Palou's oval nightmare: IndyCar rivals ready to pounce in title chase

Can he hang on? The double IndyCar champ is known for his Alain Prost-like consistency, but a couple of uncharacteristic errant results – a 16th at the messy Detroit GP and crash at Iowa – has given his rivals the chance to chip away at his advantage over the coming races.

“There is no doubt it doesn’t favour us,” Palou told Motorsport.com. “I wouldn’t say that’s made on purpose; it’s more like it doesn’t favour us.

“Now, we’re going to places the team has not won in the past; I have to say Gateway, Scott won there last year, but we were not super-fast. We were not amazingly good enough to win, so that doesn’t help us.

“We are only having one road course left, which is Portland. We won there last year, so we’re really good there and looking forward to that one. But yeah, I would much prefer if there were only one or two ovals […] it favours them [Team Penske] but it’s okay.

“It’s the game. I think if we can pull this off, it will be pretty amazing.”

Power – whose Penske team has won 10 of the last 13 ovals – has four poles and a win at eight races on the Gateway 1.25-mile, Dixon won there last year, and O’Ward has finished runner-up three times in Illinois. Power’s Penske team-mate McLaughlin recently secured his first oval win at Iowa recently too, while the Andretti drivers of Herta and Kirkwood have shown decent oval pace this year.

Power has said he’s still taking nothing for granted though.

“I know it looks as though as if we’ve been very strong on ovals, and we have, but when I look at the last few races, I think it’s anyone’s game,” he told IndyCar.

“I don’t think anyone has a big advantage. It’s very situational. Pit strategy, track position. We’ll see how that plays out.”

“You can’t sit back and think this is easy because I can guarantee you it ain’t. It’s going to be very different always to what you expect, so you’ve got to be ready for the unexpected.”

Making the task even formidable for Palou are the jokers in the pack, who might not have much of a chance in the championship fight themselves, but can still influence its outcome.

Third Penske man Josef Newgarden is still recognised as the pre-eminent oval force, and this year’s Indy 500 champion could easily be in the thick of the action. McLaren’s Alexander Rossi, who was in with a shout of beating Newgarden to the 2024 500, returns from a thumb injury this weekend.

David Malukas, who has at times dazzled with his pace upon his comeback with Meyer Shank after suffering his own hand injury, has scored his only two podiums at Gateway.

The race-after-next in Portland, where Palou has won twice before, represents a chance to get the championship halfway over the line if can clinch victory and his rivals falter. But, with so many title challengers in his midst, this looks fairly unlikely.

With so much at stake, will the racing actually deliver?

This season’s Iowa double-header was deemed a dud by most of the field. The recent repaving meant only one racing line was realistically possible, leading cars to run in procession. Further stymying the racing was IndyCar’s modified, harder tyre compound brought in to withstand the weight of the new hybrid system.

With a lack of degradation forthcoming, the fear is that more staid racing is in store. However IndyCar – particularly on ovals – can still be very unpredictable at the best of times.

For the season finale, the championship will climax at Nashville Superspeedway, the first time it has visited the track since 2008. Scott Dixon won that race – and the two Nashville rounds before it too.

“Lots of great memories here,” he says. “The team was always fast here. We had lots of wins here, which is always good.

“Hopefully we can have good side-by-side racing here like we did in the past. An oval to finish the season is always exciting.”

With so many contenders and so much still to play for, we could be in for its best season finale in a long, long time.