By Tony DiZinno

Recent observers of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES over the last decade or so will remember two year-long marketing taglines for better or worse.

“Indy Rivals.”

“Defy Everything.”

What if I told you that “Indy Rivals” during the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s weekend – 507 total miles of racing – would be the series’ most popular driver versus one of the series’ key leaders?

And “Defy Everything” would be the crowd, the racing and the vibes absolutely obliterating the low expectations most had going into, candidly, what might be Milwaukee’s last chance to return to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule?

Sounds like the start of an inconceivable movie plot, but it was actually the reality after a vibe-enhanced weekend that shifted in tone so much from the start of the weekend to the end of it.

To channel Bill Hader’s famous “Stefon” character from NBC’s Saturday Night Live, a recurring character in the early 2010s, Milwaukee had “everything.”

It had the race one podium finishers actively trolling comments made by Penske Entertainment President and CEO Mark Miles’ inadvertent own goal quoted as saying Pato O’Ward was not as popular as Mexico’s most recent popular driver, Adrian Fernandez, but improving enough to be on billboards.

It had drivers racing blind into the setting sun on Saturday evening, basically unable to see but powering through anyway.

It had Conor Daly, a driver who thought his IndyCar career was all but left for dead, not only racing again but also delivering his first podium in eight years and Juncos Hollinger Racing’s first ever as a team. Daly channeled his early 2010s championship level of performance and mirrored the high-line form of Tomas Scheckter.

It had the championship leader, Alex Palou’s, car incurring an electrical fault Sunday before the green flag even flew.

It had Josef Newgarden, two races after a controversial restart at the last short oval race at World Wide Technology Raceway, getting taken out from the pole when the second race tried to go green on Sunday. It had Newgarden finishing 26th and 27th in two races, with two crashes, something inconceivable to believe given his short oval dominance in recent years.

It had Will Power snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in channeling his early 2010s oval bad luck with a spin just before a restart, once again unable to claw back points against a Chip Ganassi Racing championship rival looking for back-to-back titles (Dario Franchitti back then) driving a No. 10 Honda. Now he’ll enter the finale in Nashville 33 points behind Palou, now driving a DHL-sponsored car, 12 years after going to the Fontana finale 17 points ahead of a DHL-sponsored car then driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay and losing that lead and title there.

It had Dale Coyne Racing’s Katherine Legge leading two laps officially, and DCR posting three top-16 finishes of four possible races as Legge and Jack Harvey happily and welcomely improved mightily from a disastrous June test.

It had Santino Ferrucci matching new local sponsor Phoenix Investors in rising like one, an absolute rocket driving the Michael Cannon-engineered, Didier Francesia-led-crewed No. 14 Chevrolet to a pair of fourth place finishes. The A.J. Foyt Enterprises driver was the only driver of 27 in the field to post two top-five finishes. He’s closing on a ninth place finish in the championship, still 10th with one race to go.

It had Linus Lundqvist quietly clinch NTT INDYCAR SERIES rookie-of-the-year honors, Chip Ganassi Racing’s second consecutive driver to do so after Marcus Armstrong did so in 2023 despite racing only the road and street course races.

It had Chevrolet also quietly clinch the NTT INDYCAR SERIES manufacturer’s championship, its second in a row and ninth since its 2012 series return.

It had cream puffs getting smashed into drivers’ faces on the podium.

It had almost everyone running out of tires in race two.

It had back-to-back record-setting amounts of on-track passes, for-position passes, and single-race record passes.

And best of all to match the great racing, it had great weather, it had a better than expected crowd, and it had phenomenal vibes.

“It’s the backbone of our sport. I thought it was great. The crowd was awesome. Yeah, it was an awesome weekend,” said race two winner and recent “Jersey Shore” – also an early 2010s staple – new viewer Scott McLaughlin.

“Honestly, I thought the racing was a lot better than we all expected, as well. Yeah, that’s props to INDYCAR. That’s props to Firestone. The drivers, as well. There were a couple incidents, but we were mostly pretty good.”

Scott Dixon, race two runner-up added, “Honestly, the crowds were a lot better than I thought they were going to be coming back, especially for a doubleheader. It’s hard to do that. I think next year, obviously for a one-day event, will be fantastic. It’s always hard when it’s a new date, you’re coming back for a time. Congratulations to INDYCAR and everybody that made what the two-day event was. Doubleheaders are hard to pull off.”

The race one podium was effusive as well after the first race of the weekend.

“My first time here in Milwaukee, so I don’t know what to compare to. But this was fantastic,” said Pato O’Ward. “Really been amazing. It was a pretty good race. We could get through traffic and stuff like that, so that usually means it’s eventful pretty much everywhere but leaders.”

“Here was a lot of passing, back and forth. I thought the crowd was really good, too. Sounded awesome once you got out of the car, the cheer of the crowd,” Power added.

The praise from the drivers about the crowd and the racing was near universal, especially because it was hard to project what either was going to be.

There were some natural first-year back event hiccups, but nothing that can’t be overcome in the future. Challenges related to seating and infield versus garage versus pit pass access were among them, particularly with regards to the number of passes available and the redemption point being under the tunnel on the infield. Penske Entertainment, working in tandem with them, hit local media hard in the preceding weeks and made its presence felt on digital and social media.

The crowds felt energized walking the State Fair Park grounds, as most vendors in the area were open. Sunday in particular felt better ahead of the second race of the weekend.

Sunday’s chaotic second race start threatened to damage the positive momentum built over Saturday in the run-up. But it improved mightily from there.

It was a weekend that defied the relatively low expectations going in, and gives more to build on rather than regret.