Will Power Preparing Differently for '500' in Pivotal Year for Career
Qualifying for the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge takes place this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Will Power said Tuesday he would be fine with never winning the pole for this event.
'I'd qualify last if I could get (another race win), man,' the 2018 victor said.
Power can only imagine what a second win in 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing' might do for him. As it stands, his contract with Team Penske is set to expire at season's end, and for now, he is in limbo regarding the future. He expects to have options – current rivals have told him as much – but Roger Penske has been his boss since 2009, and the success they've had together has been nearly unmatched.
Forty-one of Power's 44 career race wins and 64 of his record-setting 70 poles have come as a Team Penske driver. Power's association with Verizon is the longest-running driver-sponsor partnership in the sport, and it would seem odd to have the Aussie in any other colors.
But business decisions are often made with the future in mind, and Power accepts that he is 44 years old. However, he continues to see himself as much of a championship contender as anyone can be in a season where Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou is dominating. Palou effectively has a two-race lead on the field.
So, Power waits to see what Team Penske wants from him.
'I'm still as quick as ever,' he said before adding with a laugh, '(and) I'm getting better looking.'
Statistics certainly support the former. Last year, Power tied teammate Scott McLaughlin and Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward for the most race wins, and only McLaughlin led more laps. Palou and Power were the only two drivers at the season's final race at Nashville Superspeedway with a realistic chance to win the championship, and it took Power's seat belts coming loose in the early laps to knock him out of contention.
Since Power was involved in the first-lap accident in this year's season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding, he has posted four consecutive top-six finishes. Only three drivers have scored more points in the past four races, and one of them, obviously, is Palou. O'Ward has scored six more points than Power in that stretch; Arrow McLaren's Christian Lundgaard has scored two more.
Power has made it clear he wants to be in this series next year, and it is his intent to be in a seat in 2027, as well. After that, who knows.
For now, Power must wait to see what Team Penske offers him, if anything. He conceded Tuesday that other teams are waiting for that information, too.
'I have to wait, but it doesn't stop teams from (approaching),' he said. 'I can't help if someone comes up to me and says, 'We're very interested in you for next year.' It's like, 'OK, I can't say anything, but fine.' That happens.'
Power said his contract situation has him as motivated as ever to excel.
'I've been locked in all year, very very locked in,' he said. 'In particular, I've been locked in to the '500' because I've struggled in (recent years). I've had bad races for like five years.'
Beginning with the pandemic-impact race in 2020, Power has finished no higher than 14th, and his average finish in those five races was 21.2. He nearly failed to qualify in 2021, and last year he crashed out early for only the second time in his 17 races at IMS.
Power joined McLaughlin and teammate Josef Newgarden as front-row qualifiers here last year, but Power couldn't race at the pace of the others. That's on his mind as this month begins to take shape.
'(I'm) very motivated to understand why (last year went as it did) and to get the car right,' he said. 'I do understand the differences between (my car) and my teammates last year.
'My car was really good in clean air last year. I set it up that way because we qualified up front. I didn't realize every (pit) stop would be a yellow-flag stop. You just had all these restarts where we were in traffic. That was my problem. If I was out front or in the first two, I would have been very strong, so this year I'm very focused on heavy traffic (and) restarts. That's where I struggled.'
Power said he worked on a chassis setup at last month's Open Test that was similar to what was used on McLaughlin's. He said he felt 'very good' in traffic, and he posted the third-fastest lap behind those of McLaughlin and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Takuma Sato, a two-time '500' winner. That's encouraging.
Power was reminded that Simon Pagenaud was similarly in a contract year in 2019 when he won the '500' from the pole for Team Penske. In the post-race news conference, team owner Penske said his driver would 'absolutely' get a new contract, and he did for two years.
Power wouldn't mind history repeating itself.
'Yeah, obviously, (winning the '500') puts you in a very good position, a very strong position,' he said. 'Either way, it's all good, man. There's a lot of good teams in the series, and it will be interesting to see what happens.'
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Fox Sports
4 hours ago
- Fox Sports
In His Own Words: Alex Palou On What Each Win Meant In Title Run
NTT INDYCAR SERIES In His Own Words: Alex Palou On What Each Win Meant In Title Run Published Aug. 11, 2025 2:44 p.m. ET share facebook x reddit link PORTLAND, Ore. — Alex Palou's remarkable season has included the most victories by a driver in 18 years. A driver earns at least 51 points for a victory. So in some ways, they all count relatively the same. But what role did his victories (and maybe his non-victories) play into his fourth series title, clinched after 15 races of the 17-race schedule? Palou sat down with me following his championship-clinching run Sunday at Portland International Raceway to give me almost an immediate oral history of the season's major turning points. Win No. 1: St. Pete (Season Opener) Palou: That was one of the most important wins of the year. It was a place that we struggled in the past, and we knew that by pushing really hard there and trying to improve a couple of stuff that we had, we're going to be able to fight for the win. Getting that win there just kind of allowed everybody to believe that we were a little bit better than everybody else, that we were a little bit more prepared than everybody else, and we wanted to take advantage of that and try and get more wins and try to get more good results. Alex Palou opened the season on a winning note at St. Petersburg. Win No. 2: Thermal (Race 2) Palou: When we went from St. Pete to Thermal, that was amazing. We had to fight for both of those races so hard, but it was amazing to get two wins in a row, which I've never had in my entire career at the start of the season. And it felt amazing. ... It felt more like, OK we won the first two, it's looking very good to fight for the championship again. But there's no chance that I would have even thought about getting eight wins in one year. Like zero chance. ADVERTISEMENT Win No. 3: Barber (Race 4) Palou: It was the first weekend of May. We forget about the wins very easy. Not only us, but everybody. You have to because you cannot allow yourself to try and enjoy them. You need to keep on working towards more, because if you don't do it, otherwise somebody else will catch you. Barber, for us, was a good way of starting the month of May, giving everybody a big boost of energy. Because the month of May, it's very tough for everybody, especially mechanics, the engineers. They spend so many days out of home, and it felt amazing to give them that little bit of fuel that they needed to try and go for May. Win No. 4: Indianapolis Grand Prix (Race 5) Palou: It was a very fast race. We knew we had an amazing car there, and honestly, the pace that we had was amazing. It was just so good, we were able to manage a little bit. But, again, it kind of gave us a huge boost for the month of May. It kind of pushed us to work more and try to get the 500. Win No. 5: Indianapolis 500 (Race 6) Palou: The 500 is a completely different race. You spend so much time there and you know it's so hard that even though you won the week before or the two weeks before, it just doesn't feel like you can carry that momentum. It's like everybody starts from zero. The 500, it's always separate. Even if you've won zero or five races before that, you don't care. You just want to go there and you want to win. And that's the way we felt this year. Winning the 500 is super special. It's amazing. It puts yourself in a very cool group of other drivers. But our season is so long, you cannot rely only on one race [to make your season]. What I like is going to every single weekend, fighting for the wins, getting wins, getting good results. So I don't think I would have been happy struggling for six months and only being happy one week. That [first oval win] kind of allowed me to believe that I could win on ovals, that I had everything I needed to win more on other ovals. It kind of allowed me to have even more confidence in myself and the team. It's just like every single race that we did this year, it kind of gave us more confidence. Alex Palou broke through to capture his first Indy 500 victory. Win No. 6: Road America (Race 9) Palou: (In this race, Palou argued with his strategist over what to do). We always have those talks. Even today here at Portland, there was a strategy that was we could have done the other thing and just follow everybody else. But it's fun. It's what keeps this thing interesting. It's what keeps our relationship so good. But Road America, again, was a high boost of confidence of how good we were on road courses this year and another win to add to the amazing, magical season. Win No. 7: Iowa (Race 12) Palou: I needed that. I needed that very badly. I wanted that. I didn't need to. I wanted it. The fact that we won at the 500 felt amazing and that we could take the oval win, but I think it's a very different oval compared to St. Louis, Milwaukee, Iowa. So for me, it was very important to get that Iowa win. I felt super happy to get that win. It counted even more than just one. Alex Palou celebrates in victory lane after Race 2 at Iowa Speedway. Win No. 8: Laguna Seca (Race 14) Palou: It just put us in the position to get the win [of the title] here at Portland. But at the same time, the pace that we showed there was so good, it was so big, and kind of allowed us to believe everything that we've done this year. It gave us more confidence to try and win another race and try and go for 10 wins. Clinching Race: Portland (Race 15, third) Palou: We could have been in a really bad spot with our strategy. We had to overtake a lot of cars on track, and we had to recover [from falling behind by] 20 seconds that both [Will] Power and [Christian] Lundgaard gave us. We recovered that and then we fought for second as hard as I could — twice — and it didn't work. It's still another podium from starting fifth and not having cautions for us. It kind of hurt us a little bit. So to get another podium is amazing. Alex Palou wrapped up the 2025 title in Portland with his eighth win of the season. The Non-Wins Palou: Finishing second in Long Beach [in the third race], it helped us quite a lot. Mid-Ohio, although it could have been another win and I made a mistake, I think that helped me a lot to not get relaxed at all and go down one level of confidence. Although I'm very confident, to know that you make mistakes, and that everybody's there waiting for you to make a mistake. For sure, that's going to make me a lot tougher. It made me tougher, but I'm sure in the long run, it's going to be good. Finally, Are A Record-Tying 10 Wins Possible (winning Milwaukee and Nashville) Palou: By numbers, yes. But it's no. Realistically, no. 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. share
New York Times
5 hours ago
- New York Times
Watkins Glen takeaways: The trouble with appreciating greatness, win-and-in drivers and more
Álex Palou smiled as he popped into the frame of a Zoom call, then took a few bites of a post-championship snack before answering some questions from The Athletic. A couple hours earlier, Palou had finished third at Portland International Raceway to clinch the IndyCar series title — his fourth in five years — with two races still remaining this season. Advertisement So we had to know: With the championship wrapped, what was Palou's motivation to keep racing hard in the final two events? The question was a bit tongue-in-cheek. NASCAR has been embroiled in a debate over how its championship is decided, with roughly half of the fan base pushing for a return to a full-season points format. But others within NASCAR are fearful of a driver clinching early and rendering the final races irrelevant, which seems to be the problem IndyCar is faced with now. Earlier this weekend, Palou decisively said he is not interested in any talk of playoffs in IndyCar. So what's his case for why the final races matter after he has already clinched the title? 'Although we race for the championship and that's our ultimate goal, what I love about this sport is not the championship,' Palou explained. 'What I love is going every single weekend, fighting against somebody else trying to do the same thing we do, trying to get better cars, better driving techniques and just trying to beat everybody. 'That's what motivates me: The opportunity each race weekend to win and be the best.' It sounds so simple, but that's what seems to have gotten lost in NASCAR at times. There's so much focus on NASCAR's playoffs that after Shane van Gisbergen's dominant victory at Watkins Glen on Sunday, he answered questions yet again about Round 1 of the playoffs and whether he can win at the Charlotte Roval in Round 2 — a constant theme since his first win of the season in Mexico City. In reality, van Gisbergen is 25th in the point standings and isn't going to win the championship. He's a rookie who still needs a lot of work to be competitive on ovals. So while the discussion of his Round 3 prospects are a talking point for the weekly playoff conversation, it can also come at the expense of pure appreciation for his remarkable four straight road course wins. Advertisement On the other hand, playoff system proponents argue a postseason format keeps viewers engaged and motivated to watch longer into the year. Palou's third straight IndyCar title felt inevitable after he won five of the first six races; he has since added three more victories and has 11 podium finishes in 15 races this season, so it's doubtful that lack of drama pulls in many viewers beyond the hardcore fan base. And that's a shame in itself, because Palou is establishing himself as one of the best ever — and is now the youngest four-time series champion in IndyCar history at age 28. NASCAR has been there before when it comes to struggling to appreciate greatness; Jimmie Johnson's five straight titles as the sport's popularity dipped seemed to make some in the stock car world allergic to the concept. That's not the only similarity between the series. Both now have spec cars, although IndyCar's current model long preceded the Next Gen and isn't the sort of talking point it is in NASCAR. And in Palou's eyes, having spec cars only makes his victories more satisfying. 'Although it's the same car, you can prepare it better, adjust stuff better, do all the details better,' Palou said. '(Chip Ganassi Racing) puts so much work into the car that it would be unfair to say I drive the exact same car as everybody else. But we don't have different parts on the car, so it makes it feel more special.' The unusual circumstances of van Gisbergen's arrival into the Cup Series — at a time when there are three times as many road courses as there were a decade ago — has opened the door for him to pile up victories like no rookie in the Modern Era. By winning for the fourth time this season, van Gisbergen broke a tie with Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson for the most wins as a Cup Series rookie. Some would then argue, 'OK, but Carl Edwards would have been classified as a rookie by today's standards in 2005 and won four races that year!' Advertisement Hey, that's fair. But there's a counter to that as well: van Gisbergen has made it to five career Cup Series wins faster than anyone else in the Modern Era (38 starts). Yes, this is all made possible by the amount of opportunities he gets per season compared to Jeff Gordon and drivers of that era. But it's not like other drivers such as AJ Allmendinger couldn't have done this in the last few years; only van Gisbergen has. Now he needs just four more Cup wins to tie Gordon for the all-time lead for road courses — and he's won four this season alone. And to do all of this in equal cars while posting margins of victory in the double digits? It's truly something special that we may not see again from anyone, at least anytime soon. Setting himself up for playoff success. 💪 — NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 10, 2025 With two races remaining until the NASCAR playoff field is set, most of the storylines are about who has yet to secure a berth. Can Ryan Preece or Chris Buescher point their way in? Will Alex Bowman survive the cut? But looking at some of those drivers who have already locked into the field with one victory, it's apparent how their seasons could have been much different. For example: Since winning at Texas Motor Speedway on May 4, defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano has only one finish better than ninth in 13 races (fourth place at Nashville). He is now behind Preece in points and would be below the cutoff line without that Texas victory. Another playoff qualifier in the same situation? Surprisingly, it's Ross Chastain. The Trackhouse driver was eighth in the standings as recently as last month, but has since tumbled to 14th in points and would not be in the playoff field without his Coca-Cola 600 win in late May. Advertisement Similarly, Austin Cindric would be far out of contention if he had not won Talladega. Cindric is behind Kyle Busch in the standings and has zero — yes, zero! — single-digit finishes since that April victory (14 races). The same goes for Josh Berry, as you probably figured if you've been following his season. The surprise Las Vegas winner from March is now 24th in the standings — only four points ahead of van Gisbergen and behind John Hunter Nemechek — and has only one top-10 finish in 19 races since the Vegas victory. None of those drivers appear to be headed toward a top 10 finish in the regular-season point standings, meaning their races are all about playoff points or bust. And for the most part this summer, it's been bust. Chase Elliott and the No. 9 team picked a bad day to have a bad day. Elliott lost a painful 24 points in the standings to teammate William Byron and now trails the regular-season points leader by 42 with just two races remaining — this after he had overcome a 112-point deficit following Michigan to rally and snatch the points lead away after Dover, a span of just six races. But after holding the points lead for two weeks, Elliott has given up 58 points to Byron in just three races — and on Sunday had his impressive top-20 streak come to an end. If you missed it, Elliott had not finished outside the top 20 all season; in fact, it had been since last October at Las Vegas since his last such result (a span of 26 races). Byron now seems in control after a fourth-place finish on Sunday, which comes on the heels of his Iowa win. Just like that, he has back-to-back top-five finishes for the first time in two months while Elliott has suddenly gone three races without a top-10. The goal now for Elliott must be to stay within this same range after Saturday night's race at Richmond, then hope Byron finds trouble in the regular-season finale at Daytona while Elliott avoids the Big One. Advertisement Otherwise, his post-Michigan comeback and the quest for the 15 playoff points awarded to the regular-season champion will have come up short. Quick guess: Who leads the Cup Series in average finish over the last four races? Would you have guessed … Bubba Wallace? Yep, Wallace has a 5.5 average finish and four straight top-10s — a stretch that includes his Indianapolis win and the improbable rally from a broken toe link at Iowa. This is the first time Wallace has put together four consecutive top-10s since July/August 2022; he has never put together five straight top-10s in his career, but can do so if he backs up his fourth-place run from last year's Richmond race this weekend. Ryan Blaney is the only other driver in the Cup Series to be carrying a current streak of four straight top-10s, but the hottest driver in the Cup Series continues to be Chase Briscoe. He now has four top-five finishes in the last five races and has outscored the next-closest driver (the points leader Byron) by 12 points during that stretch. (Top photo of Shane van Gisbergen celebrating his win Sunday: Chris Graythen / Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Fox News
5 hours ago
- Fox News
INDYCAR Power Rankings: It's Alex Palou And Then Everyone Else
Alex Palou didn't win at Portland, but he celebrated big on Sunday night. Palou won his fourth title (third consecutive) with his third-place finish. So in the rankings, he has all the power — even though Portland was a big weekend for race winner Will Power. Here are the power rankings following Portland and entering a weekend off before the season ends with races at Milwaukee and Nashville. Dropped out: Kyle Kirkwood (Last Week: 7), David Malukas (Last Week: 10) On the verge: Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Christian Rasmussen 10. Graham Rahal (Last Week: Not Ranked) Rahal finished fourth at Portland, continuing a stretch of four solid finishes in the last five races with an 11th, seventh, 12th and then the fourth among them. Rahal left Portland with a good feeling about his Rahal Letterman Lanigan teams on road courses. 9. Scott McLaughlin (Last Week: Not Ranked) McLaughlin started 11th and finished seventh at Portland. The Penske driver is 11th in the standings, thanks to three top 10s in his last five starts. 8. Colton Herta (Last Week: 5) Herta finished 10th at Portland and that might feel respectable, but the Andretti team tested at Portland a week prior to the race and Herta was the best in 10th. Andretti had three top fives in his previous five races. 7. Felix Rosenqvist (Last Week: 9) Rosenqvist started on the front row, so finishing ninth was a little disappointing for the Meyer Shank Racing driver. The top-10 result stopped the bleeding from a couple of bad finishes. It was his fourth top 10 in his last seven starts. 6. Marcus Armstrong (Last Week: 6) Armstrong placed eighth at Portland. It was the eighth top 10 in the last nine starts for the Meyer Shank Racing driver. He isn't rattling off top fives but he's a staple in the top 10. 5. Scott Dixon (Last Week: 4) Dixon started ninth and finished 11th in a day when he got into the back of Josef Newgarden at one point. The 11th-place finish ended a string of seven consecutive top-10 finishes for the Chip Ganassi Racing driver. 4. Will Power (Last Week: 8) Power earned the first win for Team Penske as he celebrated the victory at Portland. It was his fifth top five of the season and his first on a road course since Detroit. 3. Pato O'Ward (Last Week: 2) O'Ward led 15 laps before a wiring issue shorted out an electrical box that was part of the engine system. He finished 10 laps down in 25th. The Arrow McLaren driver had finished in the top five in each of his last five starts. 2. Christian Lundgaard (Last Week: 3) Lundgaard posted the fastest speed in qualifying and finished second at Portland for back-to-back second-place finishes. The Arrow McLaren driver is going to win. Soon. 1. Alex Palou (Last Week: 1) He is the champion of 2025. And 2024. And 2023. And 2021. Of course, the Ganassi driver is still No. 1. [Read more: Tuned To Perfection: Alex Palou's Latest INDYCAR Title One For History Books] 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.
