Pruett’s cooldown lap: Portland

Alex Palou was on an epic charge for most of the season before his championship-leading momentum was halted not once, but twice in a span of two races. His worst finishes of the year ensued with a blown motor in Indy and a crash that wasn’t of his making at World Wide Technology Raceway, which tilted the balance in favor of Pato O’Ward.

And so O’Ward, who wasn’t far behind Palou in the championship, pounced when his rival faced adversity and snatched the points lead from his hands. But in an IndyCar season where nothing’s safe or predictable, Palou reacted by doing the one thing we haven’t seen all year: Taking command of an event.

Palou’s done many impressive things since arriving in 2020, but a big and lingering question remained as to whether he had that fighter’s mentality to box his way out of the corner and win the match. Suddenly, on the back foot to O’Ward, the Spaniard answered with his first IndyCar pole at the precise time when it was needed. Next, it was keeping his cool and dealing with being sent to the back of the field after things got ugly entering Turn 1 on Lap 1. Then it was firing in some wickedly fast laps in the race to eke out an advantage before pitting that moved him ahead of his closest rivals, and performing a series of restarts that made it impossible for those in his wake to take the lead.

He capped the performance by withstanding intense pressure from Alexander Rossi -- a man starving for a win -- during those final laps and driving straight to victory lane as the season’s first three-time winner. The only thing keeping Palou from executing a perfect weekend was coming up short on getting two bonus points for leading the most laps, but with 52 points in his pocket, the championship lead was returned by O’Ward.

It took his Chip Ganassi Racing team’s decision to pit under that early caution and switch to a three-stop strategy and some friendly yellows to undo IndyCar’s grid re-ordering nonsense, so we can’t overlook the roles that both good and bad fortunes played in the race’s outcome. But when it mattered on Saturday and Sunday, Palou cast aside his risk-averse tendencies, rose to the challenge, and let it be known that he did indeed have the grit to deliver when it mattered.

More IndyCar

IndyCar hybrid failures spark supply scarcity

Grosjean undergoes surgery for hand injury

OPINION: IndyCar Officiating needs to stop being the story

Entering Portland, I wondered if Palou was going to plummet down the standings as O’Ward, Josef Newgarden, and Scott Dixon -- the three game-bred animals in the championship hunt -- went on the attack and motored by the too-nice-for-his-own-good sophomore. So much for that dumb idea.

And now it’s time for O’Ward, who had an unexpectedly poor qualifying performance and a strangely ineffective race, to state his case at Laguna Seca. He went into Portland with a 10-point lead over Palou and left with a 25-point deficit. Newgarden’s in the same situation after Team Penske fell apart in qualifying with all four of its cars, and yet, as we’ve come to expect, the two-time champion was able to charge from P18 to P5 by the finish and limit the damage. Shy of the lead by 22 points entering the race, it grew to 34 heading into Monterey.

O’Ward has a lot of work ahead of him after a frustrating race day at PIR. Gavin Baker/Motorsport Images

If Palou showed us something we hadn’t seen prior to Portland, Dixon did the opposite, opening his well-worn playbook and sending yet another reminder of how much fire remains in his belly after passing his teammate on two occasions and taking third at the checkered flag. Even with the podium, his gap to the championship leader slightly expanded from 43 points to 49.

A maximum of 54 points are available this weekend, and again one week later at Long Beach where one of these four drivers will emerge as the newest IndyCar title winner.

With only two rounds to go, Dixon must win and hope trouble falls on those he’s chasing if a seventh championship is going to be earned. Newgarden isn’t quite as desperate, but he’s also far enough out from Palou to need wins -- not seconds and thirds -- if drama fails to intervene and ease his path to a third championship. And for O’Ward, it’s two more races of maximum attack and praying for his efforts to be rewarded. For Palou, a 25-point lead is by no means something to rest on; a punctured tire or inopportune caution could swing the lead back to O’Ward in an instant on Sunday.

The gift to fans is how these four cannot play it safe, cannot bank on cartoon anvils, and cannot afford to give up an inch of track position. You couldn’t script the final weeks of a season any better than it’s developed on its own.

It’s worth overstating the other major point: O’Ward, Newgarden, and Dixon are all chasing those 54 points in Monterey, let’s not forget that Rossi, Colton Herta, Will Power, Graham Rahal, Rinus VeeKay, Romain Grosjean and a handful of others could just as easily grab the win and 50 or more points to spoil their respective days. Palou would love to win as well, but if he can’t, he’ll be rooting for a driver from outside the top four to stand on the top step of the podium and minimize what his chasers can earn.

Minus adversity in California, sure, Palou’s looking strong to become our next champion. But come on -- this is IndyCar 2021, where nothing goes to plan. I can’t fathom what the standings will look like by the end of the weekend.

About that Turn 1 rule

It’s a quick turnaround between Portland and Laguna, so let’s dive right in.

If a driver is hit from behind and rendered unable to make Portland’s Turn 1 chicane, should they lose their track position when the field is reordered under caution? That was the question being asked by some who were affected by IndyCar’s lack of imagination on Sunday.

A lot of conflicting ambitions about to meet at Turn 1... Phillip Abbott/Motorsport Images

Portland’s Turn 1 Festival Chicane it’s such a well-known problem on starts and restarts, officials wrote a specific doctrine to police the inevitable kerblammos. If you successfully made it through the chicane and crossed over the two embedded timing loops, your position was preserved in the event of a caution. But if you bypassed the chicane, failed to drive over the timing loops and went straight(ish) for whatever reason, you were moved to the back of the field, behind those who weren’t caught up in the melee.

The black and white policy was meant to govern those who might gain an advantage by plowing through the chicane -- often as the result of contact -- and was duly applied to a few drivers who weren’t impressed with the outcome. As Turn 1, lap 1 showed us, this isn’t a binary thing. Felix Rosenqvist lightly hit Dixon in the left-rear tire, which unsettled the Chip Ganassi Racing driver’s car and caused him to lock the brakes and slide past the turn-in point for the corner. Rosenqvist also tagged Palou’s left rear, which had the same effect.

Without the double hits to the CGR drivers, both appeared to be on their way to successfully slowing, turning, and navigating the chicane as intended. Add in the rearward contacts from Rosenqvist, and the CGR drivers failed to complete the corner. Behind them, others crashed, spun, and had separate incidents that only added to the restart order complications.

Micro management in qualifying but no holds barred at the green? Gavin Baker/Motorsport Images

What’s weird here is how IndyCar will go way over the top to protect drivers from being blocked in qualifying, where track position is prized like it’s the most valuable commodity on earth. In the event of a driver causing the tiniest delay on someone’s lap, race stewards seemingly can’t wait to hammer the offender with a penalty that ruins their qualifying session. Hinder another driver by 0.05s in a corner and boom, because of your transgression, say goodbye to your two fastest laps and welcome to a midfield starting position.

But when we get into the race, and drivers like Palou and Dixon aren’t just hindered -- they’re hit from behind -- the officials abandon their overprotective nature, stop caring about whether someone was unfairly robbed of whatever track position they were in, and lump the innocent drivers in with the offenders by dispatching them to the rear of the field.

Defend the innocent in qualifying, but punish them in the race? It’s a bizarre disconnect.

Palou is certainly an interesting case study in how, even if he hadn’t been hit and locked his brakes, Dixon was blocking his ability to turn into the chicane thanks to his former teammate’s love tap. In the end, everything corrected itself by the checkered flag, but since we’re going back to Portland next year, maybe the series needs to think hard on whether Turn 1 deserves more than a black and white approach to officiating.

The Golden Bowling Ball award

He was the only driver to bowl a strike at Portland, so welcome to the TGBB club, Romain Grosjean.

Leaders Circle update

Breaking news: I’m an idiot.

OK, that’s not exactly a secret. Turns out I’ve relied on incorrect information about part-time entries being eligible for earning Leaders Circle contracts, and that’s entirely my fault. Part-timers are not eligible, and despite that rule making no sense, apologies are due for my aforementioned idiocy in past LC updates.

With that in mind, let’s clear the slate and take a fresh look at who’s on target to earn one of the 22 contracts and which entries are in jeopardy of missing out on the roughly $1 million in guaranteed prize money. CGR’s No. 48 Honda entry is on the bubble in P22 at 178 points, and ahead in P21, the No. 7 AMSP Chevy is looking safe at 189 points.

The other two full-timers, Carlin Racing’s No. 59 Chevy at 144 points and A.J. Foyt Racing’s No. 4 Chevy at 130 points, have almost no chance of making the cut by the end of Long Beach. As the old song goes, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over.”

MISC

• Pato O’Ward wondered aloud over the radio if his Chevy engine was down on power. After checking in with his team and manufacturer after the race, both say there was nothing found in the data to support that notion, and the same engine will stay in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP entry to complete the season.

• If we disregard the Turn 1, lap 1 stuff, it was great to see AMSP’s Rosenqvist deliver in qualifying with P4 to lead the team and find his way back to P6 in the race. It’s the third time this year he’s finished ahead of O’Ward.

Despite seven pit stops, Power somehow kept himself in the conversation. Gavin Baker/Motorsport Images

• My favorite stat from the Portland GP: Will Power, seven pit stops, finishes P13! Makes you wonder what in the hell those behind him, who weren’t part of the lap 1, Turn 1 crash, and who didn’t have to pit for a new nose and front wings, managed to get wrong with their two- or three-stop strategies.

Power also found himself in an unfamiliar position all weekend as he took part in the Portland Grand Prix lacking his ever-present wife Liz by his side. The Aussie said it was the first time in 14 years he’s been to an IndyCar race without his bride.

• Jack Harvey matched his best finish of fourth. The Briton has stemmed a brutal run of eight forgettable results with three straight top 10s.

• Jimmie Johnson is making solid gains to close the year. In a season of baby steps, the last few outings have shown growth and improved pace, which bodes well for 2022.

• Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing engineer Brandon Fry, who looks after the No. 45 Honda, shared a fun note that Portland was by no means the first time he’s worked with Oliver Askew. Fry ran Askew and Indy Lights title contender Kyle Kirkwood at a karting event back in 2014!

• Sticking with Askew, there were moments of significant promise at Portland, but that solo spin and stall to open the race made his day rather hard. It leaves two races to convince RLL he’s their guy for the No. 45 car next year.

• Another odd weekend for Ed Carpenter Racing where both entries weren’t in the mix when it mattered.

• Ed Jones certainly shined in the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan entry. I wish it happened more often earlier in the year for the 2016 Indy Lights champ.

A rare moment in the 2021 spotlight for Ed Jones and Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan at Portland. Barry Cantrell/Motorsport Images

• On a Wednesday morning conference call with Honda officials, Takuma Sato’s future representing the brand in IndyCar, sports cars, or anywhere else was raised for comment: “That’s personal choices, team choices,” Honda Performance Development reps said. “We value Takuma tremendously. He’s won the Indy 500 twice, which is no small feat, so we want to do what we can to help. It’s an ongoing discussion with many different parties, but no news to share.”

• What a wonderful way to spend the limited downtime between Portland and Laguna Seca: The Hunter-Reay family got to the Monterey circuit early, set up in one of the camp sites, and has been having fun with their sons racing RC cars in the dirt and savoring the coastal climate before practice gets under way on Friday.