The ongoing volley between Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing at Portland International Raceway went in favor of Penske drivers for the third time in the last five years at the circuit, breaking the tie between the NTT IndyCar Series’ two dominant organizations.
In 2019 it was Penske’s Will Power, and upon the race’s 2021 return from a COVID-affected 2020, it was Ganassi’s Alex Palou who stood atop the podium. In 2022, it was Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, and in 2023, it was Palou again for Ganassi. And with Power’s romp to a demonstrative win on Sunday at the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland, the deciding factor in his 9.8-second victory over Palou was tire longevity.
Whether it was new or used Firestone primaries or alternates, Power’s No. 12 Chevy had better traction in all phases of the lap – accelerating, braking, and turning – for the entirety of his four stints. Palou wasn’t as fortunate as his tires, new or used, and of either compound, lacked the chassis setup to match Power’s pace as the stints continued.
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The knockout punch came on the final pit stop, when Power’s race strategist Ron Ruzewski saved a fresh set of the faster alternates while Palou, who’d used his on the third stint to no avail, spent the race’s final stanza on slower used primaries. Power drove off into the horizon and left his main championship rival to settle for a distant second.
“I think we didn’t really pick the right choices on tires,” Palou said. “But it comes from qualifying. We didn’t really think that the used alternates were going to last. Used both of them in qualifying. Yeah, a shame that we couldn’t really battle much. At the beginning I thought we had a lot of pace when the 12 [was] on primaries. I was really comfortable.
“But as soon as Will went on [alternates], I just couldn’t really follow him. I had a chance on the back straight when he had a little bit of traffic, but couldn’t really make it. So yeah, happy, but obviously a little bit frustrating that we couldn’t really get there. It was tough. Like, our pace was not at his level today. I think he had a seventh gear today. Couldn’t really catch him.”
Power had Palou draw near on a couple occasions when they were about to lap tailenders, but other than those moments, the Penske veteran was able to reestablish a safe margin over the Ganassi ace.
“I had traffic; I was at the mercy of the pace of the car in front,” Power said. “I saw that gap just shrink really quickly. I think he pulled into the pits or I passed. However that played out. As soon as I got clear track, I knew I could put quite a bit of time into him. Especially at the end of the stint, it seemed like his car used the tire more than ours.
“On [alternates] we were simply better. Our car was really good on [alternate] tires. Yeah, kind of equal, I’d say, [on primaries]. He even looked like he dropped off on [primaries]. It was really a lot to do with traffic management. If it was a clear track for me, I always felt I could pull a gap on him.”