Pato O’Ward certainly wanted to win last weekend’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES race at World Wide Technology Raceway, but finishing second allowed him to have an optimistic tone.

Nine races remain this season, and he stands second in the championship standings. He has won races at three of the eight venues still to come on the schedule, and he has finished second in races at two of the other tracks.

Thus, O’Ward is ready – and eager – for what’s to come.

“There’s plenty of racing to go,” the Arrow McLaren driver confidently said in the hour after the checkered flag at WWTR. “So much has happened already, so I expect the same for the next half of the championship.”

O’Ward had expected to have won a race this season by now, but that feeling is shared by many of the drivers not named Alex Palou (five wins) or Kyle Kirkwood (three wins). Still, O’Ward has finished second in three of the year’s first seven races, the most by any driver, and he is at least within shouting distance of the series lead. He trails Chip Ganassi Racing’s Palou by 73 points.

Mexican driver O’Ward has distinguished himself as one of the series’ top oval-track drivers, particularly on short ovals like Iowa Speedway, which hosts a doubleheader July 12-13, and the Milwaukee Mile, site of the season’s penultimate race Aug. 24. The driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet has won at both tracks in the past three years, including the sport’s return to Milwaukee race last year.

O’Ward also finished second in a 2022 race at Iowa and was second in last year’s season-ending race at Nashville Speedway, the other oval track still to come this year. Those results, plus past race wins at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (last year) and a pair of podium finishes at Road America, the site of this weekend’s XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, add to his confidence.

“All we need to do is just keep on our wagon and keep pushing forward, and yeah, we'll see if we're sitting pretty in Nashville,” said O’Ward, who has seven career series race wins.

Unfortunately, the challenge of catching and perhaps overtaking Palou for the series lead will be daunting. But O’Ward sees his deficit in a positive light; it could be worse, and it once was. After finishing third in last month’s Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, O’Ward trailed Indy winner Palou by 112 points.

O’Ward has gained ground on Palou this month by finishing ahead of him in each of the two races. O’Ward finished seventh and second, Palou finished 25th and eighth.

“The guy has been on a run (with) five wins or something,” O’Ward said of the driver seeking his third consecutive series championship and fourth in five years. “I’ve got zero wins – just got a handful of podiums.

“We need to start racking up some wins, and that'll make that points count come down a lot faster than what you're seeing now. I feel like we're just sitting at bay right there just waiting for our run to come, so hopefully that does come to life.

“Yeah, I think it's going to be a tight end to the championship.”

Sunday’s XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR will be live on FOX, FOX Deportes, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET.