The 2024 season for the IndyCar Series is nearing its finish, with both Chip Ganassi Racing‘s Alex Palou or Team Penske‘s Will Power topped champion when the checkered flag falls after 206 laps at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday.
Palou, the defending and two-time collection champion, holds a 33-point benefit over Energy (525-492), with bragging rights on the road for a 3rd title for each opponents. Moreover, Scott McLaughlin, Energy’s teammate, stays mathematically eligible at 50 factors again (475) of Palou, however can be formally eradicated when the Spaniard takes the inexperienced flag on the 1.33-mile oval.
There are a number of variables going into the weekend, together with the truth that just one time over the previous 11 seasons has the factors chief going into the finale has misplaced the championship – and that got here beneath the period when double factors have been on provide in the course of the 2015 season, with Scott Dixon overcoming a 47-point deficit at Sonoma to win the race and the title on a tiebreaker to dethrone Juan Pablo Montoya.
There are a most of 54 factors potential in a race, with 50 for a win, one for claiming the pole, one for main a lap and two for main probably the most laps.
If Palou finishes ninth or higher on Sunday, he’ll hoist the Astor Cup Trophy for the second consecutive season and turn out to be the primary back-to-back champion since Dario Franchitti ignited a three-peat from 2009-11. A results of twelfth would additionally clinch the title for Palou, even when Energy gained the race however didn’t earn the pole or lead probably the most laps. If it got here right down to a tiebreaker, Palou can be on the incorrect finish having solely earned two wins this yr to Energy’s three. Palou’s victory at The Thermal Club can be excluded beneath the situation as a consequence of it being a non-points exhibition occasion.
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Photograph by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Photos
One other staggering a part of that is that Palou is simply 27 years previous and shutting out this marketing campaign atop the standings would mark his third total title in simply 5 seasons competing in North America’s premier open-wheel championship.
For Energy, any hopes of ending a come-from-behind title run should occur with, at minimal, a podium lead to Nashville. Nonetheless, the efficiency by Group Penske on ovals this yr definitely leaves loads of causes for optimism. 5 of the six oval occasions have been gained by Group Penske, with Energy claiming one (Iowa, Race 2), McLaughlin with two (Iowa, Race 1; Milwaukee, Race 2) and Josef Newgarden additionally with two (Indianapolis 500; Gateway). It has been an admirable combat again by Energy, who was docked 10 factors in the beginning of the season as a consequence of Group Penske’s push-to-pass scandal that additionally noticed Newgarden and McLaughlin stripped of their first- and third-place outcomes and disqualified.
In the meantime, Palou is continuous to seek for his maiden oval victory. Nonetheless, he does boast a powerful 9 prime fives and 16 prime 10s in his final 20 begins on the observe self-discipline, which dates again to when he joined Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021.
A few of the unknowns that make it more and more unpredictable include IndyCar ending its season on an oval for the primary time since 2014, when Fontana was nonetheless on the calendar. With the occasion shifting from a downtown avenue circuit to close by Lebanon, Tennessee, the Nashville Superspeedway – the one concrete oval on the schedule – returns to the calendar for the primary time since 2008.
Dan Wheldon and Will Energy on the Nashville Superspeedway in 2008 — the final time the concrete oval was on the IndyCar calendar
Photograph by: Sutton Photos
Whether or not drivers and groups throw warning to the wind stays to be seen, clearly, however there wasn’t a series-wide take a look at with the complete subject within the buildup, solely a few exams with a choose few to check out totally different aerodynamic and tire configurations. And off of that, the collection, in partnership with Firestone, launched one other twist to the upcoming race by bringing on softer alternate tires to pair with the usual primaries. Whereas this can be a regular follow on highway and avenue circuits, it will mark solely the second time the collection and its tire provider have introduced a further rubber compound for use on an oval, with final yr’s race at Gateway the one earlier event which was gained by six-time collection champion Scott Dixon, Palou’s teammate.
After which there’s the hybrid energy unit’s reliability.
Palou’s path to a 3rd title was virtually derailed after a battery concern — unrelated to the hybrid — left him stalled on the tempo laps of the second race at The Milwaukee Mile. He returned, albeit a number of laps down, and battled by means of an attrition-marked race that additionally included a pricey spin by Energy. These sorts of points have plagued Chip Ganassi Racing’s machines for the reason that introduction of the hybrid in early July. Dixon fell sufferer to a hybrid mishap proper out of the gate, prematurely ending his title aspirations earlier than taking the inexperienced flag at Mid-Ohio. Linus Lundqivst, Palou’s rookie teammate, additionally had a hybrid failure throughout follow at Gateway final month.
Palou and Energy are each deserving, however just one will additional their legacy when historical past unfolds on Sunday.
Will Energy elevating IndyCar’s Astor Cup, given to the season champion, in 2022
Photograph by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Photos
