Alex Palou survives early electrical issue to take IndyCar points lead into season finale

WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) — Alex Palou was helpless as he sat in the cockpit of his disabled car watching his hold on the IndyCar championship slip away.

The second of two races at the Milwaukee Mile was about to begin and the Spaniard’s car suddenly lost power.

He was stuck. The car wouldn’t start.

And rival Will Power was going to take control of the title race.

At least that’s how it seemed.

Chip Ganassi Racing changed a battery inside Palou’s car and he rejoined the action 29 laps into the race Sunday. By that time, Power had taken the race lead and wiped out all of Palou’s 43-point lead in the standings.

Attrition and Power’s own mistake dramatically changed outcome.

Palou watched car after car retire from the race and finished 19th. Power, on a restart, inexplicably spun on his own. The Australian fell a lap off the pace, finished 10th, and ultimately only cut Palou’s lead to 33 points with the season finale remaining.

“Long shot now,” Power conceded “God gave us a chance. That’s a season, man, you can’t make those mistakes.”

What could have been a dead-heat headed into the Sept. 15 finale at Nashville Superspeedway is still Palou’s championship to lose.

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“Bit sad and disappointed today. It was out of my control and the team’s control,” Palou said. “It is a sport, it is what it is. We were getting happier and happier getting more points, one more point, one more point. On to Nashville.”

Scott McLaughlin, Power’s teammate at Team Penske, won for the third time this season. He beat Scott Dixon, Palou’s teammate at Ganassi, in a 1-2 finish for New Zealanders.

For Dixon, who made his 400th career start on Saturday, his 142nd podium passed Mario Andretti for most in series history.

But this race was primarily about the championship and Palou somehow recovered from a nearly catastrophic issue. IndyCar midway through the season introduced a new hybrid engine and teams had been greatly concerned it would have a negative impact on the championship.

The engine failed on Dixon’s car in its debut race in July and Dixon said when he saw Palou stranded, he twice asked his team what had happened.

“I was kind of trying to make sure we weren’t doing the same thing, making sure it wasn’t the same problem I had at Mid-Ohio,” Dixon said. When told the Ganassi team changed a battery in Palou’s car, Dixon said it could still be related to the hybrid.

“The DC to the DC on the hybrid could kill that, as well. There’s a lot more parts now,” Dixon said. “The hybrid can get into a funny kind of mode, which will just kill the car. Just sad to see. I think Alex would have had a great race. I think he probably would have had it sewn up.”

Palou is the reigning IndyCar champion and is seeking a third title in four years. Power is a two-time champion and winner in 2022, sandwiched between Palou’s two titles.

Colton Herta of Andretti Global was third. Santino Ferrucci finished fourth for the second day in a row as he continues to put A.J. Foyt Racing solidly in the standings that will earn the organization a critical end-of-season bonus.

Marcus Ericsson of Andretti was fifth and followed by Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren, Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing, Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti and Romain Grosjean of Juncos Hollinger Racing.

The Juncos team scored its first career IndyCar podium on Saturday with Conor Daly’s third-place finish. But Daly’s car had mechanical problems and he finished 17th on Sunday.

Pato O’Ward, winner Saturday, also had mechanical problems and failed to finish the race. Eight cars retired after Palou’s initial electrical issue, and that, combined with Power’s spin, kept Palou in control of the championship.

Newgarden’s start

Josef Newgarden was the pole-sitter but had to wait until the sixth lap to go green because of Palou’s early issue.

But there was confusion at the start as the green LED light showed that Newgarden could launch, but an official in the flagstand was clearly waving a yellow flag.

Newgarden thought the start had been called off didn’t seem to go. While some cars behind him also slowed, others didn’t and it created a pileup that crashed Newgarden out for the second consecutive day.

Up next

The Sept. 15 season finale at Nashville Superspeedway, which took the place on the IndyCar calendar of what was supposed to be a downtown street race. But the NFL’s Titans have both a home game that day, and construction on a new stadium made portions of downtown unusable and so IndyCar returns to the short track in Lebanon, Tennessee, for the first time since 2008. Scott Dixon won the final three races at the Nashville oval.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing