After the kind of gut punch Alex Palou and the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing team received on Sunday when an electrical issue killed the battery in the championship leader’s car on the parade laps, it would not have been a surprise to find the team in a state of anger and disappointment at the end of the race.
But that wasn’t the case.
One crew member looked up, smiled, and said, “Game seven,” referring to the title showdown coming with Team Penske’s Will Power that moves to the season finale on September 15 at Nashville Superspeedway. In fact, moments after Palou pulled into the pits and stopped at his box, crew chief Ricky Davis wasn’t busy trying to cheer up his mechanics and engineers; he was giving them pats on the shoulders, fist bumps, and smiling wide—full of positive energy.
The team’s resolve throughout the alarming electrical fault that turned the car off, then fried the car’s battery, is what kept them in the hunt despite losing 29 laps while working through the problems that turned Palou’s race day upside down before it started.
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“We all have the same spirit,” a proud Palou told RACER. “I believe it’s always been like that [since] day one, and it’s not something we just say. It’s something that you could have seen today.”
The No. 10 went from 27th and last to 19th at the finish as a result of the effort expended by Davis and his crew. Palou lost the championship lead while mired toward the back as Power led more than a quarter of the race.
But with Power’s unforced error and spin and losing a lap of his own, the swift work to get the Ganassi driver back in the game as Power soldiered home to a disappointing 10th was enough to preserve most of Palou’s lead in the Drivers’ standings.
“We had a big issue that was out of our control,” Palou added. “We tried everything. We thought we solved it. We actually didn’t. When we went out and stopped again, and then we changed the battery and some other stuff … everything we could in almost no time, and [then] went back out. We were happy for every single point we’re getting out there today. Yeah, it’s sad, but it is what it is. It’s the sport.”