The title was all but decided when Team Penske’s Will Power pulled into the pits just minutes into the race to fix a belt issue. Power lost five laps in the process and in the end finished 24th for Team Penske.

Palou finished 11th in the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing entry, which was enough to seal the series win. It’s also the 16th drivers’ title for Chip Ganassi.

“We just had to keep going,” said Palou.

“I have to thank everybody working on the #10 car, everybody at CGR back at the shop, all the cars, my teammates. Super proud.

“It’s been an amazing year and I’ve got the championship back home.”

The race was won by Andretti Global’s Colton Herta, who pulled off a bold pass on McLaren’s Pato O’Ward inside five laps to go.

It’s the 24-year-old’s first oval win.

“It was thanks to Sting Ray, he was there and we had a pick to play off of,” Herta explained.

“THe whole race I was getting all my passing done off of the corners, really able to drive middle to exit of the corner, get the power down really nicely.

“That’s just what that was. We were showing it off. Luckily we had just enough room between me and Sting Ray. There might have been a small nudge there but I had to used every bit of him to accelerate onto the straight.”

The win promotes Herta to second in the IndyCar Series points while Scott McLaughlin’s fifth place finish moved him to third in the standings.

“It’s amazing. I couldn’t ask for a better ending to the year. I’m so happy with all the work that everyone has done this year.

“These guys behind me have been rocks all year. Today we just showed strategy was great, pit stops were fantastic, we put everything together and it was a great race from us.”

The race was punctuated by a series of cautions, the first of which was brought out by Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist. He suffered a right front puncture on Lap 56.

Katherine Legge brought out the second yellow on Lap 90 when she crashed her Dale Coyne Racing entry at the final turn.

While it was all smiles for Herta, his Andretti Global teammate Marcus Ericsson crashed on Lap 135 in what was the third and final yellow.

Results: IndyCar Series, Music City Grand Prix