Favorites and Sleepers: Milwaukee

For the second consecutive year, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to the Milwaukee Mile. Prior to 2024, the series last visited the historic track in 2015. Unlike last year’s return, which featured a doubleheader format, this year's race weekend shifts to a single, 250-lap showdown.

Team Penske dominated much of last year’s action. The team swept the top three spots in the June Open Test, secured both NTT P1 Awards thanks to Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin and capped the weekend with McLaughlin’s Race 2 victory. Pato O’Ward, driving the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, captured the win in Race 1.

Who comes out on top for Sunday’s Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 airing at 2 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX One, Fox Sports app and INDYCAR Radio Network?

Favorites

Josef Newgarden (No. 2 Snap-on Team Penske Chevrolet)

Newgarden crashed out of each race last year, finishing 26th and 27th. Also, his 2025 oval campaign has been riddled with misfortune: a mechanical failure while racing in the top five in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge (finished 22nd), an incident while leading at World Wide Technology Raceway (25th) and strategy misfires in both races at Iowa (second and 10th). Still, he’s a two-time fifth-place finisher at Milwaukee and always a threat on ovals.

Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 Sonsio Vehicle Protection Team Penske Chevrolet)

McLaughlin rebounded from an eighth-place result in Race 1 last year to win Race 2. His 2025 oval results have been inconsistent: 30th, 24th, fourth and 26th, but he’s shown he can get it right when it counts. In 16 short-oval starts between Iowa Speedway, World Wide Technology Raceway, Nashville Superspeedway and Milwaukee, McLaughlin has 12 top-five finishes.

Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet)

O’Ward won the opener in Milwaukee last year before mechanical issues led to a 24th-place finish in Race 2. He's been consistently strong on ovals this season: third in the Indy 500, second at WWTR and first and fifth in the Iowa doubleheader. That gives him 168 oval points, the most among all drivers. O’Ward has tallied four wins, nine runner-up finishes and 23 top-five results in 31 career oval starts.

Alex Palou (No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda)

Palou has tallied 167 points on ovals this season, one shy of tying O’Ward for the most. He is also one of only three drivers to record top-10 finishes in all four oval races this season. He won the Indy 500 (superspeedway) and Iowa Race 2 (short oval), and placed fifth in Iowa Race 1 and eighth at WWTR.

Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet)

Power finished second and 10th in last year’s Milwaukee races. He won in 2014 at Milwaukee, leading 229 laps, and was fastest in testing there last year. He also scored three top-four finishes in his four Milwaukee starts before last season.

Sleepers

David Malukas (No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet)

Malukas finished second in the Indy 500 and led the most laps at WWTR before a late-race error dropped him to 12th. He also placed 12th and fourth at Iowa and has the third-most oval points this season.

Santino Ferrucci (No. 14 Phoenix Investors Chevrolet)

Ferrucci was a model of consistency last year with two fourth-place finishes at Milwaukee. This season, he placed fifth in both the Indy 500 and WWTR and added eighth- and 15th-place finishes at Iowa. That’s good enough for the sixth-most oval points.

Christian Rasmussen (No. 21 ECR Splenda Stevia Chevrolet)

Rasmussen is another one of the three drivers, alongside O’Ward and Palou, to earn top-10 finishes in all four oval races this year. He finished sixth in the Indy 500, third at WWTR, and sixth and eighth at Iowa. He ranks fourth for most oval points (117) this season.

Marcus Armstrong (No. 66 St. Thomas University Honda)

Armstrong tied a career-best finish of third in Race 2 this year at Iowa Speedway. He has accumulated the ninth-most oval points this season and finished ninth at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Conor Daly (No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet)

Daly impressed with a third-place finish in Race 1 last year at Milwaukee. This season, he’s been steady on ovals with finishes of eighth, sixth, seventh and 16th. His 94 points are tied with Felix Rosenqvist for seventh-most on ovals in the series.