Alex Palou was stuck watching his championship hopes slip away as he sat in his car, which had broken down.
The second race at the Milwaukee Mile was about to start when his car suddenly lost power and wouldn’t start. This left him feeling helpless, as rival Will Power was ready to take over the lead in the title race.
Chip Ganassi Racing managed to change a battery in Palou’s car, allowing him to rejoin the race 29 laps in. By then, Power had taken the race lead and erased Palou’s 43-point advantage in the standings.
However, the situation changed dramatically due to race attrition and Power’s mistake. Palou watched as more cars retired from the race and ended up finishing 19th. Power spun out on his own during a restart, fell a lap behind, and finished 10th. This only reduced Palou’s lead to 33 points with one race left in the season.
Power admitted it was a long shot now, saying, “God gave us a chance. That’s a season, man, you can’t make those mistakes.”
Instead of heading into the finale tied, Palou still has the championship in his control before the final race on September 15 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Palou expressed, “Bit sad and disappointed today. It was out of my control and the team’s control. It is a sport, it is what it is. We were getting happier and happier getting more points, one more point, one more point. On to Nashville.”
Scott McLaughlin, Power’s teammate at Team Penske, won the race for the third time this season, finishing ahead of Scott Dixon, Palou’s teammate at Ganassi, in a 1-2 finish for New Zealanders.
Dixon, who made his 400th career start on Saturday, achieved his 142nd podium, surpassing Mario Andretti for the most in series history.
This race was mostly focused on the championship, and Palou managed to recover from a major issue. IndyCar introduced a new hybrid engine midway through the season, and teams were worried it might negatively affect the championship.
The engine failed on Dixon’s car during its first race in July, and Dixon said he asked his team twice what happened when he saw Palou stranded.
“I was kind of trying to make sure we weren’t doing the same thing, making sure it wasn’t the same problem I had at Mid-Ohio,” Dixon said. When he learned that the Ganassi team changed a battery in Palou’s car, Dixon thought it might still be related to the hybrid.
“The DC to the DC on the hybrid could kill that, as well. There’s a lot more parts now,” Dixon said. “The hybrid can get into a funny kind of mode, which will just kill the car. Just sad to see. I think Alex would have had a great race. I think he probably would have had it sewn up.”
Palou, the reigning IndyCar champion, is aiming for his third title in four years. Power is a two-time champion and won in 2022, between Palou’s two titles.
Colton Herta from Andretti Global finished third. Santino Ferrucci came in fourth for the second day in a row, helping A.J. Foyt Racing earn a critical end-of-season bonus.
Marcus Ericsson from Andretti was fifth, followed by Alexander Rossi from Arrow McLaren, Rinus VeeKay from Ed Carpenter Racing, Kyle Kirkwood from Andretti, and Romain Grosjean from Juncos Hollinger Racing.
Juncos team achieved its first career IndyCar podium on Saturday with Conor Daly’s third-place finish, but Daly’s car had problems and he ended up 17th on Sunday.
Pato O’Ward, who won on Saturday, also had mechanical issues and did not finish the race. Eight cars retired after Palou’s initial electrical problem, and this, along with Power’s spin, kept Palou in charge of the championship.
