Once again, the NTT INDYCAR championship will be decided at its final race, hosted this year at the Nashville Superspeedway’s 1.33-mile oval. Alex Palou is leading Will Power by 33 points, 525 to 492. Since unification in 2008, the title fight has been decided at the season finale with only one exception – when Palou clinched his second title one race early, at Portland, with a victory last year.
There have been seven different winners in 2024, but some years there have been as many as 11, showing just how competitive the INDYCAR Series truly is. This season, Chip Ganassi Racing has won four races to Team Penske’s nine victories.
These same two teams always seem to execute on race weekends, Ganassi with 15 titles and Penske with 17. With the new tire requirement for Nashville, using one set of Firestone primaries and two sets of the alternate tires that will degrade much faster, calling the right strategy will be paramount.
While cars can likely travel at least 70 miles using their 18.5-gallon capacity of Shell E85 fuel on the Nashville oval, about 52 laps, the softer alternate tires may fade much sooner. The time differential for a pit stop can be over 30 seconds and cause a driver to go one to two laps down. Strategists calling the right number of pit stops and at the most advantageous times, such as under caution, will be key.
“We really don’t know how the tires are going to perform,” revealed Barry Wanser, senior manager of operations for Chip Ganassi Racing and strategist for the No. 10 DHL Honda, driven by Palou. “We have six sets of primaries and four sets of alternates. There’s no INDYCAR usage guidelines for us except that we must run two sets of alternates and one set of primaries in the race. That means we can use as many tires as we want in practice.
“We can choose which tires we want to qualify on,” he continued. “Then we can choose which tires to race on. You could have the alternate tire be the favourite tire or the primary, but if you have one tire that’s least preferred, that’s when you can start having some different strategies play out throughout the race.”
Team Penske’s No. 12 Verizon Chevy car, driven by Power, earned the 2024 Firestone Pit Stop Performance award for taking the least amount of accumulated time on pit lane.
“You spend so much time on pit lane these days, and it’s so difficult,” expressed Ron Ruzewski, Managing Director for Team Penske and Power’s race strategist. “Whenever you can have that confidence that you’ve got the best guys servicing the car, it takes one of the variables out of your mind. You’re almost expecting perfection each time.
“That group has been working together for a long time,” he continued. “We’re fortunate all three of our pit crews are really strong. It gives the driver confidence as well. Just knowing that every time he comes in, he has a chance to at least maintain if not pick up positions, it radiates through the whole group.”
Every pit stop requires a total team effort from all members over the wall. No one wants to be the one to make a mistake and lose the title. Racing is truly a team sport, where you win or lose as a team. The driver and team have so much at stake, carrying the hopes of the hard-working crew, sponsors, friends, and family. Everyone must maintain their focus and composure under immense pressure.
“Regardless of how excited drivers are on the radio or in events that are out of their control, those of us on the stand need to help manage those emotions,” said Wanser. “That’s something that I’ve always been able to do. The group of us, Julian Robertson (Race Engineer), Brian Welling (Veteran Assistant Engineer, Performance Engineer), and Ricky Davis (Crew Chief), we’re constantly talking about strategy, about what might happen, what we would do if this happened, and it goes pretty smooth. Alex just does what we ask him to do. A lot of times he does more than that.”
While it is possible to secure the title if Power finishes first, second or third, to do so would require a terrible result for Palou to earn the minimum points (25th – 27th earns five points each). There are a maximum of 54 points possible – 50 for the win, 40 for second, and 35 for third place, etc. A bonus of two points goes to the driver leading the most laps and one point for the pole and leading a lap.
“It’s honestly been a pretty up-and-down season,” explained Ruzewski. “Team Penske has had a lot of success this year. We have won a lot of races, but we’ve split them up between a bunch of drivers, which doesn’t help for the points. Any time you can go into the last race with a chance, you have done something right. We would like to be in a little bit better situation than we are. We’re going to give it our best this weekend, and hopefully have something for the Ganassi folks.”
Power, 43, struggled last year and was winless, distracted by his wife, Liz’s, health issues. This year he has returned in great form and focus, with three wins to Palou’s two victories.
“Ultimately, we need all of our cars to finish in front of Alex,” revealed Ruzewski. “Having a good day overall is a benefit to us just trying to take points away. But we need seven or eight other cars to have a good day as well, assuming that Alex has some struggles.
“The biggest thing is that we can use the No. 3 (Scott McLaughlin) and the No. 2 (Josef Newgarden) for information,” continued Ruzewski. “You have three world-class drivers there. The practice sessions are short. There are different tires. We’re trying to maximize the information from the practice to understand and get a feeling for degradation. All three of our guys work really well together. It’s been a strength, especially on the ovals the last couple of years. Set-ups aren’t too different. I expect them all to work really well together this weekend.”
The strategy for Palou, 27, won’t be to play it safe to earn just enough points to clinch. Should Power earn all 54 possible points, Palou would only need 17 points to win the championship by finishing 9th or better.
“We don’t points race,” said Wanser. “We race to win because if we’re points racing, then that affects the strategy. We want to run up front and run a leader strategy, with the goal of finishing as far forward as possible. If you can’t finish first, finish second. If you can’t finish second, finish third. That’s how we’re going into the weekend.”
Power has earned two titles already, in 2014 and 2022, and has 43 career wins (including the 2018 Indianapolis 500) in 301 starts, ranking him fourth in all-time victories. Additionally, his 70 poles, having exceeded Mario Andretti’s record of 67, makes him the fastest driver ever. Conversely, Palou joined INDYCAR with Dale Coyne Racing in 2020 and has spent his last four seasons at Ganassi, earning 11 victories in 80 starts, including the 2021 and 2023 titles.
“We’ve both been at this for a while (as opposing team strategists),” said Ruzewski. “However it works out, it always comes down to battling each other one way or another. We can’t count out Scott Dixon. Then Ganassi hires this other guy that’s equally as good, if not better on certain days. Alex is an extremely formidable competitor. Not yet winning an oval in my mind is just a matter of circumstances. He’s been more than good enough to win a number of times on the ovals.
“Alex is the complete racer right now,” Ruzewski continued. “He takes a bad day and makes it a good day by putting himself in a position to capitalize on luck. You can’t bet against those guys. I’m going into the weekend with hope. We just have to have a perfect weekend, and then at that point it’s up to them to lose.”
Being the final race of the season, with an unprecedented number of undecided seats for next year (10 to 12), the non-title contenders have their last chance before the long off-season to perform their best in the hopes of job security. And those 25 drivers won’t be worried about the two title contenders.
Who will win the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix presented by Gainbridge at Nashville? It’s INDYCAR. Anything can happen.
