LEXINGTON, OH — Mid-Ohio is known for its hills. Well, both Pato O’Ward and Josef Newgarden have tall hills to climb on Sunday. O’Ward spun in qualifying early and as a result, will starts 25th. Newgarden, in the same group in Round 1 as O’Ward, also didn’t advance out and will roll off 15th.

By comparison, the guy they’re chasing in points, Alex Palou, starts fourth. Marcus Ericsson is also one spot ahead of them in points and rolls off ninth.

For O’Ward and the entire Arrow McLaren Racing team, they were all after redemption this weekend at Mid-Ohio for how last year went when O’Ward started on the pole but saw a mechanical failure while leading. Felix Rosenqvist started fourth and finished last after a similar issue.

“Last year, Mid-Ohio brought heartbreaks with our two cars suffering reliability issues after qualifying on pole and running up front,” said racing director of McLaren, Gavin Ward. “You could say that this year we’re looking for redemption.

“We’ve had the pace to fight at the front everywhere this year, so we’re quietly confident coming back here with a focus on continual improvement and enjoying the process of building a better race team week-in, week-out.”

Rosenqvist’s troubles ended his day on Lap 8. He’d finish last in the 27-car field. O’Ward led the opening 28 laps but towards the end of the first stint, he began to feel troubles with his car. They called it quits after 52 laps which left him 24th.

“Mid-Ohio is the exact halfway point of the season. As a team, I feel like we have some unfinished business there because of what happened last year with our cars,” O’Ward said. I can’t wait to get back and keeping building our momentum.”

He finished 24th. With starting now 25th, can he flip the script on Sunday?

“It was my mistake. I just feel for the team,” O’Ward said. “We had a really fast car, but that doesn’t mean we can’t go forward tomorrow, right? It was all on me. I just lost the rear. It got to an angle where I couldn’t save it, and I stalled it as soon as I got into the grass. It sucks. You’re taking these cars to the limit, and sometimes these things will happen.

“It’s probably not going to be the last time it happens, so you just have to look forward. At least this isn’t a race; this is just qualifying. The race is super long, so we can make a lot of spots when you have a comfortable car underneath you. We’ll go forward tomorrow; I have no doubt in my mind.”

Outside of his pole, O’Ward has qualified 15th, 21st, and 20th here. This is the first time all season he hasn’t started in the top 10 as seven of his previous eight tries, he qualified in the top 3 rows.

For Newgarden, this is the third time in the last five races he qualified 13th or worse. He did win from 17th in the Indy 500, but he also only finished seventh from starting 13th on the Indy road course too.