PORTLAND, Ore. — Alex Palou, viewed by many as the 2025 INDYCAR champion-in-waiting, looks back on a year ago at Portland International Raceway knowing he had a solid day in second.
He also knows he got his butt kicked. Will Power won that race by an astonishing 9.82 seconds.
So it was a good result but one where Power had the better race. At the end, he also had the better tire choice for the 12-turn, 1.964-mile track located just north of downtown Portland and just south of Vancouver, Washington.
Can Will Power get the win again at Portland?
“He just destroyed us,” Palou said. “The pace that he had was crazy. I was right behind him at some point, and I could not do anything to stop him.
“It was frustrating, but at the same time, we still finished second, and our car was really, really good there. I was still kind of happy.”
Palou could leave Sunday from Portland really happy if he clinches his fourth INDYCAR championship. He enters the 110-lap race Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FOX) at 121 points ahead of Pato O’Ward with three races left in the season. He clinches if he leaves Portland with at least a 108-point edge on O’Ward.
“It just feels like a normal weekend,” Palou said Friday morning. “It feels very special, obviously, because we know it can be a different one at the end. But at the same time, it’s still early on. It’s not the last race of the season, where it’s the last chance, and one driver is going to win it here.
Alex Palou could clinch the title this weekend.
“There’s good odds of if we do the job that we know that we can do, we can try and win the championship this weekend. But as long as I win it this year, I’ll be happy.”
Here is what to know going into the final road-course race of the season. The final two races are contested on The Milwaukee Mile and Nashville Superspeedway (1.333-mile) ovals.
Can Power Repeat?
This was Power’s third win of the 2024 season, and he hasn’t won since.
Power said he doesn’t feel “desperate” for a win.
“I’m not desperate,” he said. “Obviously, it would be very nice. But not let’s take some huge risks.”
Thinking back to that race a year ago, Power believes he can find that pace.
“It all depends on the situation, but you can run away if we qualify well and we’re at the front and put ourselves in that position,” Power said. “That is possible. It’s going to be a good challenge if you can drop Palou.”
Power said the team can’t assume things will go well because of last year.
Will Power during the INDYCAR Series Sukup Race Weekend Race 1 at Iowa Speedway
“I love the track,” he said. “You can’t assume you’re going to turn up and be very competitive just because you were last year. You’ve got to do your homework and be light on your feet to make some changes and so on.
“It’s another opportunity to execute a good weekend, which we haven’t had many of this year.”
Of course, there are other things on Power’s mind, like what he is doing next season. He doesn’t need to have a final decision from Penske until the end of August. The season finale at Nashville is Aug. 31, and Power can’t talk to other teams until then.
“I don’t think I’ll know until after, at the end of or during the weekend of Nashville,” Power said. “I just want to know, to be honest. I would like to know what I’m doing. That would be nice. That’s sort of the stress that would be off me is just to know, like, where am I driving and am I driving at all?”
Will INDYCAR Hold The Yellow?
There was some criticism of INDYCAR for not throwing the caution quickly with Rinus VeeKay stranded by the barrier at Laguna Seca and then Marcus Ericsson stalled on the track at a blind spot at the top of a hill.
INDYCAR race director Kyle Novak texted drivers following Laguna Seca about how they view those situations should be handled in the future.
VeeKay said he was frustrated losing two laps in the process but that is the way INDYCAR has officiated some of those instances in the past, especially if they come around a pit-stop cycle.
“I feel like in the position I was in, it’s kind of how they do it,” VeeKay said. “It’s happened in the past. The one with Marcus was different, though, because I was racing. I was driving, and it’s a little bit of a moment of, ‘OK there’s a car here somewhere, but where’s it going to be?’
“He was on track. He wasn’t off track. It is such a sketchy part of the track. There’s a local yellow but you’re still racing.”
Ericsson said in the moment, he was just trying to get the car re-fired. But he obviously had concerns after seeing the precarious position he was in, even if he didn’t have contact with another driver and the hybrid engine can be restarted.
“If it’s a situation like that, I think we should do something different, right?” Ericsson said. “Because I understand why we don’t want to throw yellow for someone who’s spinning when we have the hybrid restart, but if you’re in a bad spot like that, especially the blind spot, we got to be better than that.”
Veteran driver Alexander Rossi said it is understandable that the series doesn’t want to throw a caution during a pit cycle and impact a race. But this was a situation that wouldn’t impact a pit cycle and in a blind spot for drivers coming up the hill. He indicated drivers won’t know if there is a change in philosophy until a similar situation happens again.
“Just mainly that part of the track, that’s the issue,” Ericsson said. “What they did with Rinus there, I think was perfectly fine because he was so far off the track in a gravel trap and you see the [local] yellow moving into there, you see the automotive up within the gravel, so it is probably not like a harmful state of affairs.
“However for me, I feel we must always have carried out one thing completely different.”
Is There VeeKay-Kirkwood Beef?
Not in accordance with VeeKay, who posted video from Kirkwood’s in-car digital camera to point out how he ended up off the monitor at Laguna.
Kirkwood wasn’t pleased.
VeeKay stated they’d a dialog. At Portland, VeeKay stated he didn’t publish it to point out as a lot dismay on Kirkwood as simply to point out followers within the Netherlands who may need not watched the race what had occurred.
“I feel we each didn’t imply to do this,” Kirkwood stated. “We had been annoyed. My concept was I posted for the followers within the Netherlands that did not get to see it with the nine-hour time distinction.
“Kyle wasn’t too pleased about posting his in-car, which I get. I am like, ‘Hey, sorry. I did not wish to put you on the spot. It was extra right here is the state of affairs.’ Kyle and I talked, no pointing fingers, we’re adults.”
Beware Of Flip 1
The primary flip at Portland has supplied loads of drama, particularly on the opening lap.
FOX Sports activities analyst James Hinchcliffe was concerned in a first-lap wreck in that space in every of his three begins.
It has been slightly extra tame the final couple of years as INDYCAR moved the restart space to popping out of the ultimate flip so the drivers are extra unfold out after the lengthy frontstretch.
And, Lastly, Does O’Ward Have A Likelihood?
O’Ward is aware of the title is just about out of attain. All he can do is exit and attempt to earn max factors after which see what Palou does.
Does Pato O’Ward have an opportunity?
However O’Ward has no end higher than fourth at Portland and a poor qualifying end result translated right into a tough weekend a 12 months in the past when he certified twenty second and completed fifteenth.
“Actually we simply have to deal with us,” O’Ward stated. “We had an excellent month in July, however he nonetheless outscored us. So at this time limit, I am actually targeted on securing my P2 [second place in points].
“But when that implies that we carry on chopping right down to retaining it alive, that is further gravy on the mashed potatoes.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports activities. He has spent many years masking motorsports, together with over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting Information, NASCAR Scene journal and The (Daytona Seashore) Information-Journal. Comply with him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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