It was a “Power-ful” performance for Team Penske’s Will Power as he dominated Sunday’s BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland to become IndyCar’s first three-time winner in 2024.
Power started on the outside of the front row and was in the lead by the time he came through Turn One at the start of the race. He ran away from the field, giving up the lead during his three pit stops as the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet led 101 laps of the 110-lap race.
“That makes things a little more interesting,” Power said after winning a race that was slowed just one time for caution.
The 216.04-mile race was at Portland International Raceway, a 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course in Portland, Oregon.
It was the final IndyCar race on a road course this season.
Power finished 9.8267 seconds ahead of IndyCar Series points leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing in the No. 10 Honda. Power entered the race fourth in points, 66 points behind Palou.
The two-time IndyCar Series Champion trimmed 12 points off Palou’s lead with the 44th IndyCar win of his career. He moves into second in the standings behind Palou
The final three races of the season are on ovals, beginning with next weekend’s Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s at The Milwaukee Mile.
The season wraps up with the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway on Sept. 15.
“Very rewarding,” Power said. “I came here determined, so did the whole team. I wanted to get qualifying right. Executing the race was important. If Palou had finished ahead of us today, it would be difficult in the championship.
“Have to keep fighting ahead here after a couple of bad races.
“We’ve been very, very good on ovals. Obviously. Two ovals we haven’t raced on in a long time, but I want to take the fight to Alex. I’ve won at Milwaukee before. It’s such a competitive series, anybody could turn up on any given weekend and win.”
Palou started third and finished second in the No. 10 DHL Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
“The team did a great job, maybe we weren’t aggressive enough on the strategy,” Palou said. “The 12 (Power) deserved it today. They were very fast.
“Happy to get a second place after it. On to Milwaukee.”
Last week’s winner at World Wide Technology (Ill.) Raceway near Gateway, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, was third in the No. 2 Chevrolet.
“Will had everybody covered today,” Newgarden said. “Top three, second place is where we were at today in the No. 2 car.
“Happy for Will. He’s still in the championship. I don’t like finishing third, but a good day for Team Penske.”
Colton Herta, who entered second in points but leaves third, finished fourth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda for Andretti Global Marcus Armstrong of Chip Ganassi Racing finished fifth in the No. 11 Honda.
Pole winner Santino Ferrucci got an awesome start out of the last turn, but Power quickly showed why he is one of the best in IndyCar history by diving to the inside with a decisive move at the apex of Turn One.
One of the championship contenders, Scott Dixon, got pushed off course by Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood on the first lap. Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Honda was losing positions as he tried to blend back on track.
Pietro Fittipaldi’s Honda ran into the side of Dixon’s car after Fittipaldi hit a curb, sending the No. 30 Honda Dixon’s No. 9.
The result was that Dixon’s car had a hard impact with the ARMCO Barrier.
“Well, that was quick,” Dixon said. “The 27 (bleeped) me. The other guy (Fittipaldi) was just racing.”
Dixon entered the race third in points, 65 behind his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Palou. But after this crash, it appears his bid at a seventh IndyCar Series championship in 2024 is over.
It was the first time since Motegi in 2005 that Dixon exited a race without completing a lap.
Fittipaldi was assessed an avoidable contact penalty by IndyCar race control and had to serve a drive-through penalty under green.
“The 27 caused all of that mayhem to be honest,” Dixon said. “He made a lunge and gave me zero room on the exit which knocked me off. I was just then trying to recover.
“It was no real fault of Fittipaldi to get a penalty. The penalty should have been on the 27.”
The race was restarted on lap 6. One lap later, Colton Herta dove to the inside of Christian Lundgaard’s Honda to take over fifth place.
Two laps leader, Palou passed Ferrucci in the chicane for second place.
Alexander Rossi and David Malukas were the first drivers to pit when they changed four alternate tires and fuel on lap 13.
Pato O’Ward pitted after 19 laps as two of the three Arrow McLaren cars were locked into the “undercut” strategy.
Kirkwood pitted on lap 21 and put on his second set of Firestone Red tires.
Fittipaldi and Conor Daly had contact in the Chicane on lap 23, sending Daly’s car into a spin.
On lap 27, Palou pulled to the rear of Power’s No. 12 Chevrolet and put serious pressure for the lead.
Ferrucci, who started on the pole, pitted on lap 32 for scuffed Firestone Red tires on the No. 14 Chevrolet. Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske pitted on that lap as Power and Palou continued to race at the front.
Power made his first pit stop of the day on lap 33 for a set of used Firestone Reds. Herta also pitted on that lap. Palou was the last driver to pit on lap 34.
Power was able to maintain first place as he was up to speed when Palou tried to blend onto the track from pit lane.
Herta was punted off course by former Andretti Global teammate Romain Grosjean on lap 35. Race control reviewed the situation and did not assess a penalty.
The drivers that pitted on lap 13 began to pit with Malukas pitting on lap 46 for Firestone Red tires.
Power continued to lead Palou by 3.2224 seconds.
Kirkwood made his second-to-last stop on lap 51. When he returned to the track, rookie driver Toby Sowery had a great race with the driver of the No. 27 and took over 13th position from Kirkwood.
Kirkwood was assessed a blocking penalty on Sowery and had to give up three positions.
Palou pitted on lap 58 after running Black tires. He switched to the Reds for the first time. Newgarden, running eighth, also pitted.
Power pitted one lap later for another set of Reds, saving the sticker Reds for the last stint of the race.
Rookie Nolan Siegel went off track and through the grass on Lap 61 but was able to get back on track without incident.
Herta pitted on lap 62. Further up the track, Grosjean hit the curb, bounced around, stalled the car, used the hybrid to restart and then returned to the track in front of rookie Christian Rasmussen. It did not appear to be Rasmussen’s fault as Grosjean drove directly in front of the Ed Carpenter Racing rookie, who ran into Grosjean’s Chevrolet.
Grosjean’s car had a flat tire from the contact and had to drive around the course to get into the pits. IndyCar kept the race green.
IndyCar race control gave Grosjean a drive-through penalty for “improper conduct.”
Power’s Team Penske crew told Power that he “needed to go” to stay ahead of Palou with lapped traffic in the way.
Power took the advice and built his lead to 2.126 seconds on lap 76.
Newgarden had moved up to third place but was 14.210 seconds behind the leader with 83 of 110 laps completed.
The top six drivers still had to make one more pit stop.
Herta, second in the championship and third in the race, pitted for the final time on lap 86 but stalled the Honda. After about five seconds, it refired and off he went, but he lost valuable time on the track.
Power, the leader, made his final pit stop on lap 87, with a fresh set of Firestone Reds bolted onto his Chevrolet.
Palou made his final pit stop one lap later as Power was already up to speed on the track. His team put Firestone used Blacks on the car, but Power was able to drive past Palou on the blend line.
With 15 laps remaining, Power’s lead was 4.7564 over Palou.
He increased the lead to 6.0379 seconds on lap 100 – 10 laps to go between Power and his third checkered flag of the season.
When the race concluded, there were 12 lead changes among six drivers with 294 on-track passes.
Power’s winning average speed was 112.161 miles per hour.
Team Penske’s third driver, Scott McLaughlin, was the biggest mover in the race. He started 20th and finished seventh.
“It’s a credit to my crew,” McLaughlin said. “I’m still in the championship fight and until we’re out of it, I’m fighting for it.”
Team Penske has now won a record eight times at Portland International Raceway. Penske’s winning INDYCAR SERIES drivers are Danny Sullivan (1988), Emerson Fittipaldi (1993), Al Unser Jr. (1994, 1995), Gil de Ferran (2000), Will Power (2019 and 2024) and Scott McLaughlin (2022). Newman/Haas Racing also won a record eight times at Portland.