Alex Palou was the winner of Monday’s Music City Grand Prix, but he was not confident he could hold the advantage in the final laps.
Of the first eight drivers across the line, Palou was the only one to have the harder compound tire fitted.
He completed the final 31 green flag laps on the opposite tire, but was still able to hold off a charging Josef Newgarden to take the win.
Talking after the race, Palou described how worried he was in those final laps.
“I knew it was going to be very tough just because I saw how he was racing at the beginning of the race with Kyle [Kirkwood],” said Palou. “They were both flat out. I was flat out, as well.
“Yeah, I was not confident at all. [Newgarden] was right there, man. I was flat out. I really couldn’t do anything. There was no more I could do. I’m sure he was the same.
“But with the draft, it was helping him a lot to kind of get closer to us. I think once he started degrading the tires and we got through traffic, that’s when I got a gap. But no, I was not confident at all.”
The decision to fit the harder compound tire on the final pit stop was made earlier in the race, as he had no new sets of the softer tires left.
Barry Wanser, manager of Chip Ganassi Racing, confirmed that it was a less than idea situation, but there was nothing to do by that point.
“At that point we had no choice,” said Wanser. “We had two sets of sticker blacks and a used set of softs, the alternates. It made it pretty easy.
“We wanted to finish on the primaries. That was the goal and it worked out. But generally we were all nervous about the restart. The Honda horsepower came through.”
Discussion about this post