With a statement victory at Portland International Raceway, Will Power gained ground on Alex Palou, but the points leader still has a commanding margin in the championship standings with three races remaining.
Though his margin fell from 59 points over Colton Herta before Portland to 54 points over Power afterward, Palou still leads by a full race.
But the Chip Ganassi Racing star has yet to race at the schedule’s last two tracks, which are both ovals. IndyCar most recently visited The Milwaukee Mile in 2015, and the season finale will mark the first IndyCar race at Nashville Superspeedway since 2008.
“I would prefer if the last couple races (were) at Indy road course, Laguna and Road America, but that’s not the case,” Palou said with a smile after his runner-up finish at Portland. “When we tested Milwaukee, I thought we had a great car. I’m looking forward. It’s a great chance for me to win an oval race, having three now at the end.
“The calendar was released before we started the championship, so I knew that this was going to be the last couple of races, and wasn’t the best-case scenario for us. Our job was to try to do as much work as possible heading into those races. So I think we’ve done that. But the most difficult part of the year comes now, the next three weeks. Yeah, hopefully next week I can win an oval race.”
The favorites will be the Team Penske trio of Power, Josef Newgaden and Scott McLaughlin, who have swept the four oval races so far this season.
“We’ve been very, very good on ovals,” Power told NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch. “Obviously, those are two ovals we haven’t raced at for a long time. It’s anyone’s game. I hope we can get it right, do our best and take the fight to Alex.
“It’s such a competitive series anyone can turn up anywhere and get a win. you just have to stay on your toes.”
The championship essentially has been winnowed to Palou, Power and Herta, who trails by 67 points.
“It’s going to be who can stop Penske at a short oval with tire deg,” Herta told NBC Sports’ Georgia Henneberry after his fourth at Portland. “For the championship, it’s going to be tough to claw back all those points, but we’re not going to give up. If we have a really good weekend in Milwaukee, and Palou is less fortunate, we still can have a shot at it.”
Here are the IndyCar results and points standings after the Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway:
RESULTS
Click here for the official box score from the 110-lap race on a 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course in Portland, Oregon.
Event summary
Lap leader summary
Lap chart
Pit stop summary
Section results
Top section times
Here is the finishing order of the COM Grand Prix of Portland with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (2) Will Power, Chevrolet, 110, Running
2. (3) Alex Palou, Honda, 110, Running
3. (5) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 110, Running
4. (8) Colton Herta, Honda, 110, Running
5. (7) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 110, Running
6. (10) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 110, Running
7. (20) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 110, Running
8. (1) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 110, Running
9. (12) Graham Rahal, Honda, 110, Running
10. (11) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 110, Running
11. (14) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 110, Running
12. (17) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 110, Running
13. (4) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 110, Running
14. (18) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 110, Running
15. (22) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 110, Running
16. (28) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 110, Running
17. (19) Toby Sowery, Honda, 109, Running
18. (24) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 109, Running
19. (15) Juri Vips, Honda, 109, Running
20. (25) David Malukas, Honda, 109, Running
21. (23) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 109, Running
22. (26) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 109, Running
23. (21) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 109, Running
24. (27) Jack Harvey, Honda, 109, Running
25. (13) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 109, Running
26. (16) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 108, Running
27. (6) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 107, Running
28. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 0, Contact
Winner’s average speed: 112.161 mph; Time of race: 1 hour, 55 minutes, 34.1948 seconds; Margin of victory: 9.8267 seconds; Cautions: One for four laps;
Lead changes: Eight among five drivers; Lap Leaders: Power 1-31; Palou 32; Newgarden 33; Power 34-56; Herta 57-60; Armstrong 61; Power 62-85; Palou 86-87; Power 88-110.
POINTS
Click here for the points tally in the race.
Here are the points standings after the season’s 14th of 17 races for:
Drivers
Engine manufacturers
Entrants
Pit stop performance
Top 10 in points: Palou 484, Power 430, Herta 417, McLaughlin 396, Dixon 383, O’Ward 360, Newgarden 353, Kirkwood 342, Rossi 295, Ferrucci 274,
Rest of the standings: Rosenqvist 265, Lundgaard 261, Armstrong 258, Ericsson 257, VeeKay 240, Rahal 227, Grosjean 218, Lundqvist 216, Robb 156, Fittipaldi 156, Simpson 152, Siegel 124, Rasmussen 114, Agustin Canapino 109, Malukas 102, Harvey 96, Theo Pourchaire 91, Daly 51, Tom Blomqvist 46, Ed Carpenter 45, Sowery 45, Callum Ilott 39, Katherine Legge 29, Luca Ghiotto 27, Helio Castroneves 26, Kyle Larson 21, Takuma Sato 19, Tristan Vautier 12, Vips 11, Colin Braun 10, Ryan Hunter-Reay 6, Hunter McElrea 6, Marco Andretti 5.
Next race: The IndyCar Series will race on consecutive days at The Milwaukee Mile. The Saturday, Aug. 31 race will be shown exclusively on Peacock starting at 6 p.m. ET. Sunday, Sept. 1 will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA and Peacock.