Power dominates Portland to keep IndyCar title hopes alive

Power led from the outset, taking the lead into Turn 2 with a pass on AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci who started from pole position.

Power never looked back. Despite being briefly challenged by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou midway through the 110-lap race, the Australian controlled proceedings and stormed to his 44th career win.

Power sits fourth on the all-time winners’ list behind AJ Foyt (67), Scott Dixon (58), and Mario Andretti (52), but ahead of Michael Andretti (42).

“Very rewarding,” said Power.

“I came here determined, so did the whole team. To one, get qualifying right, and execute in the race – it’s our, not last-ditch effort, but really, if Palou finished ahead of us today it was going to be very difficult.

“Absolute team effort. Very lucky to drive for this team. Gonna keep fighting ahead here. Couple of bad races before this, but really love this series. I feel lucky to be part of it and race all these good drivers and see if we can get a championship.”

Power now sits 54 points in arrears of Palou in the series standings with three races remaining.

Two of those take place at the Milwaukee Mile while the final will be held at Nashville Superspeedway.

“We’ve been very, very good on oval,” said Power.

“Very solid. Obviously the two ovals that we haven’t raced at for a very long time, so it’s anyone’s game. I hope that we get it right. We’ll do our best and take the fight to Alex.

“I’ve won there (Milwaukee) before. The formula isn’t that different. We’ll see. It’s such a competitive series, anyone can turn up any weekend and win. You’ve just got to be on your toes.”

There was drama on Lap 1 at Portland when Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon was cast wide by Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood at Turn 7.

Slow on corner exit, a heap of cars passed Dixon before he squeezed Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Pietro Fittipaldi at the kink. The Brazilian launched over the kerb and got airborne before hitting Dixon, who speared off the road and into the wall.

That brought out the race’s solitary caution. It marked just the second time in 399 races that Dixon has crashed out on the first lap. The last time was at Twin Ring Motegi in 2005.

For the contact, Fittipaldi was given a drive-through penalty. However, Dixon reasoned that Kirkwood should have been penalised for casting him wide in the first instance

“I did nothing wrong,” said Fittipaldi over his radio.

“He put me to the kerb, what do you want me to do?”

Speaking on the broadcast, Dixon said: “The #27 caused all that mayhem, to be honest.

“Just did a lunge and then gave me zero room on the exit which knocked me off and then you’re trying to recover.

“Then, obviously, I think with Fittipaldi getting the penalty there, it’s no real fault of him. It just funnels there, but the penalty should have been on the #27.”

Power led the restart ahead of Ferrucci and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou. It wasn’t long before Palou rose to second on Lap 8. Ferucci would eighth after slow pit stops cost him valuable time.

Power’s race was relatively trouble-free after the race restarted. Palou tried to undercut and overcut throughout the pit stop sequences but couldn’t make any headway.

The only real opportunity to challenge for the lead came on Lap 68 when lapped traffic baulked Power. However, the Toowoomba-born driver negotiated the slower cars to good effect.

The final pit stop proved decisive as Power put fresh soft compound tyres on and skipped away to a nine-second lead over Palou.

Fifth place starter Josef Newgarden completed the podium ahead of Andretti Global driver Colton Herta and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong.

Marcus Ericcons (Andretti Global) was sixth while Scott McLaughlin recovered from 20th to finish seventh. Ferrucci, Graham Rahal, (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing), and Kirkwood completed the top 10.

IndyCar continues on September 1-2 with a double-header at the Milwaukee Mile.

Results: IndyCar Series, Grand Prix of Portland