Pato O'Ward. Ayrton Breckenridge/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Pato O'Ward earns first win of 2025 IndyCar season after battle with familiar foe

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Jul 12, 2025 11:33 PM ET

Pato O'Ward didn't just beat anybody when he won Saturday's NTT IndyCar Series Synk 275 at Iowa Speedway.

O'Ward held off two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden, who led 232 laps of Saturday's race after starting from the pole.

It was Newgarden who handed O'Ward what is quite possibly the most heartbreaking loss one can suffer in auto racing: a last-lap defeat in the Indianapolis 500, which happened in 2024. On that fateful day, Newgarden broke the hearts of O'Ward and his legion of followers.

Newgarden's 2025 performance prior to Saturday's race at Iowa was not what you would expect from a two-time Indy 500 winner. Newgarden was 19th in the standings going into the race weekend, bringing up the rear of a struggling Penske stable. O'Ward came into Saturday's race third in the championship, but still searching for his first win of the season.

After a slight mistake by Newgarden's pit crew, O'Ward came out in front of Newgarden following the final round of green flag pit stops. Despite a rash of late yellow, O'Ward held on to score his eighth career win in his 100th start - and got one back on Newgarden.

PATO PASSES NEWGARDEN OFF PIT LANE pic.twitter.com/TFEClUlAtw
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 12, 2025

"He's the guy that I've been most around to win races," O'Ward said of Newgarden in his post-race news conference. "If it wasn't for him, I'd have a lot more wins. He's a tough competitor. I've studied him. I know how to race him. He gets what he gives. If he was flirting with fire there, that's what I was going to give him."

"We beat them at their own game. Great job."@PatricioOWard was ready to celebrate in Victory Lane with his @ArrowMcLaren team pic.twitter.com/vheqzXFq5m
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 13, 2025

"You get to these points in your career, and for me especially, today when I got behind him, I said ,'today is the day that's going to change'," O'Ward continued. "I knew I had all the pieces in place to beat him at his own game."

Iowa certainly isn't Indy, but Saturday's win was likely a little bit sweeter for O'Ward, given who he had to beat in order to snag checkered flag.

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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