What To Know About INDYCAR At Portland: Title Race, Power's Future, Caution Calls

Fox News

4 days ago

PORTLAND, Ore. — Alex Palou, viewed by many as the 2025 INDYCAR champion-in-waiting, looks back on a year ago at Portland International Raceway knowing he had a solid day in second.
He also knows he got his butt kicked. Will Power won that race by an astonishing 9.82 seconds.
So it was a good result but one where Power had the better race. At the end, he also had the better tire choice for the 12-turn, 1.964-mile track located just north of downtown Portland and just south of Vancouver, Washington.
"He just destroyed us," Palou said. "The pace that he had was crazy. I was right behind him at some point, and I could not do anything to stop him.
"It was frustrating, but at the same time, we still finished second, and our car was really, really good there. I was still kind of happy."
Palou could leave Sunday from Portland really happy if he clinches his fourth INDYCAR championship. He enters the 110-lap race Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FOX) at 121 points ahead of Pato O'Ward with three races left in the season. He clinches if he leaves Portland with at least a 108-point edge on O'Ward.
"It just feels like a normal weekend," Palou said Friday morning. "It feels very special, obviously, because we know it can be a different one at the end. But at the same time, it's still early on. It's not the last race of the season, where it's the last chance, and one driver is going to win it here.
"There's good odds of if we do the job that we know that we can do, we can try and win the championship this weekend. But as long as I win it this year, I'll be happy."
Here is what to know going into the final road-course race of the season. The final two races are contested on The Milwaukee Mile and Nashville Superspeedway (1.333-mile) ovals.
Can Power Repeat?
This was Power's third win of the 2024 season, and he hasn't won since.
Power said he doesn't feel "desperate" for a win.
"I'm not desperate," he said. "Obviously, it would be very nice. But not let's take some huge risks."
Thinking back to that race a year ago, Power believes he can find that pace.
"It all depends on the situation, but you can run away if we qualify well and we're at the front and put ourselves in that position," Power said. "That is possible. It's going to be a good challenge if you can drop Palou."
Power said the team can't assume things will go well because of last year.
"I love the track," he said. "You can't assume you're going to turn up and be very competitive just because you were last year. You've got to do your homework and be light on your feet to make some changes and so on.
"It's another opportunity to execute a good weekend, which we haven't had many of this year."
Of course, there are other things on Power's mind, like what he is doing next season. He doesn't need to have a final decision from Penske until the end of August. The season finale at Nashville is Aug. 31, and Power can't talk to other teams until then.
"I don't think I'll know until after, at the end of or during the weekend of Nashville," Power said. "I just want to know, to be honest. I would like to know what I'm doing. That would be nice. That's sort of the stress that would be off me is just to know, like, where am I driving and am I driving at all?"
Will INDYCAR Hold The Yellow?
There was some criticism of INDYCAR for not throwing the caution quickly with Rinus VeeKay stranded by the barrier at Laguna Seca and then Marcus Ericsson stalled on the track at a blind spot at the top of a hill.
INDYCAR race director Kyle Novak texted drivers following Laguna Seca about how they view those situations should be handled in the future.
VeeKay said he was frustrated losing two laps in the process but that is the way INDYCAR has officiated some of those instances in the past, especially if they come around a pit-stop cycle.
"I feel like in the position I was in, it's kind of how they do it," VeeKay said. "It's happened in the past. The one with Marcus was different, though, because I was racing. I was driving, and it's a little bit of a moment of, 'OK there's a car here somewhere, but where's it going to be?'
"He was on track. He wasn't off track. It is such a sketchy part of the track. There's a local yellow but you're still racing."
Ericsson said in the moment, he was just trying to get the car re-fired. But he obviously had concerns after seeing the precarious position he was in, even if he didn't have contact with another driver and the hybrid engine can be restarted.
"If it's a situation like that, I think we should do something different, right?" Ericsson said. "Because I understand why we don't want to throw yellow for someone who's spinning when we have the hybrid restart, but if you're in a bad spot like that, especially the blind spot, we got to be better than that."
Veteran driver Alexander Rossi said it is understandable that the series doesn't want to throw a caution during a pit cycle and impact a race. But this was a situation that wouldn't impact a pit cycle and in a blind spot for drivers coming up the hill. He indicated drivers won't know if there is a change in philosophy until a similar situation happens again.
"Just mainly that part of the track, that's the issue," Ericsson said. "What they did with Rinus there, I think was perfectly fine because he was so far off the track in a gravel trap and you see the [local] yellow going in there, you see the car up in the gravel, so it's not really like a dangerous situation.
"But for me, I think we should have done something different."
Is There VeeKay-Kirkwood Beef?
Not according to VeeKay, who posted video from Kirkwood's in-car camera to show how he ended up off the track at Laguna.
Kirkwood wasn't happy.
VeeKay said they had a conversation. At Portland, VeeKay said he didn't post it to show as much dismay on Kirkwood as just to show fans in the Netherlands who might have not watched the race what had happened.
"I think we both didn't mean to do that," Kirkwood said. "We were frustrated. My idea was I posted for the fans in the Netherlands that didn't get to see it with the nine-hour time difference.
"Kyle wasn't too happy about posting his in-car, which I get. I'm like, 'Hey, sorry. I didn't want to put you on the spot. It was more here is the situation.' Kyle and I talked, no pointing fingers, we're adults."
Beware Of Turn 1
The first turn at Portland has provided plenty of drama, especially on the opening lap.
FOX Sports analyst James Hinchcliffe was involved in a first-lap wreck in that area in each of his three starts.
It has been a little more tame the last couple of years as INDYCAR moved the restart area to coming out of the final turn so the drivers are more spread out after the long frontstretch.
And, Finally, Does O'Ward Have A Chance?
O'Ward knows the title is pretty much out of reach. All he can do is go out and try to earn max points and then see what Palou does.
But O'Ward has no finish better than fourth at Portland and a poor qualifying result translated into a rough weekend a year ago when he qualified 22nd and finished 15th.
"Really we just need to focus on us," O'Ward said. "We had a great month in July, but he still outscored us. So at this point in time, I'm really focused on securing my P2 [second place in points].
"But if that means that we keep on cutting down to keeping it alive, that's extra gravy on the mashed potatoes."
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.