WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Quietly, Sebastien Bourdais is sealing his legacy in American open-wheel racing.

Bourdais dominated the second half of Sunday’s IndyCar race at the Milwaukee Mile, pulling away from the field on a late restart and beating Helio Castroneves to the finish line by 2.236 seconds.

It was the second win of the season for the KVSH Racing driver, who also won the second race at Detroit. And it was the 34th of his career — tying him with Al Unser Jr. for seventh on the all-time victory list.

“I respect the stats, because obviously you put yourself on a very special list with very respected and great drivers,” Bourdais said. “But I don’t live for stats. I don’t look back in the rear-view mirror. It’s just not me. So I just enjoy it and have fun with it.”

Graham Rahal finished third, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya and Josef Newgarden.

MILWAUKEE MILE: Bourdais pulls away late to win Wisconsin 250

Bourdais qualified 11th earlier Sunday and didn’t necessarily expect that to be the kind of effort that would put him in place to run for a victory.

“It felt pretty good off the truck and I thought, ‘This could be a pretty good weekend,’ ” Bourdais said. “And then we messed up qualifying. Never did I think we could come up through the field and pass everybody. It’s just unbelievable. It’s what these places do to you. When the car is right, it’s so, so special.”

It’s something of a return to form for Bourdais, who had an incredible streak of four straight championships in the Champ Car series as the series was nearing its end after the CART-IRL split. If not for his brief and largely unproductive flirtation with a career in Formula One, it’s possible he’d be even higher on the all-time victory list.

Even Bourdais seems to put those Champ Car titles in context himself, noting that there were perhaps six drivers who could give him a run for his money — and now there are perhaps 15 who can win on any given race weekend.

“You’re only as good as your car is, and you can only dominate as much as the field allows you to,” Bourdais said.

Q&A: Bourdais on perfects laps, Paul Newman and his current team

Those titles, however, have the respect of other drivers.

“He’s not a champion four times by luck,” Castroneves said. “He definitely has talent, and it looks like the combination with his team this year, it’s paying off.”

Said Rahal: “I was his teammate, so I saw all sides of him. But when it’s his day, he’s damn hard to beat. That’s just the truth.”

Even at age 36, the French driver is showing he still can win races — and not just on road courses, although that remains his specialty. Sunday’s win was his fifth on an oval, and his first oval win since Milwaukee in 2006.

TEAM PENSKE: Has uncharacteristic struggles at Milwaukee Mile

Bourdais said he is more composed now than when he first returned to Indy-style racing. Before, he felt pressure to live up to his previous performances and made mistakes that made him look, in his own words, “like an idiot.”

“People are expecting me to be Sebastien Bourdais from 2004 to 2007,” Bourdais said. “And it was just impossible. I tried to do the impossible.”

Meanwhile, not much changed in terms of the IndyCar championship standings, as Montoya slipped from second to fourth in the closing laps — but it could have been much worse. He earned a drive-through penalty for a pit road speeding violation just before the race’s halfway point, dropping him out of the top five all the way back to 15th. Montoya continues to lead the IndyCar Series points with 439. Scott Dixon is second with 385.

“It was a hell of a day,” Montoya said. “We just need to keep it going.”