Alex Palou’s Mistake in Portland Makes IndyCar Title Clinch More Complicated
It was a rare mistake from the three-time champion
One of the things that makes Alex Palou one of the best IndyCar drivers of all time, at just 28 years old, is his almost surgical precision on track.
Going into the third-to-last race weekend in Portland, Palou had only made one costly mistake all season, and that came at Mid-Ohio, handing a win over to his teammate Scott Dixon.
Unfortunately, on Saturday in qualifying, Palou made another, and while it didn't cost him a win, it did make clinching the title in Portland quite a bit trickier.
Palou entered the weekend 121 points up on the only driver that can still challenge him for the title, Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward, and if he leaves Portland up 108 points or more, he's the champion even before we get to the final two races in Milwaukee and Nashville.
As you might expect at this point, Palou and O'Ward both made it through two rounds of qualifying and into the Fast 6 along with Team Penske's Will Power, Meyer Shank Racing's Felix Rosenqvist, AJ Foyt Racing's David Malukas, and Arrow McLaren's Christian Lundgaard.
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As time was winding down, Power — the best qualifier in IndyCar history — was on provisional pole, but all five drivers behind him were putting in faster laps. This included Palou.
However, just as it looked like Palou might have a shot at pole, he overcooked it into a corner and locked up before going off into the grass and hitting a tire barrier with his front wing.
That's a bummer, and it meant that Palou finished qualifying in P6 while his title rival O'Ward qualified on the front row in P2.
However, that's not where either one will start, and that's because Lundgaard is the one who took pole. Before the session began, it was announced that the Lundgaard's No. 7 Chevrolet was one of several cars that needed a new engine. This engine happened to be his fifth of the season, one over the allotted four.
So, that's a six-place grid penalty, meaning Lundgaard did a great job of minimizing the damage and will start P7, while O'Ward will lead the field to green in P1, and Palou will start on the inside of the third row in P5.
This is an ideal scenario for O'Ward to keep his title hopes alive; he just probably would've liked a few more cars between himself and Palou, who can certainly win a race from the third row.
The BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland gets underway at 3 PM ET on Fox.