For the second time in the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season, someone bested Alex Palou. But he didn’t care after locking up the title two weeks earlier in Portland.
The thrilling finish to conclude the Snap-On Milwaukee 250 was the best evidence that a championship battle going to the end of the season isn’t always necessary to have a great race.
Palou had nothing to drive for except the trophy, and his attempt to hold off Christian Rasmussen was great entertainment. Had the Astor Trophy not been won, Palou might have pitted and thus erased any possible tire disparity.
Heading to Nashville in one week’s time, Palou won’t be the only driver with nothing to lose, as Pato O’Ward sealed second place in the points battle, guaranteeing a career best for him. His fifth-place result on Sunday (Aug. 24) was all that was needed to hold off Scott Dixon in third.
Christian Lundgaard’s season-best-tying oval result, a sixth, puts him seven points behind Dixon. That’s super close, and can swing easily with either driver finishing in the top five next Sunday (Aug. 31). If Lundgaard overtakes Dixon, a 2-3 championship finish for Arrow McLaren will ignite an offseason talking point – have they usurped Team Penske as the best Chevrolet-powered squad on the grid?
Kyle Kirkwood is still within reach of third, but will need both Dixon and Lundgaard to finish in the five-point territory at Nashville, while he is near the front. His gap is 28 points to Dixon and 21 to Lundgaard. It’s possible, but requires a lot of help.
Colton Herta faded to 11th after running in ninth before the final caution and ensuing pit stops, and Marcus Armstrong, recovering to gain four spots to 10th on the final stint, which has both of them tied. Neither can catch Kirkwood in fifth, but whoever finishes higher in Music City will best the other.
Will Power lost an opportunity to continue climbing to sixth when Kyffin Simpson forced him high into the wall, ending his day. However, he is only five points off of the tie ahead of him, so it’s not over.
The same goes for the late-season sinker Felix Rosenqvist, who was just four points behind Lundgaard in fifth after Mid-Ohio. Now, he is ninth, but not out of it. Power is only one marker ahead, with six more.
The podium at Milwaukee has Scott McLaughlin in 10th, eight points over David Malukas. Both drivers will be good at Nashville, but climbing to Rosenqvist in ninth might be, as Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery once said, a “bridge too far.” The gap is 26 points, therefore quite a hill to climb.
Rasmussen used the win to inch closer to clawing at the top 10. If he is able to jump both McLaughlin and Malukas, he could earn his Ed Carpenter Racing team its first finish in the top 10 of points since 2016, when Josef Newgarden placed fourth. What a stellar jolt to the squad as they head into the off-season. Teammate Alexander Rossi, fourth on Sunday, helped his cause as well, as he sits 14th, 11 points from 13th.
Speaking of Nashville native Newgarden, not only is he cresting the berm on a winless season, he is looking at his worst championship finish since 2014, which was the last year he batted zero in victory lane celebrations. Good news, his nightmare season is only one more race.
The fight for the last Leaders Circle spot appears wrapped up. Even with his opening lap crash, Nolan Siegel holds a 33-point spread over the next chartered entry, Sting Ray Robb. PREMA Racing’s two cars are between them in the standings — Callum Ilott is 23rd and Robert Shwartzman behind him— and within reach of Siegel, but neither car is chartered, which is a requirement for the Leaders Circle.
Heading to Nashville, the last championship battles are on for third through fifth, and how sixth will shake out. Budding oval star Rasmussen will look to pull his team up to the top 10, and Newgarden will hopefully trudge to 13th, so he doesn’t have his worst finish since 2014.
Meanwhile, Palou will head the concrete at Nashville and throw caution to the wind in search of victory number nine for the year.
Tom is an IndyCar writer at Frontstretch, joining in March 2023. Besides writing the IndyCar Previews and frequent editions of Inside IndyCar, he will hop on as a fill-in guest on the Open Wheel podcast The Pit Straight. A native Hoosier, he calls Fort Wayne home. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomBlackburn42.