Alex Palou can’t ignore the obvious: He can clinch his fourth INDYCAR title Sunday at Portland International Raceway (3 p.m. ET on FOX).
“Everybody here is saying we’ve already won,” Palou said during a virtual news conference earlier this week. “But although we have a lot of points, we still need to win it.
“If somebody else is mathematically alive, it’s still alive, so we don’t want anybody to be mathematically alive for the points.”
How can Palou clinch the championship at Portland, a 1.964-mile, 12-turn road course, with upcoming races at the Milwaukee and Nashville ovals still remaining?
He sits 121 points ahead of Pato O’Ward, the only driver mathematically alive to catch Palou. If Palou is 108 points ahead of O’Ward at the conclusion of the Portland race, then he clinches the title.
Drivers can earn a maximum 54 points in a weekend — 50 points for the win, one point for winning the pole, one point for leading a lap and two points for leading the most laps.
Second through 10th place earn points on a scale of 40 (second)-35 (third)-32-30-28-26-24-22-20. Each spot from 11th-24th is worth one point less, with 11th worth 19 points and 24th worth six points. Any driver who finishes 25th or worse earns five points.
Palou obviously clinches with a win, which he has done at Portland in two of the last four years, with a second and 12th as his other two finishes. O’Ward has a pair of fourth-place finishes at Portland as well as a 14th and 15th.
Let’s say O’Ward wins and earns maximum points, Palou would still clinch by finishing second and leading a lap. That would put him in a tie with O’Ward and Palou’s eight wins this season would earn him the tiebreaker (most wins).
If O’Ward finishes second, Palou clinches if he finishes fourth or better — and possibly as low as eighth depending on the bonus points for the pole and leading laps.
Pato O’Ward (left) is the only driver still mathematically alive who could derail Alex Palou’s championship season.
Because Palou would get five points just for starting, O’Ward needs at least 19 points — which is 11th if no points for the pole or leading laps — to still have a chance even if Palou finishes 25th or worse (highly unlikely unless Palou has a mechanical failure or an accident).
And add to that, because Palou gets five points for just starting a race, if he leaves Portland at least 98 points ahead, he most likely clinches the following week at Milwaukee but automatically clinches by starting Milwaukee and Nashville.
“There’s loads of reasons to be excited, but first of all, it’s a place that I love, that we’ve done really well in the past,” Palou said of Portland. “It just feels like with such a magical season, we can still finish even better.
“I’m excited to go there and see how our car feels. It’s been feeling amazing this year everywhere we’ve been, especially road courses.”
Palou clinched his 2023 title at Portland with one race left in the season.
“We won the championship there in 2023, which having two championships at the same place would be amazing,” Palou said.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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