NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Scott Dixon is willing to help Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Palou in his bid for a third IndyCar championship in Sunday’s season finale at Nashville Superspeedway.
But Dixon, a six-time series champion who has seen his share of title fights, believes his assistance won’t be needed as Palou aims to finish ahead of Team Penske’s Will Power in the championship standings.
“I think it’s kind of already over, man,” Dixon said when asked if he would be doing much championship strategizing with Palou. “I think Power got his miracle in Milwaukee, man. Two miracles in a row is going to be pretty tough to see.”
Palou will carry a 33-point lead over Power into Nashville after averting a potential disaster in the Sept. 1 race at the Milwaukee Mile. He finished 29 laps down in 19th because of a battery failure in his No. 10 Dallara-Honda on the pace laps.
Power, who had finished second at Milwaukee the previous day in the opener of a weekend doubleheader, seemed poised to take advantage and possibly snatch the championship points lead away. But the Team Penske driver spun on a midrace restart and finished 10th after leading 64 laps. Though Palou lost 21 points off his lead over two races at Milwaukee, the gap remained large enough to leave Power in long-shot territory.
Palou is positioned to clinch his second consecutive championship and third in four seasons by finishing ninth or better at Nashville, regardless of Power’s result.
Aside from finishing outside the top five in three of 16 races this year, Palou also will have the support of Dixon and three more Ganassi teammates who could yield their positions in pursuit of the championship.
But Dixon thinks that scenario is unlikely.
“It was an open door with the problem that Alex had at Milwaukee, and (Power) didn’t come up with it,” Dixon said. “If you’re in a situation you can help, you will. It’s too hard to plan that stuff now, man. If you plan it and go in with a set kind of mindset, you’re just going to screw it up.”
There are some pluses for Power. Team Penske has been the best team on ovals in IndyCar this season, winning five of six races, and Power will have the help of Penske teammates Scott McLaughlin and Newgarden to push Palou deeper in the finishing order.
But Newgarden, who won the IndyCar championship in 2017 and ’19, concedes it’ll be a tall order. Excluding the 2014-19 era in which the season finale counted for double points, the largest deficit overcome by a champion in the final race was Ryan Hunter-Reay making up a 17-point gap to beat Power for the 2012 championship.
“Alex is in a dominant position,” Newgarden said. “If you’re going to choose between the two, I think you choose the points gap that he has every day of the week. He’s got enough of a gap that it’s so protected.
“Of course, anything can happen. I think there’s a great opportunity for Will to still win this championship. But the odds are not in this favor. The championship is within Alex’s control right now. For us as a team, we’ve got to put our best foot forward. If we’re in that position where we can help Will win the championship, we’re going to try to do that. But we’ve just got to run our race and see where everything falls.”
Would that mean giving up a win if it helps Power? Newgarden says “of course” he would yield the lead for Penske to win its second title in the past three years.
“You can’t try and orchestrate anything,” he said. “You’ve just got to run your weekend, try and do everything normal. Just try and be as fast as possible, push each other, qualify well, run up front, and then if we’re in position and things fall our way, then we’ll try and close the deal.
“If we get to the end of the road here and it looks like Will can win the championship and I’d have to get out of the way for him to do that, then I’m going to do that for the team, of course. I’ve had teammates support me in championship runs, and for our team, absolutely that’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to try and, as a team, seal the championship. So we just got to wait and see if we’re in that position. If we’re in that position, we’re going to work together as a group to seal the deal. If the greatest way I can contribute is if they need me to help them win it, then I’ll help the team win.”
