Alex Palou adopted the nickname “Scott Dixon does Scott Dixon things.” The new slogan he wrested from his teammate at Chip Ganassi Racing is “Alex Palou does Alex Palou things.”
One race after Palou moved up from 18th to fourth on the streets of Toronto, the two-time and defending NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion moved up 12 spots to finish fourth again in Saturday night’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at World Wide Technology Raceway. He earned his 11th top-five finish in 13 races this season despite receiving a nine-position grid penalty for an unauthorized engine change and dropping to 16th on the grid. Palou extended his championship lead by 10 points and now sits 59 points ahead of second-place Colton Herta.
Can anyone dethrone Palou, who has led the power rankings for most of the season, in the last four races?
↓10. Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet; last place: 6)
The free fall continues for O’Ward. Two races ago, O’Ward was second in the Power Rankings. After a challenging weekend in Toronto, he crashed out in the first round of qualifying and ended up 17th in the race after suffering his first retirement since the 2023 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. He recovered and ran in the top 10 at World Wide Technology Raceway before a mechanical failure dropped him to 26th. The seven consecutive top 8 finishes before this track give him the opportunity to storm forward in the final four races.
↑9. Marcus Armstrong (No. 11 American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing Honda; Last place: NR)
Armstrong finished eighth at World Wide Technology Raceway despite never racing at the 1.25-mile track before last weekend. It was his third top-10 finish in the last four races. He also qualified in the top 10 at WWTR.
↔8. Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet: Last place: 8)
The good news? Power qualified fourth and led 117 of 260 laps at World Wide Technology Raceway, which was the highest performance of the race. The bad news was that Power was involved in two race-ending accidents and finished only 19th. He won the race on July 14 at Iowa Speedway in the second race of the doubleheader weekend, but his other finishes in the last five races were 11th, 18th, 12th and 19th. The frustrating thing for Power is that if he hadn’t run inside the top-five within the final 10 laps in the last two races, he would have had three consecutive top-five finishes.
↓7. Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 AutoNation Honda; Last place: 4)
Kirkwood showed plenty of pace at World Wide Technology Raceway, qualifying sixth for his fifth top-six starting position in the last eight races. Unfortunately, a mechanical issue at the finish dropped him to 22nd, his second 16th-place finish or worse in the last three races. However, since the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, the Andretti Global driver has seven top-8 finishes in nine starts, including a second-place finish on July 21 in Toronto.
↑6. Rinus VeeKay (No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet; last place: 7)
VeeKay extended his series-leading top-10 streak to four after finishing 10th in Saturday’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway.
↑5. Josef Newgarden (No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet; Last place: 10)
Had it not been for a slow final pit stop in Toronto that resulted in an 11th-place finish, two-time series champion Newgarden could have finished in the top seven four times in a row. He rebounded to score his fourth win in his last five attempts last Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway, reaching victory lane for the second time this season. Newgarden has averaged a 5.5 in the last four races.
↓4. Scott Dixon (No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda; Last place: 3)
Dixon drops a spot after his 11th-place finish at WWTR, his worst finish since a mechanical failure left him 27th at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on July 7. Since then, he has finished fourth, fourth and third before last Saturday’s race.
↑3. Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet; Last Place: 5)
McLaughlin has finished in the top three four times in his last five starts this season, including an NTT P1 award at WWTR and a second-place finish in the 260-lap race. Since Road America on June 9, McLaughlin has averaged seventh place finishes and has only failed to make the podium twice: a 21st-place finish at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and a 16th-place finish at Toronto. In both cases, he was forced off the track by teammate Power during the races while running inside the top 10.
↔2. Colton Herta (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda; Last place: 2)
Herta climbed from the 25th starting position at WWTR to finish fifth. This strong finish came after Herta outshone the field in Toronto by leading all three NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice sessions, winning the NTT P1 Award and leading 81 of 85 laps, leading to his first win in over two years. He has six top-six finishes in the last seven races.
↔1. Alex Palou (No. 10 Samaritan Purse Chip Ganassi Racing Honda; Last place: 1)
Palou has one win in the last nine NTT INDYCAR SERIES races. However, the Spaniard has seven top-five finishes in that time frame, including six in the last seven races. Despite starting outside the top 15 in two consecutive races, he still managed to finish fourth in both races.
