Palou can clinch series championship with top-three finish in Portland
Only two contenders remain for this season’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES points championship. And if one of them does what he’s done in more than half of the 15 races this year, the championship race will be over.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou holds a 74-point lead over his CGR teammate, Scott Dixon, heading into Sunday’s Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland road race. A top-three finish for Palou would clinch his second INDYCAR SERIES championship – and would happen in the No. 10 American Legion Honda featuring the Be the One message, Palou’s primary livery most of the season. Palou also returns to a road course where he won in 2021 – his championship season.
Palou’s points lead over Dixon – who has won INDYCAR’s past two races – is the largest with two races to go since 2008. The average deficit with two races to go since then is 24.3 points.
While Palou will be chasing a championship in the American Legion livery, CGR teammate Marcus Ericsson also will feature Legion branding as he attempts to continue a strong season. Ericsson currently sits in sixth place in the points race, due in part to 13 top-10 finishes in 2023 – second only to Palou.
In the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Portland, CGR developmental driver Kyffin Simpson also will feature American Legion branding as he attempts to build on a season that has three top-five finishes and has him 10th in the series standings.
The Portland International Raceway road course features 12 turns on its 1.964-mile natural road course. It’s relatively flat but contains several spots for passing opportunities, including a quick chicane at the end of the frontstretch, a hard-braking right-hander (Turn 7) leading onto the sweeping backstretch, and a three-turn complex leading back onto the front stretch.
This weekend’s television schedule (all times ET):
· Friday, Sept. 1 – NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice 1, 6-7:15 p.m. (Peacock).
· Saturday, Sept. 2 – NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice 2, noon-1 p.m.; NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifications, 3:30-5 p.m.; NTT INDYCAR SERIES final practice, 8:15-8:45 p.m. (all Peacock)
· Sunday, Sept. 3 – INDY NXT race, 1:10-2:20 p.m. (Peacock); Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland, 3-6 p.m. (NBC and Peacock)
Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland race notes (via INDYCAR):
· There have been seven winners in 15 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races in the 2023 season. Marcus Ericsson (Streets of St. Petersburg), Josef Newgarden (Texas Motor Speedway, Indianapolis 500, Iowa Speedway-1, Iowa Speedway-2), Kyle Kirkwood (Streets of Long Beach, Streets of Nashville), Scott McLaughlin (Barber Motorsports Park), Alex Palou (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course-1, Streets of Detroit, Road America, Mid-Ohio), Christian Lundgaard (Streets of Toronto) and Scott Dixon (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course-2, World Wide Technology Raceway).
· The BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland will be the 29th INDYCAR SERIES race at Portland International Raceway and the fifth since the NTT INDYCAR SERIES returned in 2018. Al Unser Jr. won the first INDYCAR SERIES race at Portland in 1984, while Scott McLaughlin won last season. McLaughlin, Alex Palou and Will Power are the only former winners entered in this year’s race.
· Eight INDYCAR SERIES drivers have won at Portland International Raceway from the pole – Danny Sullivan (1988), Al Unser Jr. (1994), Alex Zanardi (1996), Max Papis (2001), Cristiano da Matta (2002), Sebastien Bourdais (2004), Alex Palou (2021) and Scott McLaughlin (2022).
· Team Penske has won seven times at Portland International Raceway. Penske’s winning INDYCAR SERIES drivers are Danny Sullivan (1988), Emerson Fittipaldi (1993), Al Unser Jr. (1994, 1995), Gil de Ferran (2000), Will Power (2019) and Scott McLaughlin (2022). Chip Ganassi Racing has three wins at Portland with Alex Zanardi in 1996 and 1998 and Alex Palou in 2021. Newman/Haas Racing won a record eight times at Portland.
· Twenty-one drivers entered in the event have competed in past INDYCAR SERIES races at Portland International Raceway. Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Will Power each have six starts, most among the entered drivers. Fourteen entered drivers have led laps at the track (Castroneves 115, Scott McLaughlin 109, Power 68, Colton Herta 36, Graham Rahal 38, Alexander Rossi 32, Alex Palou 29, Pato O’Ward 28, Dixon 15, Josef Newgarden 8, Felix Rosenqvist 3, Marcus Ericsson 1, Callum Ilott 1 and Christian Lundgaard 1).
· Pato O’Ward won both Indy NXT by Firestone races at Portland in 2018 on his way to the series championship … Graham Rahal scored the first win of his professional racing career at Portland, winning the Star Mazda (now USF Pro 2000 championship) race in 2005.
· Milestones: Scott Dixon will attempt to make his 321st consecutive start, extending his INDYCAR SERIES record streak … With his next win, Will Power will tie Michael Andretti for fourth on the INDYCAR SERIES' all-time victory list with 42 … Scott McLaughlin will attempt to make his 50th INDYCAR SERIES start.