First Impressions: Portland 2025

1. The nightmare is over (somewhat) for Team Penske as Will Power achieved a dominant victory from Portland, the first victory for both team and driver in what has been an exhausting 2025 season for both. 

Power got the lead by staying out under caution when Conor Daly spun into the barrier after contact with Christian Rasmussen. The pit window had just opened for everyone to make it on three stops, but it was still early, and everyone that stayed out could run another 20 laps or so on fuel. The leaders prior to the caution were shuffled to outside the top ten, and though they were good on a three-stop strategy, this allowed Power to fly. Over the remained of that stint, Power opened a gap that allowed him to make his first pit stop and come out ahead of the likes of Christian Lundgaard and Felix Rosenqvist. From there, the advantage was Power's until the very end, even with a stint on the primary tire still to run. 

As long as Power held the track position, he was going to win this race. Lundgaard made it tight on the penultimate stint when Lundgaard had the tire advantage running the alternate tire to Power's primary tires. On the final stint, Power had used set of alternate tires while Lundgaard had a fresh alternate set. For almost that entire final stint, Power had Lundgaard breathing down his next, and it would not be long until Álex Palou was there as well. 

Despite the tire situation and traffic holding up Power, he was able to keep the competition at arm's length even at the end of the race when tire conditions should have swung to the favor of his competitors. It was a throwback race for the 44-year-old. He won this race through shear pace and once ahead he dared the rest of the field to beat him. They came close but they could not overcome the Australian. 

Over this weekend, I was thinking about how we could be seeing the final days of Will Power in IndyCar, and I have more on the subject that can be read tomorrow, but Power should have locked down an extension after this race. His fastball might not be at 100%, but it is still better than about 90% of the grid. Power has been the bright spot for Team Penske this season. 

To extinguish the brightest light when the team will still be going through a transition in 2026 could be the most foolish decision Roger Penske has made as a car owner.

2. Christian Lundgaard had to start seventh today after serving a six-spot grid penalty for taking on his fifth engine of the season. This knocked Lundgaard from pole position, and if he had only started first, maybe this would have been Lundgaard's race to control, but it all hung on what tire he started on. Power stayed out under the Daly caution because he was on the alternate tire. Perhaps Lundgaard would have stayed out even if he had started on the primary tire from pole position, but the only other drivers to stay out on the primary tire were Álex Palou and Devlin DeFrancesco. One guy can run whatever strategy he wants and will still be there at the finish. The other is just throwing up Hail Marys.

The most frustrating thing from this race was the amount of fuel Lundgaard had to save to make it, and he ran out of fuel just after he took the checkered flag in second. I hate to point this out but the #7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet had a few notable issues with fuel mileage last season with Alexander Rossi as the driver. That timing stand might want to take a look at some of its decisions because it almost cost the driver today and it cost the previous driver.

3. Álex Palou didn't need to finish third to clinch the championship. It was clinched on lap 21 when wiring issues caused Patricio O'Ward to slow on track and effectively end O'Ward's race. 

It was inevitable that Palou was going to win this championship. He entered this weekend needing to only score 41 points over the final three races, something he could have easily done in this race alone. I was wishing for it end today so we could end the false hope that the title was alive. It hasn't been alive since April. Palou has been that ruthless and no one has come close to rivaling his output. 

Even though he finished third, Palou was probably the best driver today. At one point, he was over 20 seconds behind Power, and traffic helped close the gap, but a great majority of that deficit was overcome through Palou's driving alone. That ninth victory of the season was within touching distance. It didn't come today and sole-possession of the single season record for victories is gone, but Palou still has a chance at a share of the record. We are going to have plenty of time to recognize Palou's greatness. Today, he has locked himself a place in history that few have reached before and few will reach after. 

4. There was a caution on lap three when Santino Ferrucci spun exiting the final corner, and it allowed some drivers to take a gamble. Six drivers made a pit stop to get off of the primary tire. It was still going to require three more stops to make the finish, but Graham Rahal drove an excellent race to remain at the front and have that four-stop strategy cycle to a point he was level with the leaders. 

Rahal was seconds off the top three, but he was legitimately fourth with his pace matching though on a different strategy. For a second, it looked like it was going to backfire, but Rahal had good pace to keep the car at the front. He never got shuffled into traffic that cost him. It helped that Rahal had three sets of new alternate tires for this race. For all the struggles Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has had this year, and over the last few years, it can put together races like this where they do not look that far off and actually look better than a good number of teams ahead of them on paper. 

5. Alexander Rossi gets his first top five finish of the season on what was his and Ed Carpenter Racing's best race weekend of the season. Rossi had good speed all weekend. He just missed out on the final round of qualifying but was still starting sixth after the grid penalty to Lundgaard. Rossi was holding his own all race. He didn't quite have the stuff to compete with Power, Lundgaard and Palou, but he was a top five car all race. This should be a good boost for him, and it comes at a good time as the final two races are ovals, where he and ECR likely think they can end on a high note.

6. Like Rahal, Callum Ilott stopped on lap four under the Ferrucci caution, and for the third consecutive race, Ilott held his own on an alternate strategy. He matches Prema's best finish of sixth, which Ilott set at Laguna Seca two weeks ago. It required a gamble as neither Prema car started better than 24th, but both Prema cars were on this strategy. Ilott ended up sixth and Shwartzman was 15th. Ilott had to do some special driving today to make this work. It has been a tough year, but he is ending on a high note.

7. Scott McLaughlin was seventh on a day where Power was victorious. McLaughlin ran the same tire strategy as Power but he did not have the same pace to match Power. I bet McLaughlin wishes he finished a little higher because he restarted third after the Daly caution. It is one thing that you are not going to maintain that spot and a driver or two who stopped under that caution will cycle ahead, but at that point the aim should be for a top five. I think what McLaughlin and the rest of us did not count on was two cars that stopped on lap four making that strategy work into a top six finish. 

It is a moral victory but McLaughlin did finish four spots better than where he started. Take it when you can get it.

8. Marcus Armstrong did nothing impressive but started and finished eighth, and I think that is still a good day. It is another top ten for Armstrong and Meyer Shank Racing. It has been a banner year for both driver and team. I do not understand how these two parties cannot find a way to continue into 2026. If Team Penske was beating down the door for Armstrong, I would get how they would part, but Armstrong is running more consistent than a great number of drivers who are more celebrated than him, and there are almost no takers lining up for this New Zealander. That is a big miss. It is even bigger if MSR let him walk.

9. Even better for Armstrong is he beat his teammate as Felix Rosenqvist was ninth. For a moment, we thought this race was lining up for Rosenqvist to compete for a victory, but as we too often see in IndyCar, Rosenqvist can start in the top five but he has trouble finishing in the top five. Rosenqvist was ahead of Lundgaard after the first round of pit stops, and Rosenqvist had a chance to control this race or at least control the drivers on the strategy of stopping under the Daly caution. Instead, Rosenqvist lost ground on each stint and ended up behind his teammate, who did good but not great today. 

If MSR had to Sophie's choice its two drivers, it should keep Armstrong over Rosenqvist. Both have done great this year. There is a good chance both MSR drivers will finish in the championship top ten, something that was absurd to think about two years ago, but after seven seasons in IndyCar, Rosenqvist's shortcomings are too apparent to ignore.

10. Colton Herta was tenth in a dismal day for Andretti Global. I am going to cover all the Andretti cars here. Herta was mid-pack all race, and he was fortunate Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden got together to gift him two spots. 

Kyle Kirkwood was hanging with Herta for most of the opening stint, and it is unclear how Kirkwood lost all the ground to the point he finished a lap down in 20th. 

Even worse, Marcus Ericsson blew a top ten starting position for Andretti, and Ericsson was a lap down in 22nd, with all his screen time in this race being because he was holding up Power and allowed Palou to close in on the top two. Ericsson was the best starting Andretti car in this race and he spent most of the race running as the worst Andretti car. 

We haven't really seen this race from the Andretti Global group this season where none of the three cars look competitive. It happened today, and the team is not trending in the right direction as we approach the end of the 2025 season.

11. Despite the contact and penalty for avoidable contact, Scott Dixon was still 11th after the drive-through penalty when he spun Newgarden in turn two. Without it, Dixon may finish in the top five. Otherwise he would have been sixth or seventh. 

Newgarden was just coming out of the pit lane and on cold tires as he was slow through the chicane. Newgarden did nearly come to a complete stop in turn two and Dixon had nowhere to go but through him. I think Dixon should have had the wherewithal to back up that corner and get the run on exit especially since Newgarden was a sitting duck on cold tires.

As for Newgarden, he kind of put himself in a spot to get run over. What is worse is it took Newgarden almost two laps to get the car re-fired after a pretty lazy spin. It was a top ten finish lost, but if he gets the hybrid working immediately that car is re-fired and he is still going to finish 14th or 15th. Instead, it is 24th and another abysmal day for Newgarden in one of the worst years of his career.

12. Let's tackle the Christian Rasmussen and Conor Daly incident because Rasmussen ended up 12th in this race and never got a penalty for the contact with Daly. 

It all started with Daly's attempt to pass on the outside of turn seven. Rasmussen drove off the road, forcing Daly off as well. We saw this a little over a month ago between Daly and Santino Ferrucci at Mid-Ohio. Ferrucci drove off the road and took Daly with him. It was clearly a block and Ferrucci was penalized. Rasmussen should have gotten the same penalty today. 

What doesn't help is Daly, in all his anger, clearly went into the chicane and was fine if he hit Rasmussen and took him out. Daly didn't quite do that but it was obvious what he attempted. Rasmussen remained ahead and then we got to turns 10 and 11 and Daly spun after contact with Rasmussen, flying into the barrier. 

I think both drivers are at fault. I think both drivers should have been penalized. 

Rasmussen forced Daly off track. Daly was reckless. Even on the third incident, I don't think it is obvious as Rasmussen spun Daly. There was no clear replay angle of what happened, but I believe Daly committed to making a pass in that corner and was putting Rasmussen into a spot where Daly was coming through and it was on Rasmussen to decide whether or not he would back out to avoid contact.

Rasmussen didn't back out. There was contact. Daly had a heavy hit into the barriers. Rasmussen was able to continue. 

No penalty was issued, which leads me to believe the officials saw it as Daly made an aggressive move and the contact wasn't because Rasmussen initiated it but because Daly put Rasmussen into a position where unless Rasmussen backed out there would be contact. 

The unfortunate thing is there should have at least been a callback to Mid-Ohio and some thought that Ferrucci was penalized for running Daly off the road, which meant Rasmussen would see the same fate. But race control has been a little too inconsistent, which led Daly to boil over and take matters into his own hands. 

That isn't good because all that will lead to is incidents like this. Daly drove at an aggression level that was too far over the edge. He clearly had no problem making contact with Rasmussen. I get the sense Daly made that move thinking if there was contact both cars would have been out of the race. Instead, it was only Daly out and Rasmussen got to finish 12th.

 

I don't think Daly is as much the victim as he has made himself out to be in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Rasmussen isn't innocent either. 

Two wrongs do not make a right, and race control cannot let the driver's police themselves if they are going to be so recklessly wrong. 

13. That was a lot on the 12th-place finisher. Let's blast through the rest of the field.

Louis Foster overcame being spun on lap eight to finish 13th. It was a good race when you consider he was facing the wrong way at one point. 

Sting Ray Robb stopped on lap four and finished 14th. Ok. Robb didn't do anything notable to get that result. 

Robert Shwartzman gets his first top fifteen finish on a road/street course in 15th. Considering Shwartzman and Ilott started a position a part on track and were on the same strategy, stopping on lap four, finishing nine spots a part is a little hard to swallow. If Shwartzman could have pulled off tenth or 11th in this race, it would have been a much more positive result.

Nolan Siegel started 17th and finished 16th, and I don't think he was mentioned once on the broadcast.

14. Along with Foster being spun on lap eight, Rinus VeeKay was also spun on lap eight, but the difference is Kyffin Simpson spun Foster and got a penalty. No one else was penalized for the contact VeeKay received, and I am pretty sure one of the Prema cars got into VeeKay. That is a bit harsh. VeeKay did finish 17th, but there is nothing to celebrate with such a result.

15. Devlin DeFrancesco stayed out until lap 32, and going long on the first stint did not do DeFrancesco wonders like it did for Power and Palou. DeFrancesco dropped like a rock and at the finish he was 18th. That sounds about right for him.

David Malukas had to make an extra pit stop late in the race and it took away what was going to be a tenth-place finish. However, Malukas would have been in Colton Herta's shoes and been tenth thanks to Dixon and Newgarden's contact. Malukas spent much of this race outside the top fifteen. He lost spots at the start and wasn't holding his own against the other cars that started in the top ten. 

And Malukas is in the catbird seat to replace Will Power at Team Penske. Are you kidding me? Are we sure Roger Penske is of sound body and mind?

16. The only two finishers we have not touched upon are Kyffin Simpson, who was 21st and his day was ruined after the penalty for the contact with Foster, and Jacob Abel, who was 23rd but Abel held up Rosenqvist and Lundgaard as Power was able to cover the pit delta to make his first stop and exit the pit lane ahead of those two. If it wasn't for Abel, who stopped on lap four and ended up being a roadblock to Rosenqvist and Lundgaard, I don't think Power wins this race. 

17. Let's cover the retirees. This season was always likely going to finish with Patricio O'Ward being one spot short of a championship. If you are going to lose, you mind as well have it be one through the skull rather than a death by a thousand cuts. 

The last month has been false hope that O'Ward could take the title fight to Palou. Even if O'Ward won today, he wasn't going to win the championship. Even if he made up 48 points to Palou, the gap would still be 60 points with two races to go and O'Ward would still need to make up at least 12 more points at Milwaukee to have a sliver of a chance at Nashville. We are talking about a collapse of historic proportions just for O'Ward to have a prayer at the finale. It might have been best that the car broke down not even a quarter of the way into this race to end up the aimless hype of something that was never going to happen. 

It sucks that this is how it ended for O'Ward, but it was always going to end this way. Now the focus can be on ending on the highest note possible in the final two races and not get distracted with an unobtainable prize.

18. Santino Ferrucci's race didn't even make it two laps, and Ferrucci's spin is a little puzzling. Something happened to Ferrucci because he started 21st but he was in 26th at the end of lap one. On the exit of the final corner, Ferrucci lost the rear, and as the broadcasters said, Ferrucci decided to light it up in hopes that he would just power through the spin. Instead that led to him getting into the inside barrier on the main straightaway.

That just seems like the most immature decision to make in such a spot. It was the end of lap two. Ferrucci was in 25th. Deciding to floor it in hopes that you will spin and hit nothing is just a bad strategy. Even if he spins and hits nothing, Ferrucci is now back in 27th and with garbage tires, meaning he would need to stop next time by, and it likely would not have drawn a full course caution because Ferrucci would have continued and he would be at no risk of another car hitting hit because he would be in dead last. The closest car would have been 45 seconds away. The right move would have been to lift and live to fight another day even if it meant dropping back to 26th or 27th. 

Watching it and listening to the booth explain Ferrucci's thinking just made the entire accident appear to be unnecessary and completely avoidable. 

19. And from the final road course race of the season we head into the final off-weekend of the season. We all get a breather. Chip Ganassi Racing and Álex Palou get a week to celebrate. After that, it is Milwaukee and Nashville in consecutive weeks to close out the season. Rest up. 

Morning Warm-Up: Portland 2025

Christian Lundgaard set the fastest lap in the final round of qualifying for the BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland at 58.393 seconds, but Lundgaard had a six-spot grid penalty for taking on his fifth engine of the season, relegating the Dane to seventh on the grid. 

Lundgaard's Arrow McLaren teammate Patricio O'Ward will move up to first on the grid after the penalty. This will be O'Ward's best starting position ever at Portland. His previous best was fifth in 2022. This is the second consecutive race O'Ward is starting on the front row. He was 0.1404 seconds off winning pole position outright and earning that bonus point for the fastest qualifier. The Mexican has finished in the top five in five consecutive races, the longest streak of his IndyCar career. He has finished in the top five in the 15th race of the season the last four years. Absent of what Álex Palou must do, if O'Ward finishes ninth or worse, his championship hopes will end in Portland.

Felix Rosenqvist was 0.0240 seconds off O'Ward and Rosenqvist will start on the front row, also his best start ever at Portland. It is the sixth time this season Rosenqvist has started in the top five. In two of those races, he finished in the top five. He started and finished fourth at Long Beach, and he started fifth on his way to finishing fourth in the Indianapolis 500. Portland is one of two circuits where Rosenqvist has multiple podium finishes. He was second in 2019 and second in 2023. The other track is Road America where he picked up his second podium finish earlier this season. It has been 89 starts since Rosenqvist's only career victory.

Will Power was 0.1081 seconds off O'Ward and Power will start third. Power has not won a race since last year's visit to Portland, 17 starts ago, a race in which he started second. After having three top five finishes in the first five races, Power has only two top five finishes in the last nine races. He has only led four laps this season. His fewest led in a season was 14 in his rookie season in 2006. Power has not won a race from third starting position since the 2018 Indianapolis 500. 

David Malukas takes the outside of row two as Malukas was 0.0133 seconds slower than Power in qualifying. This will be the ninth time Malukas has started in the top ten this season. The only time he has started in the top ten and finished better than his starting position was the Indianapolis 500 where he went from seventh to second. In three Portland starts, Malukas has an average finish of 14th. This will be Malukas' 59th career start.

Álex Palou caused a local yellow in the final round of qualifying, which cost Palou his fastest lap. He still starts fifth for Portland. This is Palou's worst starting position since he started ninth at Gateway. Palou will clinch his fourth IndyCar championship with a runner-up finish with at least one bonus point scored. He won from fifth starting position at Portland in 2023.

Alexander Rossi missed out on the final round of qualifying by 0.0163 seconds, but after Lundgaard's penalty, Rossi moves up to sixth on the grid. It will be Rossi's best starting position since he started sixth at Thermal Club. He had started outside the top ten in nine consecutive races. Rossi's top ten finish drought is up to seven consecutive victories. He has five top ten finishes in six Portland starts.

Christian Lundgaard slides back to seventh after the grid penalty. This is the sixth time since 2012 the pole-sitter is serving a grid penalty. It happened in 2012 with Ryan Briscoe at Long Beach and Ryan Hunter-Reay at Edmonton. In 2013, it happened with Dario Franchitti in the first Detroit race and Hélio Castroneves at Iowa. The most recent example was in 2023 with Scott McLaughlin at Gateway. It has been 38 starts since Lundgaard's only IndyCar victory. He has six podium finishes since he won at Toronto in 2023. 

Marcus Armstrong is eighth in the championship and he will start eighth for today's race. This is the ninth time Armstrong has started in the top ten this season. He has converted five of his first eight top ten starting spots into top ten finishes and on three occasion has he finished better than his grid position. Armstrong was fifth in last year's Portland race after starting seventh. 

Scott Dixon starts ninth for the second time this season. Dixon started ninth at Mid-Ohio, which he went onto win. While Dixon has six top five finishes this season, including in the last race at Laguna Seca, he has not finished in the top five in consecutive starts since a three-race stretch over the Iowa doubleheader and Toronto last year.

Marcus Ericsson rounds out the top ten, the seventh time Ericsson has started in the top ten in 2025. This is the third time in the last five races Ericsson has been the best Andretti Global starter, however, Ericsson has yet to be the best Andretti Global finisher in a race this season. In four Portland starts, Ericsson's average finish is 7.75.

For the third consecutive race, Scott McLaughlin was one spot off advancing out of the first round of qualifying. McLaughlin was 0.0848 seconds off making the second round. After grid penalties, McLaughlin moves up to 11th on the grid. This is his sixth consecutive race starting outside the top ten. McLaughlin enters this weekend with 49 top ten finishes in his first 81 IndyCar starts.

Devlin DeFrancesco takes a surprising 12th on the grid, though he was the first car to miss out on advancing from group two by 0.0625 seconds. This is the first time DeFrancesco has started in the top fifteen since he started fifth for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May. DeFrancesco has finished outside the top fifteen in eight consecutive races. He has finished 16th and 17th in his two previous visits to Portland.

Colton Herta has his worst starting position ever at Portland as Herta will start 13th. He was 0.1235 seconds from advancing from group two in the first round of qualifying. He had made it out of the first round of qualifying in each of his first five appearances in Portland. Though he has four top ten finishes in five Portland starts, Herta has never finished better than fourth in the Rose City. 

Louis Foster elevates to 14th on the grid after grid penalties. This is the sixth time in the last seven races Foster has started inside the top fifteen. After finishing in the top fifteen in four consecutive races, Foster has finished outside the top fifteen in the last two races. He won at Portland in Indy Pro 2000 in 2022 and Indy Lights in 2023. 

Josef Newgarden qualified ninth, but a six-spot grid penalty bumps him down to 15th after the team changed to its fifth engine of the season prior to qualifying. Newgarden has not had a top five finish on a permanent road course since he was third last year at Portland. His most recent permanent road course victory was at Road America in 2022. 

Christian Rasmussen will start on the outside of row eight. It is the 13th time in 15 races Rasmussen will start outside the top fifteen. Rasmussen has three top ten finishes in his last four starts. Prior to this stretch, he had three top ten finishes over his first 24 starts. His ninth at Laguna Seca two weeks ago was only his second top ten finish on a permanent road course. The other was ninth at Mid-Ohio in 2024.

Nolan Siegel starts 17th. Siegel has finished 18th in the last two races. Earlier this season, he finished 13th in consecutive races at Indianapolis and 19th in consecutive races at Detroit and Gateway. His only top ten finishes this season were on permanent road courses. He was eighth at Road America and ninth at Barber Motorsports Park.

Kyffin Simpson did make the second round of qualifying, but Simpson drops to 18th on the grid after having a six-spot grid penalty for his contact with Felix Rosenqvist on the opening lap at Laguna Seca. This is the eighth time this season Simpson will start outside the top fifteen. He started 18th in the second Iowa race and finished 13th.

Kyle Kirkwood is going to start 19th, the fourth time in the last five races Kirkwood will be starting 18th or worse. He started 18th or worse in only three of the first ten races this season. Only once has Kirkwood finished in the top five in one of the final four races of the season. That was last year at Nashville where he finished fourth. Kirkwood has not finished in the top five in his last five starts.

Sting Ray Robb moves up to 20th on the grid, his best starting position since he was 19th at Mid-Ohio. Robb had started 24th or worse in the last four races. This is the first time he has been the top Juncos Hollinger Racing qualifier since the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May. Robb has finished outside the top fifteen in six consecutive races. He has finished 23rd and 18th in his two previous visits to Portland. 

Santino Ferrucci has a six-spot grid penalty for taking on a fifth engine, which knocks Ferrucci from 15th on the grid down to 21st. This is the 14th time in 15 races he has started outside the top ten this season, and it is the fourth time Ferrucci is starting outside the top twenty. Last year, Ferrucci scored his best Portland finish of eighth after starting on pole position.

Graham Rahal has his worst starting position on a road or street course race this season in 22nd. Rahal had started in the top ten in three consecutive races prior to this weekend. This will also be his worst starting position ever at Portland. In the last four Portland races, Rahal has three top ten finishes. He has only two top ten finishes this season.

Rinus VeeKay went off course on his final qualifying lap in round one, and that leaves VeeKey 23rd on the grid. VeeKay has finished in the top ten in four of the six permanent road course races. The only races he finished outside the top ten were the two California races, a 17th at Thermal Club and 23rd at Laguna Seca. 

For the second consecutive race, Callum Ilott is starting 24th. It is Ilott's eighth time starting outside the top twenty this season. He enters this weekend with consecutive top ten finishes for only the second time in his career. In the last two races, Ilott has set Prema's best finish in IndyCar. At Laguna Seca, he went from 24th to sixth.

Robert Shwartzman brought out a red flag with just over a minute left in the first qualifying group, and that meant Shwartzman could not advance from the first round. This will place the Israeli driver in the 25th grid position. Shwartzman's average finish on permanent road courses this season is 22.333, and his only top 20 finish was 18th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. 

Conor Daly has his worst starting position of the season in 26th, though this is the third consecutive race Daly is starting outside the top twenty. Daly makes his 129th start this weekend at Portland. If he wins, Daly would match Michel Jourdain, Jr. for the record of most starts before a first career victory. 

Jacob Abel rounds out the grid in 27th. It is the fifth time Abel has started in last this season. Only once has he started in the top twenty this season, and that was 20th at Detroit. Abel has failed to finish three of the last four races. He won last year's Indy Lights race in Portland. 

Fox's coverage of the BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland begins at 3:00 p.m. with green flag at 3:22 p.m. The race is scheduled for 110 laps.

Track Walk: Portland 2025

The 15th NTT IndyCar Series season will run at Portland International Raceway for the final road course race of the season, as we are entering the final days of the IndyCar season. Through 14 races there have been only four different winners. IndyCar has had at least seven different winners in 15 consecutive seasons. The last season with fewer was 2009, which had only six different winners. Since returning to the IndyCar schedule in 2018, only once has the Portland winner been a driver scoring his first victory of the season. 

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday August 10 with green flag scheduled for 3:22 p.m. ET.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

First Practice: 5:30 p.m. ET (75 minutes)

Saturday:

Second Practice: 12:00 p.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 2:30 p.m. ET 

Final Practice: 8:30 p.m. ET (25 minutes)
Sunday:
Race: 3:22 p.m. ET (90 laps)

FS2 will have coverage of Friday practice session while FS1 will have coverage of second practice and qualifying on Saturday. FS2 will show the final practice session Saturday night. Fox will have race coverage.

Palou's Pending Coronation

The question does not seem to be if Álex Palou will win the 2025 IndyCar Series championship, it is when, and all Palou needs to clinch the championship is score 41 points over the final three races. He doesn't even need all three races to hit that total. It could be locked up in Portland.

A second-place finish with at least one bonus point this weekend will be enough for Palou to take the title with two races remaining regardless of what Patricio O'Ward does this weekend. 

Palou and O'Ward are the only drivers alive for the championship with three races remaining, and they have combined to win the last four races. Palou sits in 590 points, 121 points clear of O'Ward. For O'Ward to remain alive for the championship beyond Portland he will need to score at least 18 points more Palou this weekend. 

This season, O'Ward has scored more points than Palou in only four of the first 14 races. Two of those occurred during the month of June at Detroit and Gateway respectively. The other two are O'Ward's victories in the first Iowa race and Toronto. 

When it comes to Portland, not many drivers are better at the circuit than Palou. In four starts in the Rose City he has finished first, 12th, first and second. He has led 101 of 440 laps run. He has never started outside the top five at the track. 

O'Ward has also made four starts at Portland, but his results have been more up-and-down. He led 28 laps in the 2021 Portland race, one lap fewer than Palou that day, but O'Ward got stuck in traffic after his opening pit stop and he kept losing ground to the leaders. He was unable to get out of the middle of the field and ended up finish 14th. O'Ward would finish fourth in the next two years at Portland, but last year he qualified 22nd on a day when none of the three Arrow McLaren cars started better than 17th. In the race, all O'Ward could climb up to was 15th.

Palou could become the first driver to clinch a championship with multiple races remaining since Cristiano da Matta clinched the 2002 CART championship with three races remaining. Since 1946, 23 times has the championship be claimed with multiple races to spare. However, the only other time in the last 40 years the championship was sealed with multiple races left was in 1998 when Alex Zanardi won the CART championship with four races to go.

This would be Palou's fourth championship and his third consecutive. He could become the sixth driver to win at least four championships in a career, and he would become only the fourth driver to win three consecutive championships. He would have four championships in six seasons in IndyCar. The only other driver to reach four championships in fewer seasons was Sébastien Bourdais, who won four consecutive championships to close out his first five seasons in American open-wheel racing.

Besides championships, Palou is a victory away from another milestone. The Catalan driver enters this weekend on 19 career victories in his first 95 starts. He is one victory away from becoming the 24th driver to reach 20 career victories. Another victory this season would make Palou just the fourth driver to win at least nine races in a single season. If he wins two of the final three races, he will tie the single season record. If he wins all three, he will set the single season record with 11 victories.

The Battle for Third

In all likelihood, Álex Palou will finish first in the championship and Patricio O'Ward will finish second. The battle will be for third, and there are two key contenders for that spot.

Scott Dixon is currently third on 392 points, 77 points behind O'Ward in second. Kyle Kirkwood is fourth and only 15 points behind Dixon. In recent weeks, the momentum has swung in Dixon's favor in the fight for third. 

After Gateway, Kirkwood was third in the championship on 75 points off Palou in the championship lead after the American won for the third time in the first eight races. Dixon was fifth, 54 points behind Kirkwood.

In the last six races, Dixon has finished in the top ten in all six, and that includes a victory, a second and another two top five finishes. Dixon's only finish worse than 12th this season was 20th in the Indianapolis 500. These results have been coming despite Dixon's qualifying woes. He has started in the top five of only one race this season, and that was fourth in the Indianapolis 500. Only twice has he started in the top ten on a road or street course, sixth at St. Petersburg and ninth at Mid-Ohio. In six races he has started outside the top fifteen. In four of those races, Dixon has finished inside the top ten with two of those being fifth-place results.

For Kirkwood, he has only one top ten finish and three top ten finishes in the last six events, and he has finished outside the top fifteen in three of the last four races. After leading 104 laps in the first eight races of the season, Kirkwood has led only ten laps over the last six races, and his five-race top five finish drought is his longest since a nine-race stretch that spread over the final four races in 2023 and the first five races of 2024. During this slump he has started 18th or worse in all three races he has failed to finish inside the top fifteen. He has not started in the top five since he started third at Road America.

Dixon has lived in a top three championship spot for nearly 20 year. Since 2007, Dixon has finished in the championship top three in 14 seasons with two finishes in fourth and two finishes in sixth. While he is a six-time champion, he has finished third in the championship on six occasions as well. Only three times has he been championship runner-up. 

Whether it be third or fourth, Kirkwood is in line for his best championship finish in his four-year IndyCar career. His championship finish has improved each year after finishing 24th as a rookie in 2022. Two years ago he was 11th, and last year he was seventh. Andretti Global has produced at least one driver in the top five of the championship in five of the last seven seasons. 

At Portland, Dixon has finished on the podium in three of his last six starts with another top five finish. In three Portland starts, Kirkwood has finished 13th, tenth and tenth. Last year, Dixon and Kirkwood made contact on the opening lap, which led to Dixon going off circuit and hitting the barrier, ending his race before he could register a lap completed. 

At Least One of These Drivers Will Go Winless

Time is running out in the IndyCar season and there are a great number of drivers without a victory with only three races remaining, 23 drivers to be specific. At least 20 regular competitors will be without a victory when this season is all said and done. Keep in mind only four drivers have won through the first 14 races this season.

Christian Lundgaard is the top driver in the championship without a victory this season. Lundgaard is fifth in the championship on 357 points, 20 points behind three-time race winner Kyle Kirkwood in fourth. Lundgaard was second at Laguna Seca, his best finish since he was runner-up at Barber Motorsports Park in May. While he had three consecutive podium finishes and was second in the championship after four races, Lundgaard has only two top five finishes in the last ten races. He has finished outside the top ten in five of the last ten races. 

Felix Rosenqvist is sixth in the championship on 315 points, two points ahead of Colton Herta, but Rosenqvist has finished outside the top fifteen in three of the last four races. His 24th-place result at Laguna Seca is his worst finish of the season. Last year, he had five top ten finishes in the first six races but he ended the season with one top ten finish in the final 11 races. Rosenqvist has finished in the top ten in three of the last six races.

Herta is coming off two consecutive top five finishes, the first time he has had consecutive top five finishes this season. Last year, he closed out the season with six top five finishes in the final seven races. Five of his nine career victories have come within the final four races of a season, and he has won three of the last seven season finales. 

Marcus Armstrong is the top driver in the championship with zero career victories, and it has been over two years since our most recent first-time winner. Armstrong has seven top ten finishes in the last eight races. He is tied for the fourth-most top ten finishes this season with Kirkwood and Lundgaard. Four times has a driver had their first career victory come in Portland. Those drivers are Al Unser, Jr. in 1984, Alex Zanardi in 1996, Mark Blundell in 1997 and A.J. Allmendinger in 2006.

Unless a Team Penske driver wins this weekend, we will be guaranteed that at least one of them will go winless in 2025. Will Power is ninth in the championship while Scott McLaughlin is 12th and Josef Newgarden is 16th. 

Power has one top five finish in the last seven races. He has led only four laps in the first 14 races. Power is hoping to avoid his second winless season in the last three years. 

McLaughlin got back into the top ten at Laguna Seca, but he has finished outside the top ten in seven of the last nine races after he opened the season with four top ten results in the first five events. McLaughlin did win at Portland in 2022.

Newgarden is looking to avoid his first winless season since 2014, but his only top five finish on a road or street course this season was third in the St. Petersburg season opener. His best finish on a natural-terrain road course was 11th at Laguna Seca two weeks ago. The good news for Newgarden is he has finished in the top ten in all six of his Portland starts and he has four top five finishes at the circuit.

Cautions

At the start of the IndyCar season, everyone marveled at the lack of cautions, and it became a running joke that there would never be another caution in the series. 

Through the first five races, there had only been two total caution periods for a combined eight caution laps out of the first 430 laps run in the 2025 season. The pendulum has swung completely in the opposite direction. 

Seven of the last nine races have featured at least five cautions, including the last four consecutive races. Only one race in the last nine has featured fewer than three cautions. That would be Mid-Ohio, which had two caution periods. After having only 1.86% of the first 430 laps run under caution, we have had 18.68% of the last 1,440 laps run under caution. We have also had two races finish under caution in that span after going over two years without a race finishing behind the pace car.

In what could be somewhat of a surprise, IndyCar is trending downward on the amount of caution periods compared to last season. Despite this nine-race run, only 14.873% of all laps run in 2025 have been under caution. Last season, 16.9602% of the total laps run were under yellow. That is 414 of 2,441 laps run. In the final three races of last season, a grand total of 126 of the 706 laps run were under caution, or 17.847%.

Over its entire existence on the IndyCar schedule, Portland has averaged 2.1 cautions per race with a median of one. Since it returned to the IndyCar schedule in 2018, three races have featuerd two cautions or fewer. The other three races have featured three cautions or four cautions. 

Four of the last six Portland races have had an opening lap caution, and five of the six races have had the first caution come within the first three laps. Of the four opening lap cautions, last year's was the only one not for an incident in the chicane that makes up the first three turns. It was for Scott Dixon going off after contact in turn eight. The 2022 race is the only one to get through the first three laps cleanly, and that race went 84 laps before Jimmie Johnson and Rinus VeeKay had contact in the chciane. That proved to be the only caution of that race.

Of the 15 cautions at Portland since 2018, seven have been in the chicane, but there have been no cautions for incidents at the chicane in the last two visits to Portland. The next most troublesome spot has been turn 11, which has been the location for three cautions. No other place on the circuit has caused multiple cautions over the last six races. 

On average this season, the first caution has come around lap nine in a race. In six of 14 races has the first caution come on the opening lap and in another three races has the first caution come within the first four laps. In seven consecutive races has there been a caution within the first four laps. Besides the three caution-free races, the only two other races to see at least the first five laps run uninterrupted were the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, which did not see a caution period until lap 70, and Detroit, which ran the first 13 laps before the first incident of the race. 

Road to Indy

Portland marks the season finale for two of the three Road to Indy Series, but for Indy Lights it is the antepenultimate round in a championship that has tightened up over the last few races. 

Dennis Hauger's championship lead is 42 points with three races remaining as Caio Collet has leaped up to second after Collet swept the Laguna Seca doubleheader. Hauger was second in the first race but contact in race two left him with a 16th-place result. Lochie Hughes has dropped to third as he has finished 15th or worse in two of the last three races. Hughes is 89 points behind Hauger. 

Two other drivers are still mathematically alive for the championship. Myles Rowe is 127 points behind Hauger in fourth and Josh Pierson has some air left in the lungs of his championship hopes as Pierson is 152 points back with 162 points left on the table.

There will be a few driver changes in Portland. Michael d'Orlando will return for the final three Indy Lights races to drive the #3 Andretti Cape Motorsports entry, which Ricardo Escotto had driven in the first nine races. D'Orlando ran the seven Indy Lights races last season for Andretti Cape and he had three finishes in the top six with his best result being fourth at St. Petersburg. He won at Portland in U.S. F2000 in 2022 to cap off his championship season, and he won here in USF Pro 2000 in 2023. 

Nicholas Monteiro will drive the #24 HMD Motorsports entry at Portland, and Monteiro will become the fourth different driver to run this car in 2025. Monteiro has spent the last three seasons in USF Pro 2000. His best finish in 52 starts is sixth, which has occurred on six occasions and they have all come this season. 

Indy Lights will race at 1:06 p.m. ET on Sunday August 10 for 35 laps.

The USF Pro 2000 championship was wrapped up in Toronto when Max Garcia finished first and ninth. Garcia has won seven races this season and his ninth at Toronto was his first finish outside the top four this season. 

The battle will be for second as 13 points cover second to fourth, and 25 points is covering second to fifth. 

Ariel Elkin has 315 points, three more than Mac Clark. Alessandro de Tullio is fourth on 301 points and Jacob Douglas is fifth on 290 points. 

Elkin won three of the first nine races but he has gone winless in the last seven races. He does have two podium finishes and five top five finishes in that time. Clark remains winless this season, but he does have ten podium finishes, which is only one fewer than champion-elect Garcia. De Tullio won three of the first four races, but hit a bit of a slump in the middle of the season before he won the second Toronto race. Douglas has three consecutive podium finishes and five podium finishes in the last seven races.

USF Pro 2000 will hold its first race at 1:20 p.m. ET on Saturday August 9 with the final race of the season scheduled for 5:50 p.m. ET on Sunday August 10. Both races will be 30 laps or 50 minutes. 

The U.S. F2000 season will conclude with a triple-header from Portland and with 99 points left on the table, one of four drivers could leave as champion.

Jack Jeffers has 353 points and a 52-point championship lead over Thomas Schrage after Jeffers has won four consecutive races. Jeffers had one victory in the first 11 races, but he has a total of ten podium finishes this season. Schrage won twice and had seven podium finishes in the first nine races, but in the last six races he has finished on the podium twice and outside the top ten on the other four occasions. 

Teddy Musella is 56 points behind Jeffers in third. Musella has finished in the top five in seven consecutive races, which includes his only victory of the season at Road America. G3 Argyros has an outside chance at the championship. Argyros trails Jeffers by 93 points, but Argyros will be eliminated if Jeffers finishes 14th or better in the first race of the weekend. Argryos did win last year at Portland in U.S. F2000.

The first U.S. F2000 race will be Friday August 8 at 8:50 p.m. ET with the second race scheduled for Saturday at 6:35 p.m. ET, and the final race is scheduled for a 6:55 p.m. ET start on Sunday. All three races will be 25 laps or 40 minutes.

Fast Facts

This will be the fifth IndyCar race to take place on August 10 and the first since 2003 when CART and the Indy Racing League each held an event. Paul Tracy won at Mid-Ohio, and Hélio Castroneves won at Gateway. 

Four times has a driver won consecutive Portland races (Mario Andretti 1985-86, Michael Andretti 1990-92, Al Unser, Jr. 1994-95, Gil de Ferran 1999-2000).

Michael Andretti and Al Unser, Jr. are tied for most Portland victories. They each won three times. 

Of the three active Portland winners, Álex Palou and Will Power have each won twice.

Power has won at least three times at six different circuits (Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Belle Isle, Pocono, São Paulo, Sonoma, Toronto).

Palou has won at least three times at three different circuits (Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Laguna Seca, Road America).

Ten times has the Portland winner won the championship in the same season. Palou has done it in two of his three championship seasons.

The average starting position for a Portland winner is 3.833 with a median of second. 

Five consecutive Portland races have been won from a top five starting position. Four of those five have been from the front row.

Twice has a Portland winner started outside the top ten (Mark Blundell from 11th in 1997, Takuma Sato from 20th in 2018).

Prior to last year's race, five consecutive Portland races had at least one top five finisher who started outside the top ten.

The average number of lead changes in a Portland race is 6.233 with a median of six. 

Nine consecutive Portland races have featured at least seven lead changes.

Every Portland race has featured at least two lead changes.

The only Portland race to feature less than three lead changes was the 2001 race, which had two lead changes.

The average number of caution laps in a Portland race is 7.933 with a median of 5.5.

There have been six caution-free races at Portland, most recently in 2007.

Predictions

At this point the averages say you must pick Álex Palou, and we will select Palou to get his ninth victory of the season this weekend to cap off what will be another clinched championship in the Rose City. Patricio O'Ward's top five finish streak will end. Scott Dixon will make it beyond turn eight on the opening lap. Kyle Kirkwood will have his best finish in over a month. At least two Team Penske drivers will gain at least one spot in the championship. We will run at least 25 laps before the first caution. Alexander Rossi will finish in the top ten. Sleeper: Marcus Ericsson.

First Impressions: Portland 2024

1. When it was necessary, Will Power went out and thrashed the field to keep his championship hopes alive. Even with an emphatic drive to a Portland victory, Power has work to do at Milwaukee next week to keep the championship alive heading into the finale. With 54 points between Álex Palou and Power, Power needs to outscore Palou by at least five points over the two Milwaukee races to stay alive for Nashville. With Power on three victories, the tiebreaker is in his hands as of now. Power did what he had to do today, and it was an old school Power performance. 

Power beat Santino Ferrucci at the jump into turn one and it was lights out from there. Come on, did anyone think Ferrucci was going to hold off Power at the start? Did anyone think Power wasn't going to pull away from the field? To be fair, Power didn't really pull away until the final stint. Palou kept him honest, but Power's team was flawless today. The driver didn't make a mistake. The pit crew was lightyears ahead of the competition today. After every pit stop, Power's gap grew to Palou. The #12 Penske crew did what it had to do. It will have to do it three more times if Power wants to pull out what appears to be an improbable third championship.

2. Álex Palou was giving it his all to beat Power today. This was a chance to extend the lead and essentially give him a head start on his coronation ceremony in Milwaukee. Pit stops killed Palou's team today. They could not match Power's team and once we got through the final stops, Palou settled for second. 

This race showed how hard it is to beat Palou. 

Palou does not make any mistakes. He started third today when every one of his championship rivals but Power started behind him. Palou spent basically the entire race in a top three position. He never put a wheel wrong, never had a slow stop though they were not as quick as Power's, and he finished second. He only lost 12 points to Power today and he is still 54 points clear with three races to go. 

Milwaukee and Nashville are two unknowns for Palou, but he will race smart and get something out of it. It will require Power to be basically perfect to overtake Palou for the Astor Cup.

3. Josef Newgarden was 23.2046 seconds back of Will Power in third. That was the kind of day we saw from Portland. Power was dominant today. Newgarden ran well. He was never close to the lead, and he really made up spots through pit cycles. He wasn't in a podium spot until the final third of the race. He let other strategies fade around him and then wound up third. 

Considering how Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Newgarden's season has been, a race where he started fifth and finished third without anything notable happening is a big change for him in 2024. The title is essentially out of reach. He needs a flu bug to help him win the championship, but Newgarden should feel good entering a three-race oval stretch to close the season.

4. Colton Herta probably should finish fourth, but he had a chance for third only for a bad choice by the team, and then an unexpected penalty, to cost him. 

Herta was closing on Newgarden on the penultimate stint, and Herta caught Newgarden. Newgarden was stuck behind Linus Lundqvist. 

I do not understand why Herta did not pit immediately when he got to Newgarden's gearbox. I understand Herta had gone longer on the previous stint and was hoping for a shorter stint to close the race and needing less fuel on that final stop, but Newgarden was going to lose time behind Lundqvist. Herta could have had clean air help him flipped that spot into his favor. Instead, Herta spent about three laps longer than necessary behind Newgarden, losing time to the cars that already stopped, and then Herta and his crew botched that stop anyway.

It wasn't a great pit stop to begin with, but Herta stalled and it looked disastrous. However, Herta restarted the car on his own, a no-no because the hybrid system is not supposed to be activated on the pit lane, but apparently it was. Herta didn't lose any extra spots. He was only three seconds behind Newgarden after that pit cycle, but Herta was handed a penalty for the illegal use of the hybrid system. Herta was basically told to give up ten seconds on track. I don't know if that is what is written in the rulebook, but that is what he was told to do. That penalty didn't cost Herta a position but it only confirmed third was not going to be his on this day. 

The irritating thing is the hybrid system clearly does not work as well as IndyCar says it works. That isn't a slight on the hybrid and I am not dismissing what it can do. Will Power would not have won at Iowa without it. But IndyCar says the hybrid doesn't work on pit lane and it is deactivated, but it clearly is operational after this Herta incident. IndyCar doesn't have a handle on it. It would like you to believe it does, but if IndyCar cannot enforce the rules, why have the rules at all and why do these rules exist?

If a driver can restart the car on pit lane, why not just allow it? No one wants to see a driver lose 30 seconds because he stalled on pit lane and the crew has to scramble to get the starter out. That doesn't make the race better. Let the drivers use the system to the most of its ability. It looks more ridiculous not using it. 

Herta's team could have avoided this if it had just stopped earlier and had one good pit stop, but we shouldn't be creating unnecessary penalties especially when IndyCar doesn't have to ability to regulate the systems as they have intended.

5. Marcus Armstrong is making Chip Ganassi's life really difficult. This is in a good way. Chip Ganassi Racing will likely have only three cars next season due to the new charter rules. Chip Ganassi Racing is currently a five-car team. Two drivers are going to lose this game of musical chairs. 

Palou and Scott Dixon are safe. Armstrong has four top five finishes this season, including two in the last three races and he has three consecutive top ten finishes. Chip Ganassi Racing must stick with Armstrong. It is clicking for him in his sophomore season. He has had some growing pains, but he has made steps forward and he should be better next year. This was a strong day for Armstrong.

6. Marcus Ericsson did not make much buzz in this one, but Ericsson hasn't had many days where he drives clean and makes up spots in 2024, and he needed a race like this one. This hasn't been a great season, but it hasn't been a bad season either for the Swede. Unfortunately, he has been swept up in a number of things that haven't been his fault. Ovals have been cruel to him this year. A drive to sixth was much needed. 

7. An engine penalty knocked Scott McLaughlin down to 20th on the grid, and McLaughlin slowly worked his way up to seventh. It wasn't anything fancy. Three spots here, three spots there and all of a sudden, McLaughlin was seventh. Any Team Penske car should accidentally finish seventh. Team Penske drivers could be forced to get out of a car and do a dizzy-bat race at the halfway point and that driver should still finish in the top seven. The pit crews are the best. The cars are the best. There should be no surprise when a Team Penske car makes up 13 spots. This wasn't surprising today.

8. Santino Ferrucci should not be disappointed finishing eighth after starting on his first career pole position. This is still A.J. Foyt Racing. Ferrucci had one top ten finish last season. He has eight top ten finishes this season, and he is sitting for tenth in points with three races remaining. This has been a better season than many saw possible. Ferrucci had good speed today. That one-lap pace didn't translate over 30-lap stints, and the pit crew cannot match the other teams, but Ferrucci had a good enough a car to still finish eighth. He didn't overdrive the car and he didn't make any mistakes.

It is nuts that Foyt had not re-signed Ferrucci for next year. He really should have been extended after Indianapolis. What is Foyt waiting for? This is the best one of its drivers has done in over 20 years. Don't blow this!

9. Graham Rahal got a top ten finish in ninth. It has been a rough year for Rahal and the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team. This hasn't been a complete nosedive from 2023 but it is a step back. It was good to see Rahal have a day where he stayed around the top ten all race, ran strong and got a good result.

10. Kyle Kirkwood was running better than tenth for most of this race. Kirkwood was up to third after stopping early and using two sets of alternate tires to start the race. Kirkwood's race unraveled a bit when after his second pit stop when he was battling Toby Sowery out of the pit lane. Sowery was able to keep Kirkwood behind him, which was crucial because after Newgarden stopped, Newgarden came out directly ahead of Sowery.

If Kirkwood had been able to keep Sowery behind him, Kirkwood likely would have been out ahead of Newgarden. 

However, it didn't matter as Kirkwood got a penalty for blocking. It was deemed Kirkwood made a reactionary move on Sowery heading into turn four on his out lap. Kirkwood was told to give up a position, which was to Romain Grosjean, but because Conor Daly was so close to Grosjean, Kirkwood ended up losing two spots and lost a lot of time.

That was harsh and I think the officials were a little overboard on this call. First off, it is tough to call that a block. Kirkwood was just out of the pit lane. He was on cold tires. He was making it difficult for Sowery, but there wasn't anything malicious there. Second, Sowery ended up getting ahead of Kirkwood anyway. That doesn't mean a block didn't happen, but telling a driver to give a position to a driver that was not blocked is over the top. 

Going back to Gateway, Colton Herta clearly attempted a block on Linus Lundqvist even if Lundqvist ended up making the pass. Herta was penalized a position after the race because of how late the block occurred in the race. If you hold the standard that a position should only be given up for a block when the position never change, you run the risk of basically allowing the move Herta did to continue. I don't know how you de-incentivize such a move without it costing a driver a position, but I don't think Kirkwood's move today warranted a blocking penalty today. 

It is a catch-22. We don't want to see the Herta move, and maybe that deserves an additional penalty, but I feel like Kirkwood got too much of a reprimand for hard racing when he is doing all he can to not lose time during a pit cycle. 

Kirkwood might have been in a tough spot anyway. I don't know if he would have finished third today, but without the penalty and the time lost falling behind two Juncos Hollinger Racing cars, I think he would have been competing for a top five finish. He likely finishes better than tenth.

We didn't talk about the opening lap and the incident between Kirkwood and Scott Dixon. We will get to that in a little bit.

11. We are going to breeze through some drivers.

Rinus VeeKay had another good day to finish 11th. VeeKay picked a great time to be running well again. Right when a contract is on the line. He looked posed for a top ten result, but lost out in the later stints.

12. Alexander Rossi had a strong start to the race, but he fell flat mid-race and finished 12th. This was a bad weekend for Arrow McLaren. Patricio O'Ward was 15th and did nothing all race. Nolan Siegal was 21st and had one significant off-course moment. Arrow McLaren has gotten its head straight, but this feels like a return to the early part of the season when Arrow McLaren could not do anything right and was barely able to finish in the top ten. It is a mystery how McLaren can be this anonymous in some races.

13. While Graham Rahal was in the top ten, the rest of the RLLR team was having a whale of a day. Christian Lundgaard has not been comfortable for most of this season, and he dropped like a rock from fourth on the grid. Jüri Vips had a fuel probe issue early and still finished 19th in what was a good outing considering Vips has been on the sidelines for basically an entire year. Pietro Fittipaldi hit Scott Dixon on the opening lap in a move that was honestly Fittipaldi's fault. I know Dixon said Fittipaldi did nothing wrong, but Fittipaldi made a low probability move and flew over the curbs. That is a penalty every race. And then Fittipaldi bulldozed in to Conor Daly into turn one! That was another penalty. 

I will be honest. Fittipaldi is 19th in points and tied with Sting Ray Robb. It is tight for the Leader Circle spots, but I think Vips should get a shot at Milwaukee and Nashville. Fittipaldi has shown nothing on the ovals to suggest he will be that much better than the unknown of Vips. I don't know if Vips is approved for ovals. I don't think he has done an oval test, but we could squeeze one in if needed. I think we have seen enough from Fittipaldi this season. It wasn't a good year. Vips should get a little greater of an opportunity, especially since it seems he is almost a lock for a full-time ride in 2025.

14. Not the greatest day from Meyer Shank Racing. Felix Rosenqvist was 14th. David Malukas couldn't do better than 20th after starting 25th. MSR just didn't have it today. Not the end of the world. MSR has been much better than last year. In 2023, a 14th and a 20th was a borderline great day for this organization.

15. Doubling back to the Chip Ganassi Racing game of musical chairs. Kyffin Simpson was 16th in what was a good day for him. Simpson ended up on the lead lap. Linus Lundqvist did nothing today and was 23rd. I do not understand how Ganassi does not pick Armstrong for the third seat in 2025. 

Simpson has been ok this year, but he has come down to earth from how his season started. Lundqvist has been disappointing but he has two podium finishes saving his season. I don't think Lundqvist has been that good, not as good as a driver who was completely overlooked ahead of the 2023 season after winning the 2022 Indy Lights championship but was then good enough after three starts in relief for the injured Simon Pagenaud to end up in a Chip Ganassi Racing seat for the 2024 season. Hindsight is 20/20, but what was Ganassi in a rush for? 

16. Toby Sowery might be the best rookie this season. Théo Pourchaire does deserve some recognition as well. Sowery has definitely been the best Dale Coyne Racing driver. His battle with Kirkwood and not making contact or dropping a wheel off course was rather impressive. If there was any justice in this world, Sowery would be full-time for Dale Coyne Racing next year. 

As for Jack Harvey, 24th today. Didn't do much of anything. Hasn't done much of anything this season. Harvey has nearly 90 more starts than Sowery. He has finished on the podium before. Dale Coyne Racing is not an easy situation to be in, but Sowery has been the standout for DCR this year.

16. Sting Ray Robb was 18th, which isn't bad. Not great, not as good as ninth. It could have been worse. 

17. When Conor Daly was signed to fill out the Juncos Hollinger Racing #78 Chevrolet for the final five races, the #78 Chevrolet was only five points behind the #41 A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet for the final Leader Circle spot. I thought Conor Daly could definitely out-score Sting Ray Robb by five points over the final five races. It appears I might be wrong. Twenty-second today for Daly and he has finished behind Robb in both races so far with Robb scoring nine points more than Daly over that period. Brutal.

18. Let's cover some incidents. Romain Grosjean had a spin all on his own while fighting for a top five spot. Grosjean spun over the curbs entering turn one. It cost him a lot of time, but what cost him even more was spinning around and right into Christian Rasmussen, who already had one off-road excursion in this race. The contact punctured Grosjean's rear tire and Grosjean then went off-course trying to get back around the circuit. All these antics led to an additional penalty for the Frenchman.

It is incredible how badly Grosjean punted away a great result today. Mistakes happen. Unfortunately, he makes mistakes all the time. Nobody else spun in the chicane today. Nobody else had the steering wheel bounce out of their hands at Toronto last year. For all the good Grosjean can do, 75% of the time it will be wasted. For the first half of this race, I thought Grosjean is in a good spot and had made some great strides with a small team. After he spun, I thought there is no way he will be back in 2025. When he boils over, he boils over big time. I know Juncos Hollinger Racing might be seeing an ownership structural change between now and 2025, but JHR must be asking if Grosjean is worth it.

This was just an extra punch to the gut for Rasmussen today. It had already been a rough day. This contact was a bummer. 

19. Have you noticed how we have not mentioned Scott Dixon yet? Dixon's race lasted about eight corners as Dixon was knocked off course on the opening lap after Pietro Fittipaldi attempted to cut the curbs to the inside in turn eight. This ricocheted Fittipaldi into Dixon and sent Dixon off course and into the barrier. 

Dixon forgave Fittipaldi and said it was all Kyle Kirkwood's fault because Kirkwood had forced Dixon to drop his tires off course on exit of turn seven after Kirkwood made a pass. 

This wasn't on Kirkwood. It cannot be a penalty to make a pass. Kirkwood didn't dive into the corner and force Dixon off. Kirkwood wasn't close to contact with Dixon. Kirkwood made a great pass. Dixon was on the outside. He could have backed out and lived to fight another day or held his car on the track. It sucks that Dixon was going to lose a spot or two there, but Fittipaldi was making a move no one has ever made before at Portland. 

Nobody cuts those curbs to the inside of turn eight. Nobody in their right mind would have suggested making that move prior to this race. Dixon is upset he lost spots due to the Kirkwood move, but the Fittipaldi move was plain nonsense. That was never going to work and that is what ended Dixon's race, not Kirkwood's pass.

20. Well, wasn't this a busy Portland race? Now we have a doubleheader ahead of us from Milwaukee. Fun.

Morning Warm-Up: Portland 2024

Santino Ferrucci took a stunning pole position at Portland International Raceway on Saturday, and with a lap at 58.2046 seconds, Ferrucci will lead the field to the green flag for the Grand Prix of Portland. It is Ferrucci's first career pole position and A.J. Foyt Racing's first pole position since the second race of the 2014 Belle Isle doubleheader, 172 races ago. After opening the season with seven top ten finishes from the first ten races, Ferrucci has finished outside the top ten in three consecutive races. His average finish at Portland is 17.667. This will be Ferrucci's 74th career start. Only ten drivers have taken at least 74 starts to get a first career victory. Only two drivers have had their first career victory come at Portland, Al Unser, Jr. in 1984 and Mark Blundell in 1997.

Will Power was 0.1074 seconds off the top qualifying time in the final round of qualifying, and Power will start second. This is his best starting position since he started second in the Indianapolis 500. Power has still yet to win a pole position in 2024. The last time he did not win a pole position in a season was 2008. Power has finished outside the top ten in the last two races. Power is looking to avoid three consecutive finishes outside the top ten since a five-race stretch over the 2021 season.

Álex Palou will be third on the grid after falling 0.2270 seconds off pole position. Palou could match Michael Andretti and Al Unser, Jr. for most Portland victories at three. It would be the 20th time in IndyCar history a driver would have won three of his first four starts at a circuit. The most recent driver to do it was Will Power at São Paulo, who won the first three editions of the Brazilian race from 2010 through 2012. 

Christian Lundgaard starts fourth, his best starting position since he started second in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Lundgaard had started outside the top fifteen in four consecutive races prior to Portland. After opening the season with two top ten finishes in the first four races, Lundgaard has two top ten finishes in the last nine races.

Josef Newgarden fell 0.0097 seconds short of making the final round of qualifying, but a pair of engine penalties and elevated Newgarden to a top five starting position. Newgarden is looking for consecutive victories for the fourth time in his career. He has won consecutive races in each of the last two seasons. Newgarden has finished fifth in three of five Portland starts, and he has never finished worse than tenth at the track.

Romain Grosjean also benefits from those pair of engine penalties, and Grosjean will start to Newgarden's outside on row three. Grosjean was 0.0428 seconds off making the final round. Prior to this year's race, the Frenchman's best starting position at Portland was 15th. Grosjean's average finish at Portland is 22.667. Out of 330 possible laps, he has completed only 236 laps in his three starts here. This will be Grosjean's 61st career start. Only 17 drivers have taken at least 61 starts to get a first career victory.

Marcus Armstrong moves up to seventh starting position. After starting the season with four consecutive races starting in the top ten, this is only the fourth time in ten races Armstrong has started in the top ten. Armstrong is looking for his third consecutive top ten finish. He has had two consecutive top ten finishes on three occasions in his career.

Colton Herta will be on the outside of row four. This is Herta's worst starting position ever at Portland. Entering Portland with three consecutive top five finishes, Herta has never had four consecutive top five finishes in his IndyCar career. His best finish at Portland was fourth in his first start at the track in 2019. Herta led 36 laps in that race.

Scott Dixon has car #9 in ninth starting position. Dixon has won the 14th race of the season the last two years, and he has finished on the podium in the 14th race in six consecutive seasons. He has finished third in the last three Portland races. Dixon has won from ninth starting position twice in his career. The first time was the 2015 Sonoma race, which won him the championship. The other was the first race of the 2020 Road America doubleheader, another season where Dixon won the title.

Marcus Ericsson rounds out the top ten. Ericcson was the slowest in the second round of qualifying, but he was only 0.0978 seconds from making it to the Fast Six. Ericsson enters Portland having failed to finish in the top ten in the last three races. It is the second time this season the Swede has gone three consecutive races without a top ten result. Prior to 2024, he had not gone at least three consecutive starts without a top ten finish since an eight-race that covered seven starts in 2019 and the 2020 season opener at Texas.

Row three will actually be row six, as Kyle Kirkwood and Graham Rahal each have six-spot grid penalties for taking on his fifth engine this season despite Kirkwood and Rahal qualifting fifth and sixth respectively in the final round of qualifying. Despite the penalty, 11th is Kirkwood's best starting position ever at Portland. Kirkwood's average finish on permanent road courses this season is 7.8.

This was the first time Graham Rahal made the Fast Six this season. Rahal's best starting position this season on a road or street course was seventh at Barber Motorsports Park. It has been been 16 races since Rahal's most recent top five finish, second in the August 2023 Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course race.

Pietro Fittipaldi was 0.0182 seconds off advancing from the first group of qualifying to the second round. This is Fittipaldi's best starting position since he started 11th for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May. Fittipaldi's only top ten finish in his IndyCar career came at Portland six years ago. He was ninth in the 2018 race. It was the fifth race of his IndyCar career.

Rinus VeeKay takes the outside of row seven. This is the ninth consecutive race VeeKay is starting outside the top ten. VeeKay is going for his fifth consecutive top ten finish. Ed Carpenter Racing has had a car finish in the top six in three of the last five Portland races, including with VeeKay last year after starting 13th. Prior to that, the Dutchman had finished 17th and 20th in his first two trips to Portland.

Jüri Vips is back for his first race of the 2024 after competing in two races last season, and he will start 15th. He made his IndyCar debut last year at Portland, starting and finishing 18th. He started 13th at Laguna Seca last year, but ended up 24th after being caught in the opening lap accident and completing only 71 of 95 laps in a glorified test session for the Estonian.

Christian Rasmussen starts directly behind his Ed Carpenter Racing teammate VeeKay in 16th. This is scheduled to be Rasmussen's final start of the IndyCar season. In the first ten races together as teammates, VeeKay holds the head-to-head advantage, beating Rasmussen six times.

Alexander Rossi has his worst starting position ever at Portland in 17th. Rossi had started in the top nine in his first five trips to Portland. In the 14th race of the season, Rossi has three podium and five top five finishes, but he has finished outside the top ten in the other three races. 

Felix Rosenqvist makes it two drivers on row nine with their worst Portland starting positions as the Swede is in 18th. Rosenqvist had started in the top 11 in his first four Portland appearances. Rosenqvist has finished second twice in four Portland starts, and he has finished in the top ten in all four of his Portland appearances.

Toby Sowery has his best career starting position, as Sowery will start 19th for his third career start. Sowery is responsible for the #51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda's two best finishes this season. He was 13th at Mid-Ohio and 15th at Toronto. The other eight drivers for DCR in 2024 have combined for one top fifteen finish.

Scott McLaughlin had ended up seventh in group two, 0.0413 seconds off making the second round of qualifying, but a six-spot grid penalty for taking on a fifth engine this season drops McLaughlin to 20th starting position. McLaughlin has a pattern of finishes at Portland, ninth, first and ninth through his first three starts. Last year was the first time he did not lead at Portland. 

Linus Lundqvist takes 21st starting position. This is the fifth consecutive race Lundqvist has started outside the top ten. He enters Portland with a 71-point advantage in the rookie of the year battle. However, he has been the best finishing rookie in only four races this season.

Patricio O'Ward has his worst starting position of the season in 22nd. O'Ward had started in the top twenty in 21 consecutive races. His last time starting outside the top twenty was 25th at Mid-Ohio last year. He went on to finish eighth in the race. O'Ward has finished fourth in the last two Portland races. He has at least three top five finishes at eight different circuits.

Nolan Siegel makes it two consecutive Arrow McLaren drivers on the grid with Siegel in 23rd. Siegel was second in last year's Indy Lights race from Portland and he picked up fastest lap in the process. He has been the top finishing rookie twice this season. On both occasions, Siegel finished 12th. 

Sting Ray Robb improves on his average starting position as 24th on the grid betters Robb's average of 24.461 entering this weekend. His average drops to 24.428. Robb has finished outside the top twenty in five of nine road/street course races this season.

David Malukas has a six-spot grid penalty in the #66 Honda taking on its fifth engine of the season. This drops Malukas down to 25th, his worst starting position of the season. He was averaging a 7.667 starting position in his first six starts this season. Malukas was eighth in last year's Portland race. The only road or street course where he has multiple top ten finishes is Mid-Ohio.

Conor Daly was the slowest in group one, but he will start 26th after all grid penalties are applied. Daly has not had a top ten finish in his last 14 road/street course starts. His most recent top ten on a road or street course was fifth in the 2022 Grand Prix of Indianapolis. 

Jack Harvey will start from 27th. This is Harvey's sixth time starting outside the top 25 in 11 appearances this season. Harvey had failed to finished in three of his last four starts, and he has finished off the lead lap in five consecutive starts.

Kyffin Simpson's six-spot grid penalty for taking a fifth engine this season drops him to 28th, last on the grid. Simpson has finished outside the top twenty in five consecutive road/street course races after having finished in the top fifteen in three of the first four road/street course races this season.

USA's coverage of the Grand Prix of Portland begins at 3:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 3:30 p.m. The race is scheduled for 110 laps.

Track Walk: Portland 2024

The 14th round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season brings the series to Portland International Raceway for the final road course race of the season. Portland moves up to August for the first time in the event's history after spending five years in September, four of which were on Labor Day weekend, and after originally running in June for its first 24 editions on the calendar. Honda and Chevrolet have traded victories at the circuit since it returned in 2018 with Honda holding an edge of three victories to two entering this weekend. Based on the pattern, it should be Chevrolet's weekend to shine. After the chaotic evening race at Gateway Motorsports Park, 14 drivers remain mathematically alive for the championship.

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday August 25 with green flag scheduled for 3:20 p.m. ET.
Channel: USA
Announcers: Kevin Lee, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Dillon Welch and Georgia Henneberry will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

First Practice: 5:55 p.m. ET (75 minutes)

Saturday:

Second Practice: 12:00 p.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 3:30 p.m. ET 

Final Practice: 8:15 p.m. ET (30 minutes)
Sunday:
Race: 3:20 p.m. ET (110 laps)

* - All sessions will be available live on Peacock

Palou's Moment to Pounce

Fifty-nine points is Álex Palou's championship lead with four races remaining. If Palou can keep his championship lead above 49 points after Portland and the Milwaukee doubleheader, for the second consecutive season he will clinch the championship with a race to spare. He will also become the 13th driver with at least three IndyCar championships, and it would be the 17th time in IndyCar history a driver won the title in consecutive seasons. 

The stage could not be better set for Palou to achieve history. 

Though the final two circuits are completely foreign to him, Portland could not have come at a better time for the Catalan driver. In three years, Palou has won twice at the 1.967-mile circuit. With an average finish of 4.667, Portland is one of six circuits where Palou has an average finish inside the top five. He averages 41 points per Portland start, essentially a second-place finish. Nobody has averaged more points per start over the last three Portland races. The numbers are in his favor and it will require someone beating Palou outright to claw back points.

Even if another championship rival beats Palou, in all likelihood, it will not be a significant dent in the championship margin. Palou has not finished outside the top ten on a permanent road course since he was 12th in the 2022 Portland race. In the 13 permanent road course races held since that day in Portland, Palou has won seven of them, stood on the podium after nine of them, finished in the top five in 12 of them, and his worst finish is seventh. His average finish over the last 12 permanent road course races is 2.538. 

Road courses aside, Palou has been flawless everywhere. While he has two results outside the top fifteen this season, he has finished in the top five in his other 11 starts. Only once in the last two seasons has Palou failed to have a top five result in consecutive races, and he finished seventh in both those events. His 11 top five finishes are four more than the next closest driver, meaning no matter what, he has already clinched at least a share of having the most top five finishes in the 2024 season with four races to run.

The results have been coming regardless of where Palou has been starting. In the last two races, Palou has gone from 18th to fourth at Toronto and 16th to fourth at Gateway. He started 16th at Gateway after a nine-spot grid penalty for changing to his fifth engine this season. For the most part, the starting positions have been good. Prior to the last two races, he had started in the top three in four consecutive races and in five of the previous six. 

As good as he is finishing at Portland, Palou is better at qualifying. Among the track where Palou has made at least three starts, Portland ranks number one in average starting position at 3.333. He has started no worse than fifth in his three Portland appearances. All three of Palou's pole positions this season have been on permanent road courses.

What Will It Take For Anyone Else to Get Back In It?

Things look pretty bleak for the rest of the competition after focusing on Palou. No matter what, Palou will leave Portland as the championship leader even if he has his worst race in over two years. That appears to be the only chance for any of the championship contenders to get back into it, but there is a way for some to chip away over the final four races.

Colton Herta's strong summer has him second in the championship, 59 points back. With four races to run, Herta could outscore Palou by 15 points a race to take the championship. That would require Herta finding that extra gear to beat the Ganassi driver. 

Herta's Portland numbers are quite good. In four starts, he has three top ten finishes and an average finish of 7.75. He has started no worse than seventh at Portland. It is difficult to outscore Palou by 15 points when Palou's average finish is over three spots better and inside the top five. However, Herta has been strong on the ovals, even if the results do not show it.

Palou has finished ahead of Herta in three of four oval races this season with the only one in Herta's favor being the one Palou did not finish, the first Iowa race. Coincidentally, Palou's spin in that race kept Herta from finishing any better than 11th as it trapped Herta a lap down as Herta was on pit lane when Palou spun. Herta has finished in the top five of the last two oval races, and he led 86 laps from pole position in the first Iowa race before being caught on pit lane. Palou did lead 103 laps in the second Iowa race before cautions fell into Will Power's favor while Palou took second. 

Despite how the finishes have gone, Herta is not out of it. A good day with a few points going in his favor combined with strong oval finishes could see Herta pull off a remarkable championship run. After all, it would require Palou to finish third to be within 15 points of a race victory for Herta. If Herta is second, Palou would need to finish seventh or better to be within 15 points. Doable, but also something that could play into Herta's favor. 

Scott Dixon fell to 65 points off his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate after Gateway. Dixon's 11th-place result was the fourth time this season Dixon has finished outside the top ten. Dixon had only three finishes outside the top ten combined over the previous two seasons. Last year, Dixon ended with three victories in the final four races, and it will likely take something similar to win the championship. 

Dixon won three of the final four races last year with seven top five finishes and 12 top ten finishes in the first 13 races and Palou still clinched the championship a race early. There was much greater daylight between the Ganassi teammates entering the final four races last year. Palou was 126 points ahead of Dixon, who was third in the championship. After the final four races, Palou was still champion, but Dixon closed to 78 points at the final margin, only a 48-point comeback. 

Dixon's advantage is experience. Dixon has raced at Milwaukee and Nashville, the final two tracks on the schedule. Palou has not. Dixon has also won at both circuits, and he will return to Nashville having won the last three races at the 1.333-mile concrete oval. 

Will Power is only 66 points behind Palou but Power is in a rough run of form. Though Power won the second Iowa race, he has finished outside the top ten in four of the last five races. His average finish since the start of July is 12th. Palou's average finish in the same timeframe is seventh. Power is the most recent driver to lead the championship before Palou took the point. Power led after his Road America victory. He was five points clear of Palou.

Over four races, Power will need to average outscoring Palou by 16.5 points in each event. Power is a past winner on the next two circuits, but Portland could to be more hit-or-miss for the Australian. While he won in 2019 and was second in 2022, Power has finished 21st, 13th and 25th in his other three starts since the circuit returned to the schedule. Add in his Champ Car results and Power has never had consecutive top ten finishes at Portland. His first two results were 18th and fourth. 

Scott McLaughlin is 73 points off Palou. McLaughlin and Palou have both had similar summer stretches. Since the start of July, both drivers have four top five finishes in the last five races. The difference is McLaughlin has four podium finishes, including a victory at Iowa. He has also won pole position in two of those races while Palou has only one pole position in that time. Over the last five races, McLaughlin has scored the most points, 182 with Herta second on 167 points and Palou is third with 158 points. 

Patricio O'Ward is the final driver within 100 points of the championship lead. Ninety-eight points from the top, O'Ward is coming off two consecutive finishes outside the top fifteen after having seven consecutive top ten results prior to this dip. Needing to average scoring 24.5 points more than Palou over the next four races, O'Ward has finished ahead of Palou in only four races this season. In three of those races, Palou still finished inside the top five.

Overlooked Performances

With the championship in firm view with only four races remaining, it is easy to lose track of some good stories happening in IndyCar. This is a chance to recognize some drivers who are on a good run of form into Portland. 

You might not realize that the longest active top ten finish streak is only four races at the moment. You also likely do not realize that the four-race top ten finish streak belongs not to one of the championship contenders but Rinus VeeKay!

VeeKay has finished fifth, ninth, eighth and tenth in the last four races. It is his longest top ten finish streak since 2021. Despite these results, the Dutchman is still only 15th in points. He was 18th in points prior to this streak. Last year, VeeKay was sixth at Portland. He has never had five consecutive top ten finishes in his IndyCar career. VeeKay has never finished worse than 14th in the championship in his first four IndyCar seasons. He is only seven points away from maintaining that fact.

The driver that is ahead of VeeKay in the championship has been in a good run of form in his own right. Marcus Armstrong has seen a good bump upward after a shaky mid-third of the season. Armstrong has three top ten finishes in the last four races. This includes his third top five finishes this season (fifth at Toronto) and his first career top ten finish on an oval (eighth at Gateway). 

Prior to this run, Armstrong had one top ten finish in his previous five starts and his average finish during that five-race stretch was 19.6. Armstrong was 19th in last year's Portland race, but the final result does not tell the entire story. An unsecured right rear tire on his final pit stop cost Armstrong what was setting up to be a top ten finish. Armstrong's first full season in IndyCar has had highs and lows. Compared to last year, he is a little off his 2023 output. Last year, Armstrong averaged 17.833 points per start over 12 races. Through 13 races this year, his average is 17.4615 points per start. To at least meet his 2023 form, Armstrong will need to score 77 points over the final three races.

Speaking of top ten finishes, Sting Ray Robb is coming off the first top ten finish in his IndyCar career. Robb was ninth at Gateway. Prior to Gateway, Robb has only one top fifteen finish this season. His career best finish prior to Gateway was 12th. Robb's first career top ten finish came in the 30th start of his career. Only Marco Greco (42) and A.J. Foyt IV (32) took more starts to get a first career top ten finish.

This has been a better season for Robb. He is 20th in the championship with 144 points. By averaging 11.076 points per start through the first 13 races, Robb is averaging 2.429 more points per start than last year. He was 23rd at Portland last year, finishing one lap down. Robb has finished inside the top twenty of the last three races on permanent road courses.

Final Road Course of the Season

Street courses are behind us and once we are through Portland only oval races will remain. This is the first time the IndyCar season is ending on an oval since 2014, and it is the first time an IndyCar season is ending with consecutive oval races since the 2010 season ended with four oval races. 

When it comes to road courses, the championship leader has been the best. Álex Palou leads all drivers with 216 points on permanent road courses this season. Along with two victories, Palou has not finished worse than fifth on a road course this season. Due to Palou's success, only two other drivers could end this season with the most points scored on road courses, and one of those drivers will be mathematically eliminated once Palou starts the Portland race.

Will Power is 39 points behind Palou in road course points and Scott McLaughlin is 50 points back. McLaughlin will be eliminated once Palou starts at Portland. If Palou starts at Portland, the only way Power can end up on top is with a victory. Power finished on the podium in the first three road course races this season, including a victory at Road America, and his worst road course finish this season is 11th. McLaughlin won the first road course race of the season at Barber Motorsports Park and he also has three podium finishes on road courses this year.

Colton Herta has scored 152 points on road courses this season with his worst finish being eighth. Herta is 27 points ahead of his Andretti Global teammate Kyle Kirkwood. Kirkwood's worst finished on a permanent road course is 11th. Andretti Global has not won on a permanent road course since Alexander Rossi won the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in July 30, 2022.

Christian Lundgaard is a point behind Kirkwood on 124 road course points and Patricio O'Ward, the winner of the most recent road course race at Mid-Ohio, has 123 points from the first five permanent road course races. Lundgaard has three top ten finishes on road courses this season, and O'Ward has three consecutive top ten finishes on road courses.

Alexander Rossi has 106 points from the first five road course races, one more than Felix Rosenqvist, and four more than Romain Grosjean, who rounds out the top ten. Since his 2022 victory on the IMS road course, Rossi has only one top five finish on a permanent road course other than the IMS road course. He was third at Laguna Seca earlier this season. After opening the season with top ten finishes in the first two road course races, Rosenqvist has finished outside the top ten in the last three road course races. Grosjean has three top ten finishes on road courses this year with his best result being fourth at Laguna Seca.

Marcus Ericsson has 98 points from road course races this season. Scott Dixon scored the most points on street courses this season, but Dixon has only 90 points from the road course races this season. He has finished outside the top twenty in two of the last three road course races.

Road to Indy

For the Road to Indy, this is a championship weekend for two of the three series, and for Indy Lights, the championship could be essentially clinched this weekend.

Louis Foster won at Gateway Motorsports Park last week and Foster now has six victories this season with eight consecutive top ten finishes. Foster is 91 points clear of Jacob Abel with 162 points left on the table. If Foster leaves this weekend with a championship lead of 108 points or more, he will have clinched the Indy Lights championship with two races to spare. Abel is the only other driver with multiple victories this season, but he cannot match Foster's six victories, guaranteeing Foster the tiebreaker. 

Caio Collet is the only other driver mathematically alive for the championship. Collet is 147 points behind Foster. Collet is on an island of his own, 56 points behind Abel in second but 62 points ahead of Callum Hedge in fourth. Hedge has three consecutive top five finishes. 

It is rather tight for fifth in the championship. Jamie Chadwick holds it on 251 points, but she has not finished in the top five in the last five races. Chadwick is three points ahead of Salvaro de Alba and Reece Gold. James Roe, Jr. is nine points behind Chadwick. 

Christian Bogle is up to ninth on 230 points, two points ahead of Myles Rowe, who has finished 17th or worse in four consecutive races. Yuven Sundaramoorthy and Jonathan Browne are tied on 219 points while Bryce Aron has 209 points. Josh Pierson sits n 204 points.

Indy Lights will hold a 35-lap race at 1:10 p.m. ET on Sunday August 25.

For USF Pro 2000, the season ends with a doubleheader, and three drivers are alive for the championship. 

Lochie Hughes enters on 354 points, 35 points ahead of Jace Denmark and 63 points ahead of Nikita Johnson. 

Hughes has five victories and ten podium finishes this season through 16 races. Denmark has yet to win this season, but he has nine podium finishes, including five consecutive entering Portland. Johnson has won six times this season, but in the last eight races, Johnson's average finish is 9.25 with four finishes outside the top ten. 

Hughes will secure the championship if he scores at least 31 points over the two races this weekend. 

USF Pro 2000 will race at 8:25 p.m. ET on Friday August 23 and 6:10 p.m. ET on Saturday August 24. Both races are scheduled for 30 laps.

U.S. F2000 ends its 2024 season with a triple-header, and it is a four-way fight for the title with four American drivers. 

Max Garcia enters the finale with 346 points. Garcia won four races of the season and he has seven podium finishes with 12 top five finishes. Garcia is 35 points ahead of Sam Corry. Corry has won twice and stood on the podium seven times. 

Max Taylor has seven consecutive top five finishes entering Portland, but Taylor is 42 points off the championship lead. Taylor has four victories, but he has finished 15th or worse in three races this season. Evagoras Papasavvas has 288 points with two victories and eight podium finishes this season, but Papasavvas has four results outside the top ten.

Race one for U.S. F2000 will be at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday August 23. Race two will occur at 1:20 p.m. ET on Saturday August 24 with the final race of the season occurring later that evening at 9:05 p.m. ET. All three races are scheduled for 25 laps.

Fast Facts

This will be the 11th IndyCar race to take place on August 25 and the first since Will Power won at Gateway in 2018. 

Will Power has won the last two races held on August 25. He won on August 25, 2013 at Sonoma.

Since 2018, the average number of passes in a Portland race is 194.6 with a median of 178. The average number of passes for position is 142 with a median of 131. 

Last year's Portland race had 322 passes with 219 of those for position. None of the previous four Portland races broke 200 total passes nor 150 passes for position.

In three of the last five Portland races, at least one of the podium finishers has started outside the top ten.

In four of the last five Portland races, at least two top five finishers started outside the top ten. 

The average starting position for a Portland winner is 3.8965 with a median of second.

Eleven of 13 race winners this season have started inside the top five, but the fourth-place starting position has not produced any winners this season. 

Fourth starting position has not produced a winner in the last 21 races. The most recent victory for the fourth starting position was with Álex Palou at Mid-Ohio last year.

In 2023, the fourth starting position produced the winner in four of the first nine races, including winning three of the first four races.

Only twice has a Portland winner started fourth (Mario Andretti 1985, Michael Andretti 1991).

Last season, five of the final six races were won from outside a top five starting position, and three of the final four races were won from outside a top ten starting position. 

Twenty-four of 29 Portland races have been won from a top five starting position. 

The average number of lead changes in a Portland race is 6.172 with a median of six. 

Three of the five Portland races since it returned to the IndyCar schedule in 2018 have had exactly nine lead changes. 

The average number of cautions in a Portland race is 2.137 with a median of one. The average number of caution laps is 8.068 with a median of six.

Seven of the 14 cautions in the last five Portland races have been due to incidents in turn one or turn two. 

The last two Portland races have not had a caution on the opening lap.

There have been six caution-free races at Portland, but only one caution-free race in the last 21 Portland races. 

Predictions

Scott Dixon becomes the first driver to three victories this season, and he checks off another track in the process, but Álex Palou finishes in the top five and nobody really makes up any ground on Palou in the championship. Christian Lundgaard will have his best result since his podium on the IMS road course in May. Felix Rosenqvist will get his second consecutive top ten finish. Rinus VeeKay will finish outside the top ten. The total number of passes will rank either fourth or fifth among Portland races since 2018. Jüri Vips will not be the worst Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing finisher. There will be at least one caution for an incident in turns one and two. Sleeper: Christian Lundgaard.