INDIANAPOLIS, In. – Alex Palou (No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) arrived in the nation’s capital looking like the man to beat. He left with his championship lead significantly reduced.
The four-time NTT IndyCar Series champion endured a disastrous Sunday in the inaugural Freedom 250 Grand Prix, turning a pole position into a 20th-place finish after a string of penalties, pit-road trouble and on-track damage.
Palou had been dominant all weekend. He earned his seventh pole of the season with a 56.899-second lap around the 1.7-mile street circuit, edging Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 Sam’s Club Andretti Global Honda) for the top starting spot.
But the race unraveled almost immediately.
Kirkwood passed Palou on the opening lap and went on to lead 128 of the 147 laps. Palou’s troubles mounted when he was handed a drive-through penalty after making contact with another driver’s tire on pit road. He served the penalty on Lap 43 and returned to the track in 21st.
Things got worse during his next pit stop. A problem securing the left-front wheel nut forced Palou to stop again after initially pulling away, costing him valuable time and allowing Kirkwood to put the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda a lap down.
Later, Palou clipped a concrete barrier and spun with broken suspension, effectively ending any hope of a recovery. He finished 20th — his second-worst result of the season, behind only his 24th-place finish at Phoenix.
“It hurts, man, it hurts,” Palou said after his race mercifully came to an end three laps off the winner’s pace. “It was one of those races that I really wanted – I wanted to get that win. So, it kind of hurts a lot that it’s this bad of a day.”
“But it’s OK; things happen. I’m at least kind of happy that everything happened in the same day instead of spreading out throughout different races.”
The result had major championship implications. Kirkwood’s victory cut Palou’s points advantage from 133 to 91 with three races remaining.
Still, Palou remains firmly in control of the title race. The final three races come at Milwaukee and Laguna Seca, tracks where Palou has historically performed well. He finished second at Milwaukee last year and has won three of the last four races at Laguna Seca, including the previous two.
For Palou, Sunday’s race was a reminder that even a seemingly comfortable championship lead can disappear quickly. After dominating qualifying, he experienced nearly everything that could go wrong in a single afternoon.
“We had some issues in pit lane, one my fault (and) one out of my control,” Palou said. “I kind of bumped a little bit of the wall (in the second half of the race), and 20 laps later the rear (suspension) broke. That’s why we spun.”
“Yeah, not a good day, but that’s all right, things happen.”
The good news for the championship leader: there are still three races — and a 91-point cushion — standing between him and a potential fifth IndyCar championship.
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