LEXINGTON, Ohio - Things could not be going better for Alex Palou, who at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course won his third consecutive NTT Indycar Series race to extend his championship lead to a staggering 110 points.
Palou’s victory on Sunday helped him become only the second driver since the 2016 season to score a three-peat. That other driver was Scott Dixon, the six-time series champion who opened 2020 with such a streak.
And if Palou needed more confidence as the season moves to its second half, he should know that the last three times an series driver won three races in succession – Dixon in 2013 and ’20, Simon Pagenaud in 2016 – the Astor Challenge Cup followed at year’s end.
Yes, Palou is on a major roll, having won four of the past five races. He even could be riding a five-race winning streak if not for contact on pit road midway through the Indianapolis 500. The incident with Rinus VeeKay dropped the pole sitter to 27th place, and he stormed back to finish fourth.
Palou is humble, but he conceded this stretch of success is “the best moment of my career so far.”
Palou won Sunday’s race by 5.0242 seconds over Dixon, but it was another Chip Ganassi Racing teammate that helped the series lead swell so large. Marcus Ericsson, who had been second in the standings, ran over the car of fellow Swedish driver Felix Rosenqvist on the opening lap, effectively ending his race.
Ericsson’s crew was able to make repairs to the front suspension of his car, but it was too much too late. Ericsson finished last in the 27-car field, losing 48 points to the series lead, and he fell to fourth in the standings.
The incident also ended Ericsson’s streak of eight consecutive top-10 finishes to start the season. Guess who is the only driver with a streak that long? Yes, it’s Palou. Considering he won last year’s season-ending race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the 26-year-old Spaniard has compiled 10 straight top-eight finishes with nine of them record in the top five.
And it could continue. Palou finished third in last year’s Honda Indy Toronto, the next race on the schedule on July 16.
“I know we can have some good couple of races coming up now, and we’ll still try and maximize (points), do the best we can and win when we can,” Palou said. “So, yeah, try and get (the car) on top.”
Palou trailed pole winner Colton Herta and fellow front-row starter Graham Rahal through the first segment of the race, but he swiped the top position during the first pit exchange. Herta went to pit road first, on lap 28, and while Rahal waited a lap to make his stop, Palou conserved fuel behind him.
Herta and Rahal came out of the pits with new primary tires, but Palou switched to the faster alternative compound, allowing him to rocket past them to the lead.
Palou had the field covered the rest of the way. His only difficulty came during a sequence when he took several laps to overhaul series rookie Benjamin Pedersen. In that stretch, Palou’s 8-second lead was cut in half, but he quickly regained all of that advantage once clearing Pedersen on lap 55.
After Palou made his second and final pit stop on lap 54, Herta and Rahal came to pit road on consecutive laps, and both had trouble. Herta’s car nearly got away from him at pit entrance, and the errant momentum caused him to exceed the speed limit, drawing a drive-through penalty. Rahal arrived at his pit box without concern, but trouble mounting the left rear tire led to a slow stop. As a result of those bobbles, the fastest two cars in qualifying dropped to the eighth (Rahal) and 12th (Herta) positions.
Rahal finished seventh, Herta 11th as Palou continued on without incident.
“I had a good car and good strategy, honestly,” Palou said. “We’ve got a really fast car, (but) we knew we needed to try something different to the guys starting up front – that’s why we started on primary (tires). Everything went well. The strategy, the pit stops and our pace was pretty good.”
Honda won its sixth race of the year in nine tries.
Dixon did everything he could to remain in contention for a championship that would tie A.J. Foyt’s all-time record. With Pato O’Ward finishing eighth after a difficult three-stop charge from the 25th starting position, Dixon jumped to second in the standings. Josef Newgarden and Ericsson are 116 and 122 points out of the lead with eight races remain. O’Ward is fifth, 127 points in arrears.
Palou’s competitors will need a lot to happen to catch him.
“Anything’s possible,” Dixon said of overcoming the deficit. “Like we’ve always seen, you’re never out of it until you’re out of it. So, we’ll keep trying as hard as possible.
“I know we tied (in points) with (Juan Pablo) Montoya in 2015, and we thought we were possibly out of it (entering the final race). That’s what’s funny about the IndyCar Series and all of the competition, but you’ve got to give them credit, they’re doing a hell of a job.”
Dixon has won six Mid-Ohio races, but this was his first second-place finish. The result also was his best of the season as he seeks to extend his series records for seasons with at least one win (currently 20) and consecutive seasons with a win (18).
Will Power has similar streaks in play – 18 and 16 years, respectively — and he earned his third podium finish of the season in third place.
Christian Lundgaard and last year’s Mid-Ohio winner, Scott McLaughlin, finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with David Malukas sixth.
The 27 cars ran a mostly clean race with the exception of Ericsson’s contact with Rosenqvist, which drew a penalty for avoidable contact. Kyle Kirkwood tried to challenge Palou in turn 4 on lap 19 and lost six positions. He finished 17th.
Conor Daly finished 20th while driving the No. 60 Honda as Meyer Shank Racing asked him to stand in for Simon Pagenaud, who endured a wild ride without injury in an accident in Saturday morning’s practice. Pagenaud will be re-evaluated in advance of the Honda Indy Toronto.
NTT IndyCar Series
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – Lexington, OH
Honda Indy 200 – July 2, 2023
1. (4) Alex Palou, Honda, 80, Running
2. (6) Scott Dixon, Honda, 80, Running
3. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 80, Running
4. (5) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 80, Running
5. (8) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 80, Running
6. (12) David Malukas, Honda, 80, Running
7. (2) Graham Rahal, Honda, 80, Running
8. (25) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 80, Running
9. (18) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 80, Running
10. (13) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 80, Running
11. (1) Colton Herta, Honda, 80, Running
12. (15) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 80, Running
13. (14) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 80, Running
14. (24) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 80, Running
15. (16) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 80, Running
16. (20) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 80, Running
17. (3) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 80, Running
18. (11) Jack Harvey, Honda, 80, Running
19. (17) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 80, Running
20. (27) Conor Daly, Honda, 80, Running
21. (19) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 79, Running
22. (22) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 79, Running
23. (21) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 79, Running
24. (26) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 79, Running
25. (10) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 79, Running
26. (23) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 79, Running
27. (9) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 5, Contact
Average Speed: 111.125
Time of Race: 01:37:31.9887 Margin of Victory: 5.0242
Cautions: 1
Lead Changes: 7
Lap Leaders: Herta, Colton 1-26; Rahal, Graham 27; Palou, Alex 28; Dixon, Scott 29-30; Palou, Alex 31-53; Power, Will 54; Rahal, Graham 55-56; Palou, Alex 57-80
