PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Alex Palou has a 59-point lead in the IndyCar standings but insists a third championship in four seasons isn't a lock.
Alexander Rossi remains confident he'll have a ride in the series next year; David Malukas clarified that Will Power did not make him cry after a crash last week, and all the drivers are hopeful that IndyCar makes changes to the restart zones after Josef Newgarden's gamesmanship caused a late-race wreck and tempers to flare.
The fallout from last weekend's race outside St. Louis carried into Portland International Raceway, where even with four races remaining on the season, Palou could put serious separation on his title competitors on Sunday.
The Spaniard was adamant Friday that the five drivers still mathematically eligible to catch him in the standings have a shot, especially with a trio of ovals remaining on the schedule. Portland is a 12-turn, 1.967 mile (3.166 km) road course where Palou has two victories in the last three years and is the defending race winner.
Palou actually locked up his second IndyCar title at Portland last year, when it was the penultimate race of the season. This year's schedule is followed by a doubleheader next week at the Milwaukee Mile and the September season finale at Nashville Superspeedway.
Palou has never won on an oval, nor does he have previous race experience at Milwaukee or Nashville.
“I don't think you are ever in control,” he said. “Someone can win three in a row and then you are panicking, right? I feel good, especially about being at Portland this weekend, but it's not like: ‘Oh, yeah, we’re good. Let's take this easy.'”
Power, who dropped from second to fourth in the standings after a chaotic ending at Gateway last Saturday, said there's too much racing remaining to concede to Palou just yet.
“I do still feel like we're in it — it's crazy, but it's still almost a quarter of the races to go,” Power said. “Four races. A lot can change.”
But Power acknowledged that Palou likely would need at least one very bad race — probably a mechanical failure — for the rest of the field to close the gap.
“He's going to have to need a DNF at one of these ... but that can happen,” Power said. “You have two bad races and ‘Yup, someone is within 10 or 20 points of you.’”
Bad races are rare for Palou, who has a season-low finish of 23rd at Iowa, where he admittedly made two very unusual mistakes. He stalled his Chip Ganassi Racing entry and also spun.
After a side-by-side collision between Power and Malukas near the end of the race at Gateway, an emotional Malukas appeared to be crying as he said in an interview “and Will Power just came by screaming at me.”
Malukas explained Friday that he was emotional because he felt like he had a chance to win before the contact with Power caused him to crash and finish 21st. His tears were over a lost opportunity and not anything Power had shouted at him.
Power was actually fuming about the way Team Penske teammate Newgarden gamed the ensuing restart — Newgarden as the leader deliberately waited very late in the zone to go to get a jump on his unsuspecting competitors — and the late acceleration caused Rossi to run into the back of Power and end both of their races.
So when Power was passing by Malukas, he admittedly screamed at him through a fence as Malukas was doing interviews. Malukas said Power had calmed considerably by the time he saw him afterward and Power was apologetic for taking his frustrations out on the younger driver.
“I was more emotional because that move right there I think was for the lead,” Malukas said. “I think we were going to win it. I mean looking at it now and all the data ... I don't think that was going to be possible, but I think I got emotional in the fact that was probably going to be my first win.”
And even though Power flashed Newgarden the middle finger as Newgarden passed under caution, the two were fine the next day. Ron Ruzewski, managing director of Penske's IndyCar team, called Power the next day and asked him to go wakeboarding.
Power said that while standing on his dock, he saw a shirtless man approaching in a boat and knew immediately it was his teammate. He said he and Newgarden had a pleasant day despite the racing fireworks.
Newgarden said he'd change nothing about waiting so late in the restart zone to advance as the leader and it was totally within IndyCar's rules — which drivers have described as “vague, at best.”
IndyCar held a lengthy driver meeting Friday in which restarts were discussed, with at least one competitor questioning why Newgarden wasn't penalized for holding up the start.
Newgarden acknowledged he was “aggressive” in waiting so late in the zone to go but felt no shame in trying to win the race, which he did for his second victory of the season.
“There's times I go early, there's times I go in the middle and times I go kind of late, and I was trying to push it as aggressively as I could," Newgarden said. “I don't think they have to overhaul the rules, but they probably need to provide better clarity for everyone.”
The drivers expect the restart zone to be clearly painted in Milwaukee next week so that it's obvious when the leaders are expected to take off.
It's been more than two months since Arrow McLaren announced it was not bringing back Rossi in 2025 for a third season, and even though his manager father expected to have Rossi in a new job by last month's summer break, the 32-year-old remains without a ride for next season.
Rossi said Friday he's confident he'll land something soon. Malukas recently signed with AJ Foyt Racing, leaving a seat open at Meyer Shank Racing, but Rossi said that's a long shot. It basically leaves only Rahal Letterman Lanigan as the remaining viable option.
Juncos Hollinger Racing has a slot now that it has released Agustin Canapino, and Prema Racing is expected to field two Indy cars next season. Rossi and his father have had talks with “proxies” for Prema.
“There's ingredients in a pie, right? And you just have to figure out which quality ingredients for the pie you want,” Rossi said. “We could have an announcement in one week, it could be one month, but I am not worried.”
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