Alex Palou is a three-time IndyCar championThe Spanish driver continues to make history in a brilliant way for our sport and within world motorsport, after achieve a new title at the Nashville Superspeedway ovaland in a situation that was not the easiest after Saturday’s qualifying.
The Sant Antoni de Vilamajor rider had been relegated to starting from 24th position, after finishing 15th in the session that defined the grid due to a poor second lap and also having to deal with a 9-place penalty for an engine change. But Palou recovered to eleventh position and secured the crown ahead of Will Power, who lost his chances very early on. The Australian suffered a problem when his belts came undone on lap 12, and he returned to the track last and five laps down.
This is how IndyCar qualifying went in Nashville:
Facing the race, there was a very important variable to take into account: the availability of soft tyres, which had only been raced on an oval once (in Gateway 2023). Alex Palou and Will Power went out with themas did Conor Daly, Pato O’Ward, Rinus VeeKay and Scott Dixon as the most advanced riders. The top three, Kyle Kirkwood, Josef Newgarden and Felix Rosenqvist, started on hard tyres.
At the start, Kirkwood managed to maintain pole position despite the continuous and aggressive attacks of Newgarden, who was close to overtaking him at the start of the second lap. Power tried to overtake David Malukas, but the Lithuanian-American stayed ahead. Palou had a calm start, but he quickly gained ground. By the third lap, he was already twentieth. And by the sixth, he was 17th. In fact, he was the one who had the best start of all the competitors.
And while the Spaniard was gaining positions, his rival for the title was losing them. Power went from fourth to eighthas Felix Rosenqvist, Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward and Conor Daly passed him by. But it soon became clear why Power was falling apart.
The Australian pilot suffered a very unexpected problem: Some of the seat belts that fastened him in the cockpit came loose. The Team Penske driver soon stopped to avoid safety problems, on lap 12, but the work to fasten him again became complicated. Power left the pitlane on lap 17, with 5 laps down and last in the race.. This while Palou continued his march forward, and was already twelfth, and with the third title already in his sights.
After that, the laps continued to tick by. Kirkwood, Newgarden, Rosenqvist, Herta and Malukas opened up a gap at the head of the race, with O’Ward more than 7 seconds behind and Marcus Armstrong, in seventh, more than 14 seconds behind. Alex Palou gained another position on Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Linus Lundqvist to move into 11th before the first scheduled stops began.after lap 40 of the 206 scheduled.
Precisely, The Spaniard made his first stop on lap 48to change from soft to hard tyres. Leader Kirkwood did the same on lap 55. And just one lap later, he arrived The first yellow flag came out. His Meyer Shank Racing teammate Felix Rosenqvist crashed into the wall after puncturing one of the front tires.
The leading drivers, still on the lead lap, stopped under yellow flag on lap 60, with Newgarden maintained the lead over Herta, second, Malukas, Marcus Ericsson, Lundqvist, Santino Ferrucci and Scott McLaughlin. Palou finished 16thbehind Dixon, both a lap down after having stopped earlier.
The restart came at the end of lap 67. Newgarden got away and Herta was able to hold off Malukas. After that, the Californian for Andretti started to put pressure on his compatriot, but the #2 Penske held firm. Alongside them, a total of 13 drivers remained on the lead lap, joined by Ericsson, Lundqvist, Ferrucci, Kirkwood, McLaughlin, Alexander Rossi, Romain Grosjean, Armstrong, O’Ward and Jack Harvey. Meanwhile, behind him, Palou remained calm, in 17th position.
And on lap 90, the second yellow card came. Katherine Legge lost control of her car after hitting a pothole in the middle of a battle with Fittipaldi, hitting the wall and ending up on the grass, ending her race. Almost all the drivers took advantage of the moment to pit. Only Alexander Rossi, the first, was left out. But behind them they came in en masse, including Alex Palou, to stay on the hard tyre. Power also did so.
The new restart came just before lap 100. Rossi finished first over Newgarden and Hertawho managed to stay ahead of Ericsson and Malukas after a good move. Behind him, Palou gained a position and finished 16thstill with a lost lap and with Power 25º at 4 laps.
On lap 120, Scott Dixon stopped again, switching from hard to hard tyres and leaving Palou 15th. Leader Rossi came in five laps later to fit soft tyres for the first time. And on lap 136, the third yellow flag came out. Marcus Ericsson started having trouble controlling his Andretti and ended up in the wall.although the Swede managed to reach the pits.
In this case, several of the drivers in front opted to stop in the pits, starting with the three leaders, although Newgarden had no problems in maintaining P1. Malukas did overtake Herta to move into second place. Those who were left out in this case were O’Ward, who came first despite himself, as he complained strongly to McLaren about the strategy, and Palou himself, who recovered the lap he lost. On lap 144, still under yellow flag, the Barcelona native came in to fit a set of new soft compounds.
On lap 147, a new restart was faced. A great David Malukas was aggressive with Newgarden and moved into second, provisional first pending O’Ward’s stop. Herta also moved to #2, but Andretti’s #26 didn’t stop there. On lap 152, Andretti’s #26 was determined to go for Malukas and passed him to inherit that second spot.
Behind, Palou was the penultimate driver on the lead lap, ahead of Harvey. Before the final 50 laps came, the Spaniard lapped Power again. to leave him four laps behind. Meanwhile, O’Ward escaped to have almost four seconds of cushion over his pursuers, but He entered on lap 161 of the 206, leaving Herta in the lead, with a 6-second margin over Malukas, and Palou in tenth place..
The following laps brought calm, and most of the drivers dedicated themselves to saving fuel to reach the end without stopping again. But the one who pushed was Kyle Kirkwood. The #27 passed McLaughlin and Malukas and finished second to start putting pressure on Herta, who was the one who slowed down the most.
But Colton was unable to achieve his goal and ended up stopping with 27 laps to go. Just before that, Newgarden and McLaughlin did. Precisely, The two Penske drivers began to fight from behind, with the American imposing himself on the Oceanian. Palou was gaining positionsbut he had the last stop pending, since the CGR warned him that it would be impossible to arrive without a yellow flag.
Finally, Palou did it with 6 minutes to go, when he was riding fourth after his rivals’ previous stops, after having blocked O’Ward and Herta, who were fighting for position and for victory, since Malukas, in the lead, did not arrive and found himself in the same situation as Palou. With free air, The Californian was able to overtake the Mexican to take the lead and seal his second win of the year. Newgarden finished third, ahead of Kirkwood and McLaughlin. Palou finished eleventh to secure the title.
In the overall standings, Herta secured second place with the win behind Palou, 31 points behind the Spaniard. Third was Scott McLaughlin, 39 points behind, while Power dropped from second to fourth, 46 points behind. Meanwhile, the last two spots in the Leader’s Circle went to cars #20 and #30, leaving out Sting Ray Robb.
