ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Alex Palou beat Scott Dixon at his own game, by saving his final tank of fuel all the way to the end after Dixon had to pit with two laps remaining in Sunday’s XPEL Grand Prix at Road America.
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing Honda went 15 laps around the 4.014-mile, 14-turn road course to claim his sixth NTT IndyCar Series victory of the season, his third at Road America, as the championship points leader returned to victory lane for the first time since winning the 109th Indianapolis 500.
Palou’s victory also means just two drivers have won in the first nine races this season, the first time that has happened since 1980. It’s also the first time since 1975 that a driver has won six of the first nine races and that was A.J. Foyt.
It was Palou’s 17th career IndyCar win.
“Great job, Barry,” Palou said to his race strategist and team manager Barry Wanser in victory lane. “It was a crazy race, a crazy race for us and a tough race for everybody. Kudos for the strategy and I couldn’t be happier to be honest.
“And, thanks to SOLO Cups. We’re going to see lots of SOLO Cup later tonight because we are going to have some fun.”
Palou defeated Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing by 2.1725 seconds.
“It was great, it was going back and forth, comers and goers in the race, we had great speed and really good pace,” Rosenqvist said. “We’ve had bad luck the last few races, but we finally got what we deserved this year and hopefully more to come.”
Santino Ferrucci was third in the No. 14 Chevrolet and took a bow to the crowd after his car ran out of fuel on the cooldown lap.
He climbed out of his car, got a Miller Lite from some fans who tossed it over the fence and drank it down in shotgun fashion to the cheers of the crowd.
He also honored Marlyne Sexton, a longtime sponsor and friend of A.J. Foyt Racing, who passed away on June 11.
“Man, you know, all I could think about to myself was we were doing this for Marlyne,” Ferrucci said. “They let me drive, I stalled it, but even with the stall, this one tastes a little sweeter.
“We’re performing. We’re back to where we were at the end of last year.”
Kyle Kirkwood was fourth for Andretti Global and Marcus Armstrong of Meyer Shank Racing rounded out the top five.
Palou now leads Kirkwood by 93 points. Pato O’Ward is third, 111 points behind. Dixon moved up to fourth and Rosenqvist fifth, both 155 points behind Palou.
It was a very hot day at Road America with temperatures soaring to the mid-90s.
The action on the track was just as hot.
It was a clean start through Turn 1, but as teams and cars began to fight for position, David Malukas hit the brakes hard and sent him into the sand and gravel in Turn 3. He was stranded, but IndyCar officials kept the track green before finally relenting and issuing a yellow flag condition.
It appeared that Malukas ran into the back of Christian Lundgaard’s Chevrolet heading into Turn 3.
“Whoever it was, we definitely took some damage,” Lundgaard radioed back to his Arrow McLaren crew.
Dixon, who started 25th, pitted on Lap 3 and switched to the Firestone “Red” tires – the first to go to an alternate strategy
Racing resumed on Lap 4 with Foster leading McLaughlin and Kirkwood. McLaughlin was able to get a fast run down the front straight and pass Foster for the lead in Turn 1.
But the yellow flag waved once again as Robert Shwartzman of Prema Racing drove off course in Turn 12.
Prior to that, Alex Palou and Will Power both passed Kirkwood, who was running in fourth place, with a brilliant move in Canada Corner.
Kirkwood was not pleased with his latest incident involving Power.
On Lap 7, the green flag waved with McLaughlin leading Foster and the rest of the field into Turn 1.
Lundgaard blew past Foster for second place by diving to the inside down the long front straightaway.
After 10 laps, McLaughlin led Lundgaard by 0.6723 seconds. Foster was third followed by Palou, Power and Kirkwood.
Sting Ray Robb had a huge crash in Turn 5 on one of the fastest parts of the race course. He skidded down the long back straight before the car crashed hard into the tire barrier on Lap 11.
Robb was able to climb out of the car, but his race was over.
“I’ll have to take a look at it, we were on alternates, charging hards, and we had a great run out of Turn 3,” Robb said. “I don’t know what I could have done there. Not a good way to end our day.
“Everybody was being aggressive at that point.”
Pit lane was open during the caution and McLaughlin, Lundgaard, Foster, Palou, Power and most of the field came down pit lane.
Dixon, who pitted on Lap 2, was the leader of the race. Lundgaard beat McLaughlin off pit lane and had the advantage from that group that pitted.
As the field lined up for the restart, Dixon was the leader ahead of Pato O’Ward, Alexander Rossi, Kyffin Simpson and Jacob Abel.
Dixon was able to keep the lead through Turn 1 on Lap 14 as teams battled further back in the pack.
Kirkwood got his revenge on Power for the earlier incident and for the Detroit practice push when he pushed Power’s No. 12 Chevrolet off the track, but by doing that, Palou was able to blow by Kirkwood’s Honda.
Dixon, on the softer tires, maintained a near 1 second lead over O’Ward.
O’Ward peeled off onto pit lane after 21 laps while Dixon stayed on track as the leader.
Dixon pitted on Lap 22 and Rossi went with him. That put Simpson into the lead. Dixon’s team put on one more set of soft tires and would need one more caution for his strategy to work.
Dixon’s crew got their wish one lap later when Conor Daly went sailing into the gravel trap in Turn 5 to bring out the yellow flag, benefitting the drivers that just came into the pits.
Daly was towed out of the gravel and apparently didn’t realize the tow rope was still attached to his car as he pulled away and the rope snapped in front of the AMR Safety Crew. Daly’s No. 76 Chevrolet circulated around the course and onto pit lane.
Daly had to serve a stop and 10-second penalty for pulling away before the rope was detached, a safety hazard.
Pit road opened but Lundgaard stayed on the track and was scored as the leader in front of Kirkwood and Rosenqvist.
The green flag waved after 25 laps with Lundgaard leading Kirkwood.
Herta and Rasmussen had contact in Turn 9, but both continued.
On Lap 27, Lundgaard headed to pit lane and that put Kirkwood into the lead ahead of Marcus Armstrong and Dixon.
On Lap 28, Kirkwood and Rosenqvist entered pit lane and that returned Dixon to the lead. Meantime, Power went off course in Canada Corner and kicked up plenty of dirt but was able to continue in the race.
Kirkwood and Rosenqvist left pit lane and battled around the course before Rosenqvist was able to pass Kirkwood for position.
Newgarden’s race came to a crashing end on Lap 30 when he stuffed the No. 2 Chevrolet into the wall, badly damaging the rear of his car just off the 14th turn. He drove the No. 2 Chevrolet up pit lane as the double yellow flags signaled another full-course caution.
Newgarden’s car was towed back to the garage as the green flag waved to resume high-speed racing with Dixon leading Rossi, Palou and McLaughlin. Dixon was feathering the throttle during the caution to conserve fuel as the team was committed to its strategy.
Rasmussen went off course, which slowed his charge toward the front as the driver from Denmark had already made 21 on track passes in the first 34 laps of the race. That was the most of any driver in the field.
Lundgaard spun after he was forced off the track by Colton Herta, spinning the Arrow McLaren driver around after he hit the bumps.
Rossi pitted with 18 laps to go, but Dixon stayed out for one more lap as he continued to leave the race and saving fuel. Dixon pitted with 17 laps to go for another set of soft tires and fuel.
That put Palou into the lead, but he would pit on Lap 40, 15 laps from the finish. That put Rosenqvist into the lead ahead of Kirkwood and O’Ward.
One lap later, O’Ward made his final stop and that moved Kirkwood into second place.
Rosenqvist and Kirkwood both pitted with 14 laps to go as three different race strategies were playing out. Armstrong was in the lead during those stops.
Dixon was in fifth place, 17 seconds behind as more drivers made final pit stops.
Dixon was back in the lead on Lap 45, 10 laps to go, with his championship-leading teammate Palou running second. Rossi was third, 4.2369 second behind the leader.
In the final 10 laps, Dixon and Palou were both pushing for speed to maintain the lead, rather than conserve fuel.
With four laps to go, Dixon led Palou by 0.8529 seconds. Rosenqvist was third, 5.2959 seconds behind the leader. Rossi was fourth, 11.1671 seconds back.
Dixon’s crew radioed to the driver that he would not make it to the finish and had to make a splash and go pit stop. Palou was also running low on fuel and presumably had to pit as the race began to fall into Rosenqvist’s favor.
Dixon pitted with two laps remaining, and Palou took over the lead with two laps to go and drove all the way to victory lane.
