When IndyCar rolled into Portland this weekend, there was a chance that Alex Palou would leave as the 2023 series champion.
The Spaniard assured that the championship race would not be left undecided in Laguna Seca by stomping the field and taking victory in the penultimate round.
Palou started in fifth, and worked his way to the front after the first round of pit stops. From there, he was uncatchable.
READ MORE: IndyCar Portland – Full Race Results
The win was the 26-year-old’s fifth of the season, and secured his second series title in the past three seasons.
Despite being embroiled in a legal battle over his driving services for next season, Palou has shown once again that he can set that aside and is still one of the best racers in the series.
Felix Rosenqvist crossed the line second, over five seconds behind the leader with no real chance to fight for the top spot in the final stint.
Rounding out the podium was Scott Dixon, who now has no opportunity to win his seventh title after his team-mate’s dominant performance.
The very first corner of every race at Portland is always a gamble, and often there are multiple retirements as the field barrels into the tight first set of corners.
Amazingly, most everyone made it through the opening corners without incident. Newgarden and Kirkwood lightly touched and both had to drive through the runoff area, but there were no major incidents.
Later on the in lap, Callum Ilott ran wide into the grass and collided heavily with Romain Grosjean when he rejoined the racing surface.
The Frenchman had to come to the pits to repair a front wheel that was pointed askew, and Ilott was able to stay out with no apparent damage.
Will Power had a rough day, pushing wide and spinning through the grass on lap three. A caution was needed to get him back underway, and he effectively lost the advantage his seventh place start gained him.
He remained one lap down for a majority of the race and finished in 25th.
Tire issues were the talk of the day, with the soft tires not lasting more than a couple laps and rubber marbles plaguing the off-line parts of the track.
Drivers did their best to run the harder tires for as long as they could, with their teams often determining that a fuel save strategy that left their drivers on the preferred tire longer was beneficial in the end.
Graham Rahal started on the softer tires and had no new sets of the harder tires to use in the race, meaning he was not competitive for long and ended his day from pole in a frustrating 12th.
There is one more race on the 2023 calendar, with a visit to Laguna Seca next weekend. Alex Palou will look to cap his season off with extra flourish, now that everything is crossed off his accomplishments list for the year.
