Will Power stayed in the race for the IndyCar championship with a convincing win on Sunday at Portland International Raceway.
Power started second alongside polesitter Santino Ferrucci – the first AJ Foyt Racing driver to lead the field in a decade – but an alliance between Team Penske and the Foyt organization allowed Power and Ferrucci to work out a plan for the start.
Trailing championship leader Alex Palou by 66 points at the start of the race, Power vowed to be aggressive at the start and drive like three-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen. The 43-year-old Australian meant business as he passed Ferrucci at the first corner.
“Santino and I talked about the start, he was a very good teammate,” said Power.
Palou, who started third, finished second, nearly 10 seconds back, while Power led 101 of the 110 laps and won for the third time this season. Palou wondered if his Chip Ganassi Racing team was too conservative with its strategy.
“It was hard work catching up to Will,” Palou said. “I don’t feel bad. I think we still have a lot of work to do, but I love adversity and the opportunity we have in front of us.”
Power now sits 54 points behind Palou, the defending champion in Portland, who is seeking his third championship title in four seasons, with three races remaining.
“If he had finished ahead of us, it would have been over. That just kept it alive,” Power later added of the significance of the win. “It’s going to be that way for the rest of the year. You have no choice but to be ahead of him.”
Power teammate Josef Newgarden finished third, followed by Andretti Global’s Colton Herta, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong and Andretti’s Marcus Ericsson. Penske’s Scott McLaughlin finished seventh and Ferrucci, seeking his first career win, dropped to eighth.
“It’s unfortunate, but man, I had fun,” Ferrucci said. “Getting the pole was huge for us. It’s great to qualify on the pole, we’ve just been so consistent.”
Ferrucci has finished in the top 10 eight times this season and, at No. 10 overall, is on pace for a breakout season in his contract year with Foyt.
Power won in a Chevrolet, but the three Penske drivers and Ferrucci were outnumbered by six Hondas in the final top 10.
Power has raced at Nashville Superspeedway, the site of the season finale, once before and has one win in six previous starts at the Milwaukee Mile. He will look to cut even further into Palou’s lead when the IndyCar Series returns to Wisconsin State Fair Park for next weekend’s doubleheader.
Unlike Palou, who has never won on an oval track and has not even competed at the two remaining venues on the schedule, Power has ten victories on oval tracks in his career.
“I really love this series, I’m happy to be involved and see if we can win the championship,” Power said. “We’ve been very, very good on ovals. Very solid. Obviously, they’re two ovals we haven’t raced on in a long time, so it’s anybody’s game. We’re going to do our best and give Alex a run for his money.”
Power has 44 career wins, the fourth in IndyCar Series history, and Sunday’s victory should narrow the championship race to two drivers. Herta and McLaughlin are still mathematically eligible, but Power is likely Palou’s only real challenger.
Dixon finishes early
Scott Dixon’s outside chance of a record seventh IndyCar title likely ended when he was knocked out of the race on the first lap. Pietro Fittipaldi was forced into the curb and bounced back onto the racing line, where he hit Dixon hard. Dixon went off the track and crashed into the barrier.
That ended his race – and his title chances – on the first lap. It is only the second time in 399 races that Dixon has been eliminated on the first lap – a streak that stretches back to a race in Japan in 2005.
Although Fittipaldi received an avoidable contact penalty, Dixon believed that Kyle Kirkwood was the offender and Fittipaldi was in a helpless position.
“(Kirkwood) caused all of that in my opinion, to be honest,” Dixon said. “He just lunged and didn’t give me any space, pushed me away and then you try to recover. Does Fittipaldi get a penalty there? No fault of his. The penalty should have been given to (Kirkwood).”
Dixon finished last and is winless in eight career starts at Portland, dropping to fifth in the standings and 101 points behind teammate Palou.
Next
IndyCar returns to the Milwaukee Mile next weekend for a doubleheader after eight years away from racing on the Wisconsin oval. IndyCar raced at Milwaukee from 2004 to 2009 and then again from 2011 to 2015.
— Jenna Fryer, AP auto racing writer
