Iowa Speedway proved to be a challenging weekend for championship leader Alex Palou. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
Sometimes, a driver does feel visible.
In a season where domination has been the word for Alex Palou and his entire No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing squad, Iowa Speedway was no question his toughest weekend. Palou entered the doubleheader with a 117-point lead over teammate Scott Dixon and an additional nine points over Josef Newgarden.
All has changed as Palou finished a lap behind race winner Newgarden as he wound up eighth in Saturday’s 250-lap race. It’s the Spaniard’s worst result since the season opener at St. Petersburg where he also finished in eighth.
Additionally, it denies Palou’s quest of finishing every single lap this year as he’s finished on the lead lap all year. Even in the 107th Indianapolis 500 where he recovered from a pit road incident with Rinus VeeKay to score fourth.
“We knew it was going to be a tough weekend,” said Palou. “We thought it was going to be maybe a little bit less tough after we tested here, but honestly yesterday we had a lot of pace. Not like Penske pace. We just didn’t really have that final lap that you need to finish fourth, fifth, and we finished eighth.”
With a rather poor result, his lead dropped to 96 points over Newgarden as things had to look better for the No. 10 team in Sunday’s race. No matter how insignificant it may be, it highlights how in a sport like INDYCAR, one off day has its ramifications.
Fortunately, Palou had a much better showing in the other 250-lap race. Although he was never a threat for the win, Palou’s quest for a podium came into fruition in the closing laps. Following a late-race caution for Ed Carpenter, Palou made most of the four-lap dash and ended up third for his sixth podium in the last eight races.
Without really skipping a beat, the No. 10 team returned into form as far as making critical changes to put their driver in position to score another podium.
“Honestly, we’re very happy to finish on the podium here today,” said Palou. “We were struggling a lot the first couple of runs, and some issues with the balance of the car. But we made changes that improved the car, had a good strategy and great pit stops. All that, plus a good restart at the end, got us to the podium. So super proud for everyone on the team. There’s still a lot for us to improve here, but we gained a lot of confidence this weekend.”
As for the championship trail, Newgarden once again cut some of Palou’s lead as his Iowa sweep puts him 80 markers away from the lead. Therefore, Palou lost 46 points to the man who has won eight out of the last 10 INDYCAR oval races dating back to Gateway in 2021. Palou did however gained three points on Dixon, who now sits third in points with five rounds remaining.
Of the remaining rounds, Gateway is the final oval of the year where people are already penciling in Newgarden to win his third straight race and sweep the oval calendar in 2023. Despite sweeping Iowa, Newgarden noted how each venue has its unique characteristics that could help his No. 2 Penske team but also the No. 10 Ganassi team.
“It’s a complex schedule on the way out. We’ve got to do street course, road course, oval, back to two road courses,” said Newgarden. “It is a question mark. We definitely have to elevate our game on where we’ve been the first half of the year. There’s no doubt.
“I think that Alex and his crew, they’re in a really good spot. They’ve had what appears to be a pretty consistent program. We’ve got to elevate to their level and just execute. You just never know what’s going to happen. I think if we can be excellent on the back half of the schedule, then anything is possible.”
In four previous starts, Gateway has been his Kryptonite with a ninth a year ago being his only top-10 result. The year before last, Palou was collected in a crash that kept the championship wide open at that point.
Certainly, Palou knows he’ll have to continue his dominance and not let Newgarden continue cutting his lead down as the goal is to score his second Astor Cup in three years. From a historic standpoint, even lock up the championship early which hasn’t been done in the Post-Split Era of America Open Wheel Racing.
“I hope that before getting to Gateway, it’s not as bad as Iowa in the past, but it’s not been great. I think I feel a bit more comfortable there, and also we have a bit more performance from the car,” said Palou.”
“I count (Will Power) on winning there, so I need to do the work in Nashville and Indy Road Course before getting there. If we cannot because it’s part of the sport in INDYCAR, and then we’ll have to figure out.
“I’m glad we have those points in the bag, but I’m not comfortable, honestly. I will be comfortable if we won the championship already. We know in INDYCAR with the big swing you can make in only one weekend just by winning and having a bad race, you can never give up.”
Following a grinding July, INDYCAR will have two weeks off before heading to Nashville for the third annual Music City Grand Prix. Coverage begins Sunday, August 6 at Noon ET on NBC. Chip Ganassi Racing have won both races with Marcus Ericsson (2021) and Scott Dixon (2022) winning those races respectively.
