TORONTO — In an NTT IndyCar Series event that’s typically dominated by a driver starting on the front row, it was the ninth, 10th and 13th-place starters that filled out the podium for Sunday’s (July 20) Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.
Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren took the win after leading 30 of the race’s 90 laps and scored the ninth win of his IndyCar career to become the third multi-time winner of 2025. Behind him were two unlikely standouts: runner-up Rinus Veekay — recording his best IndyCar finish since 2021 — and third-place Kyffin Simpson, who scored his first-ever podium in his second full-time IndyCar season.
“It was incredible,” Simpson said of his result.
“That was an awesome race,” said Veekay, who scored Dale Coyne Racing’s first podium since 2023. “We really had the feeling that we could do this today.”
Veekay’s No. 18 team and Simpson’s No. 8 team played the strategy game to perfection in Toronto by running the first 16 laps on the green soft tires — longer than anyone else. They lost their track position at the start, but they ran long enough to complete a two-stop strategy while everyone else who started on the greens was forced to pit three times.
“We qualified ninth and did a bit of a different strategy to others,” Veekay explained. “Which in the crazy race it was today, was the right thing. So great team effort to go with that strategy.”
A few cautions fell their way early in the race, and they suddenly found themselves in the catbird’s seat.
“At no point I thought we were one of the quickest cars,” Simpson said. “I think we had pace — we weren’t one of the slowest cars — but early on it was looking like it wasn’t going to be a very good race for us. Got that turned around really quick, and we ended up with a really good spot (through strategy) after that.”
Veekay led 16 of the race’s 90 laps, and he was keeping O’Ward — the leader of the three-stop strategy — at bay before the pair’s final round of pit stops with 33 laps to go. O’Ward pitted one lap after Veekay and successfully completed the overcut that ultimately served as the pass for the win.
“I think I and the team did everything we could,” Veekay said. “Pato only did 20 laps on that set of tires before the final pit stop, so he had a lot shorter fill on fuel. At the end, we were waiting for a full tank to fill up, so that’s where we lost some time. …
“I really tried my best and tried to save some tires to hope to get close to him at the end with some back markers, but in the end, that was really all I could do. I think I maximized today and the whole team maximized, so everybody’s really happy, and I think everybody in the team should be very proud.”
For Simpson, his Toronto podium marks his fourth consecutive top 10 on a road course or street course and his fifth top 10 of the season.
“Really since the Indy GP this year we’ve been really strong on all the road courses and street courses,” Simpson said. “And yeah, I think just having a lot of races back-to-back is always helpful for me personally, just to have the consistency of being in the car. …
“Chip Ganassi Racing’s done a great job helping me out and teaching me how to race IndyCars, and I’ve learned so much from Scott (Dixon) and Alex (Palou), and they’ve just helped me develop so much over the last two years. I owe a lot of thanks to them.”
After career days in Toronto, Veekay and Simpson will strive to be one and two spots better, respectively, for next Sunday’s (July 27) race at Laguna Seca Raceway.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf