, baby , uh, more pace from the car in qualifying.

Um, I think it's not a surprise that I, that I am not at like peak performance in terms of qualifying as I have been in the past.

So I think it's been a tool that's maybe changed around what I need from the car.

I would say for like opt optimal pace.

But in the race you can actually get pretty Is is is that because of the balance shift or because of like how you actually use the, like the deployment and the strategy behind it?

I would say that coupled with the weight and what you need to like get the optimal performance out of the car in qualifying for me has been more of a struggle because the tire now behaves a little bit differently with the extra weight.

Um, and I feel like where, where I was very strong was I could, I could do it for a lap in qualifying, even if the car wasn't amazing.

I, I, I made sure that the thing would rotate.

I would always make sure like it's gonna rotate, it's gonna get me where I need to go maybe just for a lap, but it'll, it'll, it'll do it.

And I feel like now you can't do that because the, the, it feels like the car just that little bit extra that you could do, it just doesn't do it anymore.

Or the tire doesn't give it to you for the full lap.

And things that I would do to the car just for that qualifying or, you know, just, just to transfer, they don't work for me anymore.

So those things I just, I can't make them work anymore.

And it's been, it's been a bit of a shift of how to extract the lap time from the car.

Especially when you're, I mean you're, we're we're talking hundreds, you know, so that's been a little bit different.

But I would say in race trim, I don't think it's been horribly different.

I do think you need a, I do think the car asks of other things with a weight because it's just a lot of, it's a lot of weight at the rear.

It's a lot of weight at the rear and, and just the, the tires are behaving very differently as over the stint just because of that, that weight shift.

One of the other kind of big things for you and your team, I guess more, more precisely uh, specifically is you had Christian join for this year.

Kinda walk us through what's it been like working alongside him and uh, you know, do you guys work well together?

Do you like a similar kind of car?

Like just kind of walk us through that transition?

I think it depends on the track. I would say.

Um, I think Christian's been super strong in qualifying.

Um, I, I do think he's been the lead car all year in qualifying specifically at, at rodent Street courses.

Um, you know, for us I believe that the races have been a strength.

Um, 'cause we always just find ourselves recovering and recovering really well.

But qualifying definitely, at least to this point of the season, I do think he and the seven, the seven ERs have done the, the best job in, in just always putting themselves in that, in that fast.

I've made one fast six man, well actually two fast sixes.

Um, one doesn't really count 'cause it's indie, right?

And the other one is thermal and I was on pole.

But all the other ones I've been eighth, 12th, 11th, 15th, um, 20th, 18th, 24th, like, you know, just they've been, they've been a struggle like mm-hmm .

Qualifying has been a struggle and I don't see it changing like just from one day to another.

I would love for that to be the case, but it just, but, but, But I think that's, that's something that a lot of people aren't necessarily picking up on.

You're absolutely right. And it's not just you.

Like we've seen three Penske cars go out in round one a bunch of times this year.

Like when have you ever, when has anyone ever seen that?

And that's not anything to say, like those three guys haven't forgotten how to drive.

But like qualifying this year has been a very different beast than it has in years past.

I think it's preferred a very specific way of driving the car and extracting lap time from the car.

And I mean, I would say it's, it's, it's probably opposite to how I usually would decide to, to, to kind of work through it rather than, you know, what it's asking.

So it has, it has forced myself and I believe other guys on the grid to, to learn maybe not only skill but learn a different way of trying to extract the lap time outta the car.

That, that has been the same for so many years, you know?

'cause when something works just for so long and then it starts not working, it, it doesn't take one weekend to like notice it, you know, it, it, it like, it turns into like, uh, and then again and then again you're like, hmm, there's a pattern here and this is probably where it's shifting and then you start, you know, trying to get creative and looking at other ways.

But I mean, it's made it interesting hasn't it?

Well maybe not since Palau keeps winning everything guy, but uh, yeah, I mean just look at Dixon as well, like Dixie.

Dixie also, he races like a beast.

But I, I also think qualifying for him hasn't really been the easiest of things to um, to sort out, you know, it's just, I don't think it's just a me uh, situation. I think it's

No for sure.

You know other people as well. Yeah.

And others have, have benefited from it For sure.

It goes both ways, right? It's gonna,

it's definitely gonna be an advantage for some, a disadvantage for others.

Uh, anytime something changes in the car.

Um, let's go back to Iowa real quick.

You know, leaving the tests and with the information that came out after the test with the downforce level that was gonna be run the tire compound change, whatever, whatever.

I think there was some people that were skeptical that we'd get good racing at Iowa, but we got there, we did the highline practice.

First of all, I'd like to know, you know, just your thoughts and feelings on the Highline practice and if you think it's valuable, but then just how kind of happy were you and and impressed for you with the quality of the racing that we saw at Iowa?

Uh, Highline I believe is good.

Uh, I do believe the Highline sessions do work.

Um, my first experience just seeing it like really work would be probably Texas.

When we did it at Texas like that, that really changed the game, uh, in the race.

I mean that last year we were there, it was one of the best races there, you know, it was really good.

Um, in terms of Iowa, I do think it raced much better than last year.

Um, I do think that obviously old Iowa was a bit more chaotic because of the deck of the tire, although this year maybe the deck wasn't even close to us being as aggressive, you still saw some deck, you still saw new tires being able to do more than what the old tires were able to do.

And I think that's what ultimately brought that second groove into play.

And like people were going up there, I was going up there, you know, in the second race I was, I wasn't as comfortable up there I would say.

Uh, so it wasn't as easy for me to do, especially later on in the stint.

Um, but I do believe like, I mean last year man was probably one of the most boring races I had ever been a part of.

Yeah. Because I saw the exact same rear wing

for 250 laps, you know?

Yeah. And this year that wasn't the case.

You know, there was a, there was a rapid shift in in, you know, in cars getting lucky cars not getting lucky cars coming through the pack when they didn't get lucky, like good cars were standing out.

So, uh, how good does it feel knowing new garden's track record at Iowa to beat 'em in a straight up fight?

Like that wasn't a, that wasn't a lucky yellow.

That wasn't a strategy that was last pit stop. Yeah.

You got him in the cycle, you stayed out longer, you had a better in lap, you exit and then that out lap keeping him behind you was, dude, that was awesome to watch and like to beat Joseph at Iowa in a straight up fight is something pretty cool.

When you called it as well, you were like, we beat him at his own game.

Like that was your first radio message.

Yeah, we were, man I've been in that position like every time I've been second there, it's always been second to Joseph.

Um, and when I won there in, in 22, um, is when he had some failure, you know?

Yeah. Um, and, and I remember, uh, like he was yesterday

after, um, after I had won the race, um, I texted him to like, to make sure that he was okay 'cause I know that he had like fainted after the, the accident or whatever and, but the only thing he tells me, he's like, oh, I bet you love to see that.

And I was like, well, not really, but like I'll take a win.

Yeah. Thanks. And um, so when I was sitting

behind him on Saturday and I knew there was one more pit cycle to go, uh, I was determined.

I said, this is the day where, where I'm gonna beat him at his own game.

Yeah. And he was very sour after the race.

So, uh, um, yeah it was, that was a very good, that was a very good final pit stop exchange and um, we were a second faster on the apron coming in.

That's what made the difference.

And you were the second, you were the second fastest car on the apron in race one, which is also pretty good.

Yes. Behind me.

I knew, I knew that was good.

Are you the only reason, the only reason he would've said that is if he was number one.

I was waiting for that . Wait,

Wait, wait.

No, wait. I saw, I saw, I saw pit metrics

and you were second to me.

No, Because there was only one green.

There was only one Green Apron.

I know. Yeah.

Oh, I, I was told it was me. No we're gonna

For the first time In history, I was send you screenshots because I saw we doing it Actual fact check.

I saw me and then I saw Rossi and I was like, that explains the moments because if you saw my onboard as well, I was dying coming into the apron .

Oh dude, I love that so much.

Well, okay, so Iowa's done Iowa is um, was the site of your 50th, sorry, your win in your 50th start a win again in your hundredth start.

So I guess we'll see you get another win in about 50 races , but no, I don't.

It is gonna be on the calendar in 50 races. Talk

Us through, well there might not be a calendar in 50 races.

Um, talk us through what, um, your, your goals are for the rest of the season.

Um, obviously, you know, IndyCar only has five races left.

Um, is there any plan for you to get into an F1 car in this upcoming, uh, off season for us end of the year for them?

Walk us through what your next couple months looks like.

I will be in the Formula one car, um, a day in September and then I believe a day in November I will be doing FP one in Mexico.

Uh, so I expect that week to be uh, what do you mean? Why, why,

Why Mexico?

Why Mexico? Is that like a

Because I think it's, I'm from there, so that probably makes sense.

No, it is just like, just 'cause Kit Kat wants it or something. ,

I expect that weekend to be crazy as usual.

I'm looking forward to it. Um, and then

otherwise, um, for the IndyCar season, I've got some tracks that, you know, have been very strong for me in the team in the past, but there's also some tracks that have been very bad for us in the past.

AKA Toronto, that's probably been the worst track ever for me and the team.

Um, so that's this weekend, we'll see how that goes. Um, just

Tell, just tell will, just don't break it down.

Throw that, just tell Willow to throw that 20 16 17 set up on there and you'll be fine. ,

We're on gonna, Man, it's gonna be fine.

It's gonna be fine. It's like, hey, what? Whatever else

I'm determined, I'm determined to make Toronto, uh, top five for me.

I'll be very happy with the top five.

Um, and I don't know, I mean this, this year's full, full of surprises.

You never know might find myself in the fast six and I'll make my Sunday much easier.

Uh, or at least that's what you, you hope so .

Um, and yeah man, I'm just, I'm I'm gonna continue with the same approach really.

You know, I'm, I'm trying to really maximize my weekends and sometimes, sometimes they're gonna be great and sometimes they might not be amazing.

Right. But I think it's important to,

to just keep yourself there and, and people are making mistakes.

It's, those mistakes add up to a lot of points at the end of the year if you capitalize on them.

And that's what, uh, that's what I'm looking forward to.

That's what we've been saying. I mean,

you go right back to St.

Pete, Paolo is the fourth quickest car, but he won that race because they made no mistakes and everyone in front of him did.

Um, alright buddy, we really appreciate coming out.

I I just wanna end on one last question and then we'll let you go.

How long have you known that your number one fan was Kit Dixon?

I've only known since last year.

Oh, okay. Oh, that's known.

So you've known for a minute. Okay.

Yeah, I've only known for, see, that was, that was actually the, the, the, the race that I found out in Iowa where he's like, well, I want you to win.

And his dad, you know, though, Scott was right next to me .

And I was like, dude, you don't know.

You don't know how good you have it.

Your dad's like, no guy.

Your your dad's, your dad's the goat, you know?

Um, but he's, he's such a good kid.

And right when I was about to fly out on, on uh, on Sunday, um, I was, we were literally were about to close the close the door of the airplane and they were coming on the golf cart 'cause they were, um, Scott and his family was flying out, uh, next to us and he basically, he like got out of the golf cart and he like sprinted to the airplane.

And my mom was like, oh my God, that's so cute. .

So then I like grabbed the trophy and I like brought it down so we can take a picture.

Um, but he, it was the Content, the internet needed that day, man. Everybody loved

It.

Yeah, no, he's, he's such a good kid. It's a great family.

Um, you know, it was, uh, it was really cool, a really cool, 'cause I really wanted a picture with him on the podium, but Emma was like, no, I didn't wanna run in, uh, run in and you know, ruin a special moment.

I was like, it wasn't gonna be ruined.

You should send him, uh, send him mean he lives just down the street.

Give, send him a gift package of paddle gear to wear around the house.

Really get into Scott's Head.

Yeah, I might, I might, I might send him something.

Scott's good in Toronto so before the weekend.

Make sure you send him some Stuff.

I feel like Alex is already planning what type of punishment Ben would get if he ever pulled anything like that.

Like how long he'd be grounded.

No, no, no, Ben, Ben doesn't speak yet, but he is already given like the number five so I already know where it's going. ,

Whatever. . Alright

Buddy, thanks so much.