Written by Dan Jones
IndyCar hosted it's final road course event of the 2024 season at Portland International Raceway, which saw Will Power take a green to chequered victory, as he re-affirmed his position in the championship as Álex Palou's primary contender.
Dan unpicks the major winners and losers across the weekend.
Winner: Will Power
When asked by DIVEBOMB post-qualifying on Saturday if Will Power still thought he could win the title, his ambitions were very clear. "I would say if he [Palou] finishes ahead of me tomorrow, starts to look very, very tough, my goal is just got to stay ahead of the guy. I have to finish ahead of him, it's as simple as that. It's the only way I'm going to have a shot at the championship." Fast forward 24 hours from that press conference, Power would deliver on his word in emphatic fashion, effectively sealing him as the only threat to Palou's third title in four years. It was a statement victory, on a track that Power had been very inconsistent at, and a track that might be Palou's best on the schedule.
And crucially, it keeps Power's dream alive of a third championship alive. He admits 'it's a tough climb,' but the remaining 2024 races look favourable. Penske looked particularly strong at the recent test at Milwaukee, a track that Power is a winner at, and with both McLaughlin and Newgarden out the running, attention will turn to the Aussie. With double the opportunity there, and then the finale at Nashville, a track which Palou has 'never seen.'
It's an important win, just at the right time for Power, in the first season he wins multiple races since 2018. This felt like a last-chance for him to have any shot at the championship. And it is still a 54 point gap to close in three races, but it's a gap that Power has made somewhat realistic after a mighty performance in Portland.
Winner: Santino Ferrucci
It says a lot to me that Santino Ferrucci's pole in Portland wasn't as much of a shock as it should have been, in many ways, and that's testament to the work that Ferrucci and the team have done in the last 12 months or so.
It was Ferrucci's first top six of the entire season, and qualifying still has been a weak point for the American. But his laps on Saturday afternoon will be laps that live both long in the memory of Ferrucci and AJ Foyt Racing - a pole position which was waiting a decade.
Ferrucci describes Foyt as a 'perfect storm,' and a 'glimpse into the future.' The prospect of Ferrucci alongside David Malukas next year makes an eye-watering prospect at Foyt, and even with his future in the air, sees Malukas' arrival as a 'massive positive.'
It wouldn't quite fall Ferrucci's way on Sunday, finishing eighth at the flag, after losing the lead into Turn 1, but it's a weekend by no means forgettable. It's an eighth top ten of the season for Ferrucci as he catapults himself into the championship top ten, a particularly distant cry from the singular top ten he took with the team for the entirety of last season, and a 19th place finish in the championship.
Ferrucci continues to prove his worth in a David vs Goliath-style battle in AJ Foyt Racing. He's been a huge factor for the team to be able to recruit the likes of David Malukas, and his consistency has been second-to-none in a Foyt team that really craved it. Ferrucci brought back memories of a decade ago for the team - and that's only going to improve in the future.
Winner: Marcus Armstrong
Just like it was last week for Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Linus Lundqvist, this is an important result at an important time for Marcus Armstrong. A fifth place finish is his fourth of the season, and one that may just leave his name in the minds of team owners in the crucial upcoming weeks and months of silly season.
It's not the first time that Armstrong has quietly picked up a very impressive result this season, almost Palou or Dixon-esque in that regard, and his Portland result was no different, with a combination of strong strategy and excellent pace bringing home the Kiwi his best career result on a permanent road course.
It comes at an important time for Armstrong, with Ganassi expected to downsize ahead of the impending charter agreement, with suggestions him and Lundqvist being the ones to make way. With David Malukas' departure to Meyer Shank Racing, and the technical alliance that Ganassi and Shank are set to form, there is believed to be a vacancy there.
It was another messy weekend for Lundqvist, who found himself off-track multiple times and did not qualify well again. Lundqvist may take the headlines more, but Armstrong is developing the consistency needed that maybe more valuable in a team owners eyes. It's a constant toing and throwing between the Kiwi and the Swede.
And although Armstrong may lack the headline results Lundqvist has, he's continuing to prove himself as a quietly reliable driver in the series. His future isn't certain, but results like this are certainly no harm to him.
Winner: Toby Sowery
It's a telling story that the three best results from the No.51 entry across the course of the season have all come from Toby Sowery, even more so when the Brit has only done three races this season, all three being his first race experience in an Indy car.
And although it was Sowery's weakest result of the three, it was arguably the most impressive. It silenced any existing doubters that Mid-Ohio was a fluke and that Toronto was simply just avoiding the chaos. And considering the car has featured six drivers at some point in the year, it's almost a miracle that the car is only eight points off the leaders circle. It says a lot that Sowery has 34% of the points in just 21% of the races - and passes the baton onto Katherine Legge to enter the crucial leader's circle against all the odds.
But it isn't just the results on paper that were impressive about Sowery's day. A lap-long side-by-side battle with Kyle Kirkwood is one that will stay in the highlight reel. Kirkwood would state on X that it was 'fun to race' the Brit. Sowery was still yet to pit, but it was truly valiant that a part-time driver completely held his own over a multi-time winner in the series. Sowery would repeat that feat when he forced Nolan Siegel into a mistake later on, when the two would race on the same strategy.
Budget is a huge sticking point, but in Sowery's last chance to put himself in the shop window in 2024, he certainly did so to great avail. We've seen the likes of Linus Lundqvist do the same last season, maybe after how Sowery's shown himself in the most turbulent of all the entries, is he in the one who deserves that opportunity next?
Loser: Arrow McLaren
It has been a rough stretch of races for Arrow McLaren, and maybe Portland was the worst of them all. The team haven't had a top five finish since Pato O'Ward finished second at the first round in Iowa, and just one top ten since Toronto.
It was a bizarre weekend, where the papaya outfit would fare well in opening practice, but when it came to qualifying, it would crumble. O'Ward would finish 12th in Group 1, his worst qualifying since he spun at Mid-Ohio last year, and would qualifing 23nd, whilst Siegel finished one behing in 24th. Rossi would qualifying 18th.
Race day wouldn't be any better, all three cars were anonymous all day, bar Siegel having an off-track excursion racing Sowery, the cars coming in 12th, 15th and 21st at the flag respectively. It's not been the recent showing that many expected from Arrow McLaren, with their road course form being patchy throughout the year, despite O'Ward's victories in St. Petersburg and Mid-Ohio.
This had been a good venue for them in recent years, but have not made the step up against the competition. There's still chances left this year for them to salvage more back, but it's been an awful run of races, with Portland just compounding their woes, in a weekend where their performance couldn't quite be explained. O'Ward simply describing it as 'unacceptable.'
Loser: No.20 Ed Carpenter Racing
Portland has put the No.20 into a very difficult position for multiple reasons, and most frustratingly, it was somebody else's act of stupidity which has really cost them in the all-important battle for the Leaders Circle.
I feel for Christian Rasmussen. It's a day where potential for a decent result was on the cars, before Romain Grosjean ploughed into him as he unceremoniously drove across the racing line as he career into Rasmussen. Rasmussen's day would be done. And with oval races to close out the season, Rasmussen has no other chances to prove himself.
It's been a difficult year for the Dane, and maybe one where he hasn't quite shown his full capability. Silly season is at it's most rife, and with Rasmussen not being a driver with budget, it's seemingly ECR or nothing. Has he done enough to justify keeping a seat? It hangs in the balance.
And maybe more concerningly for Rasmussen, it's thrown them into a difficult spot for the leaders circle, as it sits on the cutline on the virtue of best results against, ironically, the No.78 Juncos Hollinger Racing of Conor Daly. Ed Carpenter, who will race the last three ovals of the year, has not been strong this season to date, and with Juncos clearly taking a step up on oval performance, particularly with Daly's expertise, this could become a major concern.
Carpenter will have to rely on all his experience, but the team have not looked quick by any means. It already looks an uphill battle if the team have any chance of securing that $1 Million bonus for being part of the 'Leaders Circle.'
Loser: Meyer Shank Racing
Meyer Shank Racing have clearly showed their clear upturn in form throughout the course of the 2024 season, but this certainly did not translate to Portland, where the team leave with underwhelming 14th and 20th placed results. It was a weekend they never seemed to get going, qualifying 19th and 20th, before Malukas was relegated to 25th with an engine penalty.
Malukas would try the alternate strategy, before providing himself with a clumsy penalty for not taking the required route through the opening chicane. Malukas would describe the weekend as one of 'mistakes and errors.' Rosenqvist simply described it as 'just not a great weekend.' It was the team's worst race day since the Indianapolis 500, and underwhelming 150th IndyCar appearance.
Things might look up heading into Milwaukee and Nashville though after a rough patch of races. The team have been particularly strong on ovals this season, and Malukas could well have won at Gateway if it had not been for his contact with Will Power. A good result there would certainly make up for a particularly underwhelming weekend at Portland.
Loser: The Hate Cauldron
Oh yeah, it was back. The infamous NBC 'hate cauldron,' made it's return on Sunday, as Kevin Lee, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe delved into all the driver fall-outs on track in recent races, with driver shirts of Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Romain Grosjean and Santino Ferrucci being stirred into the pot.
The one individual who they lay on top of the cauldron and 'rose above the conflict,' was unsurprisingly Palou. Palou was completely unaware of the meme but said he was glad 'he didn't have any issues,' after joking 'I've been I think in my own dramas in the past, maybe currently,' in reference to his contract debacle with Arrow McLaren.
The Hate Cauldron was a loser as there was nothing much to add to it in a more peaceful weekend. Colton Herta and Graham Rahal were upset at Nolan Siegel and Romain Grosjean in practice, and Scott Dixon wasn't too thrilled with Kyle Kirkwood, but certainly nothing to add to the cauldron.
Power said post-race that he 'gets mad very quickly, but gets over it very quickly,' highlighting his incident with Scott Dixon and Road America last season, and simply said 'when I'm mad, it looks worse.' Power was unhappy with many post-Gateway, but has since been wakesurfing with Newgarden and talked to Malukas immediately following St. Louis. Power's in a happy place, he emphatically shut down any retirement rumours and stated his satisfaction in media work, and getting to do it for a living. And he's rightly so, being the closest opponent to Álex Palou in the championship hunt.
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