MONTEREY, Calif. — Alex Palou didn’t have the right strategy last week at Toronto, but he had the best strategy Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
The strategy? Just win, baby.
Alex Palou celebrates after winning the NTT INDYCAR Series Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
OK, it wasn’t that simple.
He did have the strategy he needed to dominate in leading 84 of the 95 laps to capture his eighth victory of the season. That’s the most for an INDYCAR driver since 2007, when Sebastien Bourdais won eight races.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver extended his points lead to 121 over Pato O’Ward, who finished fourth, with three races remaining.
“It’s never over until it’s over,” Palou said. “I think I proved that [with a mistake] at Mid-Ohio, and we have seen that previously as properly.
“Truthfully, I’d not commerce our factors for anyone. I’d not commerce our place, and I’d not ask for something extra or something much less. However it’s not executed till it is executed. We nonetheless must win it. We nonetheless must preserve our heads down and try to win extra races.”
Alex Palou celebrates his win at Laguna Seca
Palou doesn’t must win extra races, although. He simply must common a Sixteenth-place end over the ultimate three. He would clinch the title with a 108-point lead following the subsequent race in two weeks at Portland Worldwide Raceway, a street course the place Palou has two profession victories.
The ultimate two races come on the ovals at Milwaukee and Nashville.
If Palou wins at Portland or finishes second and earns a bonus level for the pole or main a lap, he would clinch the title it doesn’t matter what O’Ward does in that race. O’Ward is the one driver who mathematically has an opportunity on the title.
“It’s a tall job, however nonetheless mathematically doable,” O’Ward stated. “Is it possible? In all probability not, however we will carry on pushing. … We by no means actually obtained worse than fifth this month. So 5 races within the high 5 and two of these being wins. That is fairly superior.
Pato O’Ward throughout INDYCAR’s race at Laguna Seca
“Portland’s additionally been very tough for us. So it is one other observe, sort of like this one, the place hopefully we’ll have a very good qualifying after which simply try to have a very good race on from there.”
O’Ward matched his greatest end at Laguna. In some other season, the Arrow McLaren driver can be thought of to be having a strong 12 months.
“We’re second within the championship, however we’ve been the most effective of the remainder,” O’Ward stated. “The ten automotive [of Palou] has had a fairly unbelievable season.”
Palou has received the final two championships and three of the final 4. However this season, he has reached one other degree.
“Even when he makes a mistake, the staff makes a mistake, they make it up one way or the other, which I really feel like we’re all sort of struggling to do in a way,” stated O’Ward teammate Christian Lundgaard, who completed second on Sunday. “They’re there each single time. You need to give them kudos for being that aggressive each time, they usually’ve raised the bar.
Christian Lundgaard previous to the inexperienced flag at Laguna Seca
“I believed I had a tremendously good begin to the season, and I used to be nonetheless method behind the ten automotive [of Palou] within the championship after 5 races, and I had three podiums. The one distinction is he received 4 out of these.”
Now he has eight of these. The file is 10 by A.J. Foyt in 1964 and Al Unser in 1970.
Palou thinks 10 is feasible and doesn’t thoughts speaking about it, in comparison with speaking about whether or not the championship is over.
“Evidently it is a whole lot of work to make it, however I do not thoughts listening to that [possibility],” Palou stated. “Everytime you hear that you’re in an opportunity of creating one thing that is so historic and so robust to do, it motivates us.”
There may need been some motivation after a Twelfth-place end at Toronto, the place the staff’s technique when it got here to when to placed on the exhausting and comfortable tires ended up biting them. That was due to extra cautions than that they had predicted.
Palou had no points Sunday in main the ultimate 59 laps, together with holding off the sphere on two restarts within the closing 15 laps at one in every of his favourite tracks, one the place he now has three profession victories.
“In all probability the quantity of laps I did on the simulator right here after I was a child helps,” Palou stated. “It was my favourite observe after I was a child.
“I believe it is probably the most iconic — if not essentially the most iconic — street course that we’ve.”
Whereas Palou made it look straightforward, O’Ward, in ending fourth, embraced the wrestle.
“I used to be attempting to get absolutely the most out of the automotive. Each level counts. And simply capitalizing on individuals’s errors,” O’Ward stated. “I had lots quicker guys behind me.
“Our greatest hope when it comes to tempo was going to be a high 10, however we salvaged the fourth. I felt very, very weak on the market. I simply could not get efficiency out of it.”
And Palou obtained most efficiency, simply as he has executed a number of occasions this 12 months.
“It is loopy efficiency,” O’Ward stated. “He’s performing on the highest degree that anybody can ask him to do. He is actually been the category of the sphere to this point this 12 months and has been the previous few years.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports activities. He has spent a long time overlaying motorsports, together with over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting Information, NASCAR Scene journal and The (Daytona Seashore) Information-Journal. Observe him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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