Alex Palou’s Road America Victory Brings Chip Ganassi Racing Win Tally to 250

Alex Palou continues his winning ways at Road America. (Photo: Maddie Skidan | The Podium Finish)

ELKHART LAKE, WIS. – For the third time in the last four races, Alex Palou took the top step of the podium as a late pass on Colton Herta led the INDYCAR points leader checking out and won Sunday’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America.

Palou’s second win in Elkhart Lake marked Chip Ganassi Racing’s 250th overall team win and extended his championship lead from 51 to 74 points over teammate Marcus Ericsson, who finished sixth.

No question, Palou’s No. 10 team are clicking on all cylinders, especially after overcoming Saturday morning’s practice crash, still able to prepare a car for qualifying where he rolled off third.

“It’s been an amazing weekend,” Palou said after leading 10 of 55 laps, “We started with a lot of speed. Big mistake on my part in practice, but it was amazing.

“They had only an hour and a half to rebuild the car. We went back on track and it was even better. Super happy and gave me a pit stop that gave us the win. Cannot thank them enough and we’re going to keep it going.”

On a day where pole sitter Colton Herta appeared to be unstoppable, the aforementioned pit stop towards the end of the race became the turning point of his day in Wisconsin.

With 15 laps remaining, Herta pitted a lap before Palou, leading to an agonizing outcome as Herta had to save fuel. Meanwhile, Palou, by virtue of pitting a lap later, was able to make a charge on Herta and with nine laps remaining, he dove to his inside, passing him for the race lead.

He did not just clear him; he ran away with the victory.

“Herta was really quick on the first couple of laps on the blacks, and I thought I wasn’t going to catch him,” Palou said. “I knew our tires were a bit slower getting up to temperature. We kept on pushing and putting some pressure, and we finally made it happen.”

With a shot at victory evaporating, Herta was simply racing to just complete the 55-lap contest as Newgarden, Pato O’Ward and Scott Dixon passed him in a span of two laps. In the end, Herta finished fifth after leading a race-high 33 laps.

While he was happy with getting a top five, such result is irrelevant on a day that could have been his greatest chance with snapping a year-plus winless streak.

“It’s hard to say what was going to happen with fuel numbers,” Herta said. “I knew it was 15 laps to go, and that’s usually a pretty reasonable fuel number. But it ended up being quite a bit more. It’s a frustrating one.

“We had the best car and we were cruising the whole time. I had so much more in it and we just never got to show it because we were always saving fuel trying to go a lap later. It’s a killer.”

An image Colton Herta wished came into fruition. Instead, it was Palou scoring his third win of 2023. (Photo: Mike Moore | The Podium Finish)

2023 Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden crossed the line in second, trailing Palou by 4.5610 seconds. He felt the final stint was a bit tough in stopping Palou.

However, Newgarden felt his No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet was capable of being a winning car. But a decision on a restart where several drivers were off sequence on their pit strategy did him in and had to salvage what he could to get a podium result.

“Palou was better than us on the final stint,” Newgarden said. “He did a great job and very deserving. In the middle of the race, we definitely had an opportunity. I chose a lane on the restart when we had all the off cycle cars in front of us, but I chose the wrong lane with Palou, and lost a lot of spots. Set us up for the end of the race and played catch up.

“I felt like if I made a different choice there, I would’ve had an opportunity for the win. I guess I’m happy to be disappointed with second. This was a great recovery drive from our team.”

In the final few laps, O’Ward had to fend off an old adversary in Scott Dixon, who like Palou, had a practice crash. O’Ward was successful in that ordeal as Sunday marked a much-needed result after finishing 24th or worse in the last two races.

O’Ward was in the hunt in Indianapolis and Detroit for a win or a podium spot. At one point, it appeared unlikely, especially after being ran over from behind by Kyle Kirkwood. Then O’Ward gave up spots for crowding Santino Ferrucci.

“It was a hard fought race for us,” O’Ward said. “We were a ping pong at the beginning and then got shuffled back. I think we were sitting ninth and we just fought our way forward.

“There was no other thing to do and I’m happy with the result. Solid job by the team in the pits and considering where we ended the last couple of races, this is a really good job.”

A win in 2023 still eludes Pato O’Ward after eight rounds. (Photo: Logan Skidan | The Podium Finish)

As for Dixon, the incident from Long Beach with O’Ward remains at large but there will be a time and place for some sort of payback. It was simply all about being the better competitor. In the end, it was O’Ward who reached the final step of the podium.

The main focus in Elkhart Lake was Dixon’s drive from 23rd to finish in the top five after a rare driver error collected Will Power in a Saturday practice crash where Power was livid with the six-time INDYCAR champion.

When the race got going, Dixon was on a mission to navigate around the 27-car field under a newly repaved 4.014-mile road course where a lot of variations occurred. In the end, Dixon was pleased with the overall effort from his No. 9 squad, Road America’s repaving effort and how the Firestone tires managed throughout the race.

“One spot away from a podium,” Dixon said. “It was definitely a day where you needed drivability, trying to look after those Firestones and fuel mileage. It was nice to have some pretty high grip back at an Indy car. A lot of the circuits we go to now are pretty low grip for us.

“The tires surprisingly went really well. A lot of people were having a bit of a downer on how the reds are going to be, but they did a hell of a job.”

Several drivers had moments where they either were pushed into the grass, released on pit road unsafely or spun out due to driver errors. Kirkwood was among those drivers who endured a rough go after running into O’Ward on Lap 1, resulting him to spin in Turn 2 resulting in the first of four cautions.

Unlike his Andretti Autosport teammate Romain Grosjean on Lap 13, Kirkwood kept the car off the gravel and had to play tremendous catch up. As the race winded down, Kirkwood ultimately saw himself back into the top 10 and managed to cross the line in ninth in spite of his opening lap mistake.

“I had an amazing jump from P6 and I was nearly passing for P3,” Kirkwood said. “I don’t know if I had loads more grip than everyone else. I didn’t feel like I was too deep and I ran into the back of Pato. I felt bad for him and I spun myself out.

“Cycled to the back, but I was able to pass cars on track. It showed how great our No. 27 Honda was. We had good strategy, good pit stops and it got us back into the top-10. We’re happy for that, but kind of a dumb mistake at the beginning from me.”

The series will have a week off before heading to another fan favorite INDYCAR venue at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Live coverage of the Honda Indy 200 begins Sunday, July 2 at 1:30 p.m. ET on the USA Network.

Penske have won the last three straight races with Scott McLaughlin being the most recent Mid-Ohio winner a year ago.

2023 Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America Results