Mid-Ohio shows Palou is still human after all

Alex Palou has performed like a machine this year while winning three poles, six races, and leading many of them with ease. But Sunday at Mid-Ohio proved he’s human after turning a surefire win into a loss while running by himself with five laps left to run.

A moment’s loss of concentration while keeping Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon at bay by 4s is all it took to erase his seventh win from 10 races off the board.

“Big mistake, man,” Palou said. “Big mistake. Yeah, nothing in particular happened – just lost it a little bit, then kind of got into the marbles and went out. Yeah, lost everything there. It was a big, big mistake by my part. The car was on fire today. The team gave me the strategy, the pit stops we needed to win the race.

“It's not over until it's over, until you see the checkered flag. I was just trying to push. I was trying to open the gap a little bit more with Scott. I felt confident with the car, just lost it.”

Even so, the resulting second-place finish, plus three bonus points for the pole and leading a lap and leading the most laps – 75 of 90 – allowed the championship leader to extend his advantage over the rest of the field by more than two full races of maximum points – with seven races still to go.

The Spaniard could take next weekend’s Iowa Speedway doubleheader off, return at Toronto, and have the lead in hand.

“It's still an amazing result, finishing second, running up front, and overall if you sum up all the weekend, leading 75 laps, getting the pole and just running really, really fast all weekend [has] been amazing, and extending the points lead as well,” he conceded. “But yeah, still, we lost the race there.”