Power Goes Back-to-Back in Portland; Palou Clinches Fourth Title

Will Power celebrates his first victory of 2025 and the 45th of his career at the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix presented by askROI at the Portland International Raceway (Photo: Penske Entertainment).

PORTLAND, Ore. – Will Power makes a powerful statement on why he should remain at Team Penske in 2026 all while Alex Palou clinches the season title at the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix presented by askROI at the Portland International Raceway.

Power’s 45th career victory adds to an already impressive INDYCAR career by beating NTT P1 Award winner Christian Lundgaard in the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to win by 1.5388 seconds in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet and getting Team Penske its elusive first victory of the 2025 season, and their 26^th consecutive season with at least one victory.

“I think it’s just a big win for the whole team,” Power said. “We’ve had a rough year, and it’s not really because we’ve been off the pace. It’s just been unfortunate circumstances. It was a good, hard-fought win.”

“Stoked. I’ve had a great career with Verizon and Penske, so I’ve really, really enjoyed winning for the guys and everyone I’ve worked with for a long time. It’s awesome.”

By virtue of his third-place finish in Sunday’s race in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Palou puts his name down in NTT INDYCAR Series record books with his third-consecutive NTT INDYCAR Series title and fourth in five years. Palou now joins an illustrious list of Ted Horn, Sebastien Bourdais and Dario Franchitti as the only drivers to achieve three-consecutive titles.

Even more impressive, this title was the 17th series championship for Chip Ganassi Racing, tying Team Penske for the most titles in INDYCAR Series history.

“It’s unbelievable; it’s crazy,” Palou said. “I couldn’t be happier right now. This has been an amazing season, an amazing five years with CGR. I have no words to describe how grateful I am to everybody at CGR. I cannot wait for more.”

Alex Palou celebrates as he clinches his third consecutive championship and fourth in five years at the Portland International Raceway (Photo: Penske Entertainment).

Two of the more impressive and much needed drives of the day came from the races biggest mover Graham Rahal finishing in the fourth position from his 22^nd starting spot in the No. 15 Hendrickson International Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, and 2016 Indy 500 champion Alexander Rossi getting ECR’s best finish of the season in fifth place in the No. 20 Java House Chevrolet.

Differing tires strategies from the front contenders was the name of the game for the 110-lap race. Power started the race on the grippier but less durable Firestone red alternate tires to gain a quicker speed advantage early out of the gate.

By virtue of a six-place grid penalty for an unapproved engine change on Friday, Lundgaard elected to start the race on the black primary Firestone tires to gain a more speed and handling advantage over longer green flag runs.

Using his Firestone alternates in the first two rounds of pit cycles, Power was able to stretch a significant 20-second lead over Palou by Lap 51 before having to utilize his set of his slower black primary Firestone tires on Lap 61 and allowing Lundgaard and Palou to push hard to catch up to the feisty veteran.

As the pace increased for the front trio, Lundgaard pushed his No. 7 Chevrolet to the limits to close the gap to 1.1 seconds behind Power by Lap 74. Lundgaard made his final stop at the end of Lap 79 for his set of sticker (new) Firestone alternate tires, all while Power stopped for the last time a lap later for used Firestone alternate tires. Palou eventually made his stop on Lap 82, like Lundgaard, taking on fresh new Firestone alternate tires.

Graham Rahal navigates the 12-turn, 1.964-mile Portland International Raceway in route to his best finish of the season (Photo: Penske Entertainment).

After Rahal made his final stop from the lead on Lap 84, it was the Power, Lundgaard and Palou show as the three put on a fantastic driving exhibition for the top spot. By Lap 96 you could throw a blanket over the top three as they battled for the win.

Palou veered off course on Lap 107 while battling Lundgaard for second, allowing Power to set sail for the checkered flag in dominate fashion by leading a race-high 78 laps on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course.

The remaining top 10 included: Callum Ilott (sixth), Scott McLaughlin (seventh), Marcus Armstrong (eighth), Felix Rosenqvist (ninth) and Colton Herta coming home 10th.

Sunday’s final race on the west coast for the season saw 11 lead changes among five drivers, three yellow flags for 11 laps and 242 total passes.

The final two races of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR Series season will take place on a pair of ovals, all starting with the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 on Sunday, Aug. 24 in Milwaukee and the season-finale at the Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday, Aug. 31.

BITNILE.COM Grand Prix presented by askROI final results: