Pato O’Ward came into Barber Motorsports Park riding a wave of three consecutive top five finishes, but that momentum came to an abrupt halt after finishing 17th on Sunday.

It was an uncharacteristic weekend considering the Mexican’s success around the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course, which is highlighted by one win (2022), two additional top fives and a sixth-place result in six previous starts.

After starting 12th in the #5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, O’Ward never came close to breaking into the top 10. In fact, he went the opposite direction moments after taking the green flag. While he sputtered to a season-worst result, teammate Christian Lundgaard put on a charge from 10th to second, only losing out on a potential win due to a pit miscue on the final stop.

The outing for O’Ward relegated him from third to sixth in the championship standings after four races, 50 points behind overall leader Kyle Kirkwood (156-106).

“It was a really difficult day for us here at Barber,” said O’Ward, 26. “I don't have an answer right now as to why we struggled. I'm happy to see the 7 with Christian get a podium; I know they were fighting there for the win. There are things we need to work on as a team, but I'm glad one of the cars from the team was strong.”

A significant reason why O’Ward is puzzled by the performance is the similarities in setup between his car and the one Lundgaard drove to a runner-up finish.

“We need to see where we went wrong, but we weren't all that different than their car, so it was a very confusing day and one of those weekends where I felt helpless inside of the race car,” O’Ward said.

And O’Ward went further, expressing this lowly result provided motivation moving forward.

"The good thing about getting beat like this is you kick it into a different gear,” he said. “We'll be pushing hard to make sure we don't let something like this happen again." 

David Malukas “learned a lot” with tire strategy to take fourth at Barber

Graham Rahal ends 41-race podium drought with third-place Barber finish

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.