LEBANON, Tenn. – It was on Thursday at the Bridgestone Americas corporate headquarters in Nashville that Scott Dixon told NBC Sports’ Nate Ryan that the 2024 IndyCar Series Championship was over; that Will Power had his miracle and didn’t take advantage of it.
That came at The Milwaukee Mile when Alex Palou’s No. 10 DHL Honda had a battery issue that killed his car on the parade lap and sent him into the garage area for repairs. He would ultimately return but finished 29 laps down to race winner Scott McLaughlin.
Power was unable to capitalize on that rare misfortune when he spun out in the latter third of the race on a restart in Turn 4 and finished 10th.
That sent him into the final race of the season, 33 points behind Palou in the battle for the IndyCar Series Championship.
Power may have gotten another miracle in Saturday’s qualifications at Nashville Superspeedway for Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix.
Palou, who was the fastest driver in Saturday morning’s practice session with a fast lap of 199.862 miles per hour in the No. 10 DHL Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing around the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway, picked a bad time to have a bad qualifying performance.
That may have given Power his “Music City Miracle.”
Power qualified fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for Team Penske with a two-lap average of 200.628 miles per hour.
Palou qualified 15th with a two-lap average of 199.532 mph in the No. 10 DHL Honda.
Palou, however, will start 24th because he entered the race with a nine-grid spot penalty for an unapproved engine change after the second race at The Milwaukee Mile on Labor Day Weekend.
Let’s borrow from the immortal words of broadcasting legend Al Michaels in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York and the “Miracle on Ice.”
Does Will Power believe in miracles?
Yes!
Power had a big smile on his face after his qualification effort and when he learned how poorly Palou will start on the concrete oval.
“I don’t think I’ve had that many miracles,” Power told NBCSports.com. “Definitely not as many as Scott Dixon has had.
“But it would be a miracle if something like what happened at Milwaukee happens again and we have a phenomenal day.
“A lot of racing to go. I think, Palou can sigh a little bit of relief because we didn’t take that point for the pole, and it makes his job a little easier.
“But we’re still going to fight up for all this.”
The numbers are still in Palou’s favor. A ninth-place finish give him a third NTT IndyCar Series Championship if Power wins the race.
Winning the race is exactly what Power intends to do.
“We have to win the race, yes, unless he is out in the first lap and then it’s about where we have to finish and laps but my ultimately put the pressure on him,” Power said. “We have to win the race.
“But it may be difficult for Palou to get up to ninth because it’s a tough place to pass and you just don’t know when you’re back there, you can get collected, all the stuff that could happen.”
Earlier on Saturday, team owner Chip Ganassi met with two writers from NBCSports.com and Joey Barnes of Motorsport.com in a private interview in his motorhome.
Ganassi called Palou, “one cool cucumber.”
Even after his disappointing performance, the driver from Spain had a smile on his face as he displayed coolness under pressure.
“We need to have patience because there are 206 laps, but we need to move forward at the same time no matter what,” Palou told NBCSports.com.
“We’ll make it.
“We have a long way to go to get to ninth. So first we’ll try and get to P20, then 15th, 10th, and then move from there. But yeah, step by step. The good thing is that we have some margin and 206 laps in front of us.
“So, we’ll make it happen.”
Palou said the issue in qualifying was losing the balance of the car after it was the fastest car on the track just a few hours earlier.
“We just lost the balance,” Palou continued. “The balance was really good this morning on both primary (tires) and alternates. I don’t know if it was just a couple degrees difference that we had from the practice session and suddenly we just didn’t have the balance we needed to go flat out.
“I think we were very, very good this morning, leading in practice and feeling very comfortable. We just lost the balance of the car.
“As soon as we get it back, we’ll be right back at it.
“After leading in practice, it’s not what we wanted, not what we expected. We had a really good car in practice, so, we were actually thinking we were going to battle for the pole.
“But it didn’t work out that way.”
Palou believes the championship is still his destiny. That is why he is more concerned about how he moves up in the field, without any regard to Power’s position in the race.
“I’m not thinking about it at the moment,” Palou said. “I don’t see myself being P-17 and thinking about where he is.
“I just want to move myself forward not only for the championship that’s what we would have to do anyway starting P24 with an engine penalty we know at least we can get to 15th. We will try and move everything a lot and see where we end up.
Palou remains confident by the end of Sunday’s race; he will be hoisting the Astor Cup as the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series Champion.
He also admits his qualification effort made that quest a little more difficult because he will be back in the pack and have to fight his way through traffic on a track that may be difficult to pass.
“I think it’ll be tough honestly,” Palou said. “I want to be wrong obviously especially starting 24th but I think it’ll be tough hopefully the second the high line practice helps have some more grip up there, but I think it’ll be very tough.”
Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global won the pole, his first on an oval, with a two-lap average of 201.520 miles per hour. Nashville’s Josef Newgarden of Team Penske lines up second with a two-lap average of 201.352 mph followed by Felix Rosenqvist’s 200.676 mph average and Power’s 200.628 mph average.
Palou will have to fight his way through the field after starting in the back with Sting Ray Robb, Katherine Legge, Jack Harvey and others.
Power may have gotten his second miracle in as many races, but will it be enough to wipe out Palou’s 33-point championship lead by the end of the race?
That will be answered on Sunday afternoon.