Rainy Milwaukee: INDYCAR To Resume Saturday Race After Sunday Event

Milwaukee — Alex Palou will have to wait at least one more day before winning his fifth INDYCAR championship.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver had a shot Saturday in the first race of a doubleheader weekend at The Milwaukee Mile, but rains forced INDYCAR to suspend the race after 90 of the scheduled 250 laps. 

With at least 126 laps needed for an official event, INDYCAR had hoped to resume at 9 a.m. ET on Sunday. But after heavy overnight rains that lingered into the early morning, INDYCAR opted to push it to Sunday evening – after the "second" race of the doubleheader that will run as scheduled at 1 p.m. ET on FOX.

INDYCAR will give teams three hours between the races, and hope to resume the first race at 6 p.m. ET, which should be plenty of time before it gets dark.

"The weather keeps it real interesting for us," Andretti Global driver Will Power said on the FS1 telecast.

FOX Weather predicts a 10 percent chance of rain the remainder of Sunday.

INDYCAR officials say they need three hours between the events for teams that need to change engines or make any other necessary repairs.

Palou entered the race 91 points ahead of Kyle Kirkwood and 110 points of Christian Lundgaard. He needed to be 108 points ahead of both after the first race in order to clinch the crown. After the doubleheader is completed, all he needs to be ahead by is 54 points as the season ends Sept. 4 at the Laguna Seca road course in Monterey, Calif.

After 90 laps Saturday, Pato O’Ward was the leader, followed by Felix Rosenqvist, Alexander Rossi, Josef Newgarden, Christian Lundgaard and Kyle Kirkwood.

Palou was 13th, one spot behind David Malukas, who had stopped most recently and potentially is in the best position when the race resumes. 

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