Penske driver Will Power secured a timely victory in the IndyCar road course race at Indianapolis – his first of the season. But, after points leader Alex Palou retired, what are the current points standings with four rounds left?
Power win too late for title
After a frustrating start to the season, including losing a certain win in Detroit when the car wouldn’t restart, Will Power kept a proud record intact.
The Australian qualified third, but jumped leader Pato O’Ward through the first round of pitstops.
Power, who crashed into team-mates Simon Pagenaud and Scott McLaughlin last week at Nashville was untroubled after that.
The field was bunched up through late caution periods, but Power held off ex-Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean.
Grosjean scored his second IndyCar podium, repeating the feat from the previous Indy road course event in May.
Despite taking his 40th career win, Power is 137 points behind leader Alex Palou.
There are four rounds left, but it is unlikely the 2018 Indy 500 winner will mount a late title charge for Penske.
Elsewhere, seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson scored his best result in IndyCar.
The #48 Ganassi driver had a solid race, matching his best result with a 19th place finish.
No score for the points leader
Ganassi driver Alex Palou led the standings coming into the race, on 415 points.
The Spaniard battled engine problems all race, including being stuck in a lean engine power mode.
Despite being set to sccore points, Palou retired late on with smoke coming from his car.
This allowed those behind to eat into his points lead, which stood at 42 pre-race.
Fifth place was good enough for O’Ward to reduce Palou’s lead to just 21 points, moving onto 394.
The Arrow McLaren SP driver leapfrogged Palou’s team-mate Scott Dixon into second in the standings.
Six-time champion Dixon has 381 points.
Josef Newgarden (eighth) and Nashville winner Marcus Ericsson (ninth) also took points out of Palou.
The pair have 360 and 353, respectively.
With just the four rounds remaining, it is unlikely anyone outside of the top five will challenge for the title.
Top five in the points
- Alex Palou – 415 points
- Pato O’Ward – 394
- Scott Dixon – 381
- Josef Newgarden – 360
- Marcus Ericsson – 353
Which races remain in the season?
The next event is the oval race at Gateway next weekend.
It is the first oval race since the Indy 500 in May.
Grosjean will be making his oval debut in the event.
Having made the switch from F1, the former Haas driver was reluctant to go straight into oval racing, with experience.
However, he recently tested at Gateway, and declared himself ready.
Portland and Leguna Seca then run back-to-back on September 12th and 19th.
The season finale is on the streets on Long Beach – the race taking place on September 26th.
