STEAM CORNERS, Ohio – Look out, Palou – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou is making a runaway of the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series championship.
The 2021 IndyCar Series champion won his third victory in a row, his fourth in the least five races, in Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
Palou’s No. 10 American Legion Honda finished 5.0242 seconds ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Honda. Team Penske’s Will Power was third in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard was fourth in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda and Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top five in the No. 2 Rancher’s Beef Chevrolet for Team Penske.
Through nine races in 2023, Palou has just one finish outside of the top five.
Palou entered the race with a 74-point lead over Marcus Ericsson. He now leads Dixon by 110 points with eight races left in the season. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden is third in the points, 116 back and Ericsson, who finished last, is now 122 points behind.
Palou celebrated the big win in victory lane and explained his keys to victory.
“Having a good car and good strategy was the difference,” Palou said. “Everything went well. Strategy, pace, and good pit stops.
“I think maybe we are starting to dominate, but it’s still really tight. We have to put everything together and hopefully we can keep this going. We have not been the fastest in practice or qualifying, but it’s in the races and that is what counts.”
As It Happened
Marcus Ericsson and Felix Rosenqvist tangled in turn six on the opening lap sending both cars off course and the yellow flag waving. Ericsson’s Honda sustained front suspension damage and he was out of the race.
That was the only yellow flag in the race.
The green flag waved on lap six and Colton Herta led the field into turn one.
On lap 19, Palou went side-by-side to pass Kyle Kirkwood, who lost control of his No. 27 Honda, spun around and was able to continue without a caution. It was light wheel-to-wheel contact that turned around the No. 27.
The race went green the rest of the way.
On lap 53, Chip Ganassi Racing Team Manager Barry Wanser called Palou into the pits for his final pit stop. The leader was in and out of the pits after a smooth stop. Teammate Dixon also pitted further down pit road.
With some fierce racing on the track, Herta’s hopes of victory was foiled when he was assessed a stop-and-go penalty for speeding on pit road.
A few laps later, Graham Rahal pitted and stalled leaving the pits. A huge issue as the race ran green flag with the laps winding down.
With 16 laps to go, Pato O’Ward pitted after he took the lead on lap 57. He had started 25th but used a three-stop strategy to race back into contention. But with the stop, it put the battle back into the control of the drivers with the two-stop strategy.
In the end, everyone finished below Palou as the Chip Ganassi Racing driver became the first to win three races in a row was Dixon, who started the 2020 season with three season.
Before that, it was Simon Pagenaud in 2016.
Both of those drivers went on to win the championship.
The last 17 years in a row, the NTT IndyCar Series championship has gone down to the final race of the season.
It was the first time Dixon had finished second at Mid-Ohio. He has won this race six times.
“Huge congrats with Alex and the 10 car group,” Dixon said. “It’s a heck of a start to the season.
“Anything is possible you are never out of it until you are out of it. You have to give them credit. They are doing a hell of a job now.”
Power’s third place left the Team Penske driver feeling upbeat.
“It was a good, solid day,” Power said. “Good day. Good pressure for Lundgaard all day. It was really good to get on the podium. I don’t know if anyone is going to challenge Alex for the championship, but it’s going to be a good battle for second place.
“It’s a good day. A typical hotly, competitive IndyCar race.”
McLaughlin mentioned that Benjamin Pedersen held him up in the closing laps of the race and said, “He’s not going to earn many friends if he is holding them up in a race.”
Pedersen was 26th at the time, the last car that was running in the race.
“Fifth was our race today, but the podium was our potential,” McLaughlin said. “We are in a good spot now.”
Lundgaard’s fourth place matched his best finish of the season in the GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway heading into the next race in two weeks – the Honda Indy Toronto.
“The RLL team is making progress,” Lundgaard said. “We made progress at Toronto last year and I’m pretty comfortable moving to Toronto this year we will be faster.”
David Malukas finished sixth followed by Graham Rahal, O’Ward, Marcus Armstrong and Alexander Rossi.
“It feels very good,” Malukas said of his sixth-place finish. “It was good to see the crew smiling again.
“We didn’t just get it done, we did it perfectly.”