A Chaotic Doubleheader - IndyCar 2026 Rounds 16 and 17 Recap

The final two oval rounds of the season came in the form of the doubleheader at the Milwaukee Mile. Rain mixed the schedule up a lot, but we still got 500 miles of incredible racing action as the championship enters its final stages. Let's take a look at some of the notable stories of the weekend.

O'Ward's Weekend Sweep

Pato O'Ward has always been comfortable on the ovals, so it's no surprise that he performed well this weekend.

Interestingly, due to the way the schedule worked out, O'Ward found himself leading two races at the same time, and he's the first driver since Rick Mears to win two IndyCar races on the same day.

A Statement Result From Lundgaard

Tony Kanaan said one of the reasons for releasing Christian Lundgaard was his results on the ovals. He grabbed two top-10s today, including a podium. He was strong all day, making good moves and displaying a strong racing IQ, despite his pit crew doing their best to screw him over in both races.

So, TK, do you still think Lundgaard is bad at ovals?

Call Him Five-Time

It was always a long shot for Alex Palou to lose the championship, even after the awful weekend at DC. After the conclusion of race 1, he clinched his fifth IndyCar championship with one race to spare. While he had some time at the front, it was just a consistent weekend more than anything else, with a 5th in race 2 and a 10th in race 1. It hasn't been as dominant of a season as we saw last year, but 6 wins is hard to overcome. We've said it all year: Alex Palou is inevitable.

Andretti Is Andretti

Good news: the pit stops were clean for Andretti Global.

Bad news: the drivers imploded.

Will Power had a shot at a win in both races, but had a speeding penalty in race 2 and crashed in race 1. Kyle Kirkwood finished behind Palou in both races, ending his championship run going into Laguna Seca. Marcus Ericsson pulled in two top-10s, but was anonymous in both races and never really had a shot at going any better.

It seemed like things were moving in the right direction, but Andretti is still Andretti.

Penske's Woes

Team Penske put two cars in the top 5 in both races, and had three in the top-10 in race 1. That seems like a good weekend, but it could have been even more. Josef Newgarden crashed in race 2, although he was able to get the car back out to finish 100 laps down. David Malukas had a power issue in the final restart of race 1, costing him the lead and a shot at his first win. On top of all that, Penske suffered from tire wear issues all day, putting them on the back foot on strategy. Good day, but not as good as it could have been.

Poor Showing From Collet

A poor qualifying and lackluster race 2 from Caio Collet ultimately ended with him in the wall with just over 30 laps to go during the conclusion of race 1. Santino Ferrucci had his troubles as well, but Collet was definitely out of his element all weekend long.

Collet has had so much potential this season, but the results just aren't there. Some of it has been bad luck, but more of it has been driver error. If the rumors of him moving to the Hollinger team are true, he's going to need to clean things up a lot to prove himself a worthy teammate for Rinus VeeKay.

The Blue Flag Discussion

Nolan Siegel was in everyone's way all weekend long. Honda or Chevy, it didn't matter, and he ruined at least one race. It brings us once again to the question of blue flags.

I've said it before: I don't like F1-style command blues, and I don't like the archaic penalties that come with that system. However, a car laps down not fighting for anything shouldn't be getting involved in a lead-lap fight for position. There's a balance somewhere, and finding it protects the integrity of the sport.

The Championship Standings

The championship has been decided, but 2nd place is still up in the air. Christian Lundgaard jumps over Kyle Kirkwood, and Pato O'Ward is still in play. With Laguna Seca coming up, permanent road courses have been the strong suit of Lundgaard and McLaren. 4 points separate 2nd through 4th, so things can still change before the season's end.

At the bottom of the standings, it's still Sting Ray Robb, Caio Collet, and Mick Schumacher outside the Leader's Circle cutoff. Dennis Hauger sits 18 points to the good, while Christian Rasmussen is 31 points up, and Romain Grosjean is 42 points above the bubble.

As for Rookie of the Year, Collet slips behind Schumacher, 30 points behind Hauger, who retains the lead in that race.

One final race at one of the best tracks in the country. We'll see how this plays out.