MADISON, Ill. –– When we look back at the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series’ title fight, fans might point to this evening’s (Aug. 17) Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Worldwide Technology Raceway at Gateway as the moment that potentially locked up Alex Palou‘s bid for his third title in America’s premiere open-wheel racing series.
Palou started from a similar position as Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon after incurring a nine-place penalty for an engine change, rolling off 16th. Palou battled his way into the top 10 through strategy and avoiding trouble with the leaders, and the championship leader came very close in two very key moments of the race.
First, after falling one lap down, eventual race winner Josef Newgarden tried to execute a pass on the outside of Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin, both of whom were expected to pit late due to being short on fuel.
With the No. 2 Chevrolet pushing by the No. 10 Honda, Newgarden washed up into the marbles and spun off the exit of turn 2 to bring out the caution on lap 196, opening up the opportunity for teams to play three different strategies for the final long green flag run of the race.
McLaughlin and Newgarden, who continued on after only losing two spots in the spin, were among those to pit for tires. Team Penske’s Will Power and Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas stayed out and planned to pit later. Fellow championship rival from Andretti Global Colton Herta and Palou topped off on fuel and were hoping to make it to the end.
However, the race would not stay green. Power and Malukas seemed to be on the race-winning strategy with the later pit stop as McLaughlin and Newgarden felt the need to splash-and-go along with other competitors employing the same strategy. As the Verizon Chevy and AutoNation Honda battled in turn 1 , Malukas was sent spinning into the wall, bringing out a caution whiched allowed McLaughlin and Newgarden to pit.
Palou was a lap down running just outside the top five at the time of the caution. After cycling back to the lead lap, the ensuing restart was about to turn the championship battle upside down.
With Newgarden taking the lead on the pit stop, he took plenty of time to launch, causing Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi to jump the gun, collecting Palou’s closest championship competitor Power. The impact caused Rossi to go airborne briefly and triggered a multi-car pileup behind.
Palou gracefully took to the bottomof the track, avoiding the spinning No. 7 of Rossi. and vaulting himself to the top five.
“It was a weird restart where it started going really fast, and everybody checked up,” Palou said. “I feel lucky there. I could avoid the crash and made another top five after recovering from the penalty.”
After a clean final restart, Palou had a silent-yet-solid day, crossing the line fifth, however a penalty from Herta, who finished fourth moved him up one spot ahead of the Andretti Global driver, who is now the closest challenger to Palou in the championship, some 59 points behind.
“That for sure is going to help,” Palou continued. “It’s not going to play against us. [There’s] still a lot of races to go, still a lot of points to play. So, I’m happy we made it today.”
Despite coming out of Gateway with more points, team owner Chip Ganassi remains focused on the final four races coming up to help build that gap and stay ahead in the championship fight.
“It means nothing,” Ganassi said of Palou’s performance. “There’s a lot of races to go and you never know what’s going to happen. We’re happy. It was an incredible night. It was unfortunate for guys that had really good cars and it was fortunate for those of us that didn’t have great cars. We’ll see what happens. We’ve got to go to Portland and Milwaukee a couple of times and Nashville. We’ll look after that.
Despite the magnitude of Palou’s avoidance of the final incident, Ganassi remained persistent that there were key moments before that have helped Palou and the No. 10 team this season.
“There are a lot of key moments when you have a guy like that. ” Ganassi continued. “We’re just happy to have him on the team.”
Waiting up ahead for the two-time IndyCar champion is Portland International Raceway, the final road course race of the season and a race that Palou won last season to claim his second title.
“It’s sad that it’s going to be the last road course of the year, but we make the best we can,” Palou said.
Palou successfully guarded his lead from the field tonight Gateway, and with the moments in the closing stages, the path to his third title becomes just a bit easier after avoiding all the trouble and remaining consistent, as he tends to do.
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime