Pato O'Ward compares St. Louis battle with Conor Daly to 2023 Texas duel with Josef Newgarden

Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward recently spoke about his race at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500, where he placed second. The 26-year-old compared himself and Juncos Hollinger Racing driver Conor Daly going side by side with his 2023 Texas race battle with Josef Newgarden.

The Mexican drives the #5 Arrow McLaren car powered by Chevrolet. He put in a lap at an average speed of 135.931 mph to finish in second place at the WWT Raceway. O'Ward had multiple battles throughout the race, but the one that stood out the most was the battle for first place with Conor Daly, who was leading the race at lap 149.

While on the podcast SpeedStreet hosted by Conor Daly and Chase Holden, O'Ward compared his battle with the podcast host to his battle with Josef Newgarden in Texas in 2023. He said:

"Really good race. And I have to say it's been a while since I've had such good battles like that. It reminded me of Josef and I in Texas 2023. Like you know, like you and I going side by side, by just pure racing, pure like, you know, just getting after it like just getting on the limit." (1:05:15 onwards)

"Yeah, yes, right on the limit, giving each other exactly what you need in order to be able to do that, like that, that is what people want to see like. If I had a child, I would have told him that's the ending to the Indy 500. Yeah, you know, I thought that was phenomenal and just it was amazing to be a part of it," he added.

During the 2023 Texas race, Pato O'Ward dominated most of the race as he led 91 laps. However, he soon got into a battle for first place with Josef Newgarden, and it was the latter who emerged victorious.

As for Pato O'Ward's season so far, it is off to a strong start, as he managed to claim pole position for the Arrow McLaren team at the Thermal Club Grand Prix held on March 23 and finished the race in 2nd place. During the Detroit Grand Prix, he qualified in 18th place but fought his way up the grid to finish in 7th spot.

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Pato O'Ward speaks out after Kyle Kirkwood wins at the WWT Raceway

Pato O'Ward opened up about his race at the WWT Raceway. However, the 26-year-old was disappointed despite a second-place finish. The #5 car driver looked very strong through the race and seemed like the favorite to win, but during the restart, everything came undone.

David Malukas suffered a crash, which eventually brought out the yellow flags. At the restart, Kyle Kirkwood was behind Nolan Siegel, and he managed to slip past the latter and claim victory.

While talking to Jack Harvey during his post-race interview, Pato O'Ward was questioned if the yellow was poorly timed. The driver replied, saying (via IndyCar on Fox)

"No not poorly timed yellow today. You know, I hope it was an amazing show for all your fans. It's fantastic to be racing back under the lights here again. And I was really happy with my car. Just not last a little bit of restart. I think good old Nolan was sleeping a little bit." (0:08 onwards)

"And I think that you gave Kirkwood an opportunity and I was kind of stuck so yeah, I just think it was a bit of a hiccup there, but all in all of a very good points day for for the Arrow Mclaren number 5 Chevy. And I just, I can't, I would've locked up gotten that for team Chevy, you know. We're still winning less, over here , but we're going to keep pushing," he added.

Pato O'Ward is currently standing in second place in the drivers' championship with 262 points.