Portland, OR – Team Penske’s Will Power won his third race of the season after starting on the front row alongside the polesitter, AJ Foyt’s Santino Ferrucci. Power took the lead heading into the first turn by out braking Ferrucci through the infamous Festival Curve section on the 1.964-mile, 12-turn Portland International Raceway road course.
The Australian dominated the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland by leading 101 of the 110-lap race, only losing the lead during his three pit stops. Power, who won his first Portland event in 2019, finished 9.82 seconds ahead of second place Alex Palou, with his teammate Josef Newgarden in third.
“This win is very rewarding,” said Power, who now sits second in the title fight (trailing Palou by 54 points) after wins at Road America and Iowa race two. “I came into this race determined and the team executed perfectly. I’m lucky to drive for this team and have such great sponsors as Verizon and Chevy. I love this series. We’ll see if we can get a championship. We’ve been very solid on ovals and will take the fight to Alex (Palou). This is such a competitive series. Anyone can win in INDYCAR. We just have to be on our toes.”
Chip Ganassi’s Palou earned his third podium at Portland (previously won in 2021 and 2023) but did not have the pace to catch Power.
“The team did a great job,” stated Palou, who started third in the final road course event of the season. “But maybe we were a bit wrong with our strategy. We went too aggressive in qualifying yesterday and did not have any really good alternate (tires) to use in the race. I thought the primary and the alternates were going to be closer (in performance). It was a tough, hard race. We had a lot of pace on the primary tires but we couldn’t fight too much.”
Newgarden was never in position to challenge Palou, although it would have helped Power’s championship chances to take points away.
“We were a top three today,” explained Newgarden, coming off a win last weekend at the World Wide Technology short oval. “I don’t like to finish in third but it was a good day for Team Penske. You always want more. I want to win every race we’re in. I felt like the red (tires) were a little stronger for us and that ended up being the case. Lap traffic was hard today. We just couldn’t make much happen in that middle stint and that’s probably what slowed our progress in getting to the No. 10.”
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Ferrucci nipped Power by a tenth of a second to earn his first career pole, driving the AJ Foyt Racing No. 14 Chevrolet with a lap time of 58.2046 seconds. It was the first pole for the Foyt team since 2014, when Takuma Sato won the pole in St. Petersburg and at the second race in Detroit on Belle Isle.
“This is definitely one of the greatest days of my career,” said Ferrucci. “In qualifying, it’s so tight. This series is so incredibly talented. It is such a feat for us and the team, and shows how hard we’ve been working. I’m not known for being the best qualifier. We rolled off the trailer amazing. It’s been a year of hard work and progression. We’ve showed some real speed at certain times and it feels great to put it together.”
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AJ Foyt Racing has a technical alliance with Team Penske this season. Power, who has earned the most poles of any driver, with 70, admitted that he gets along well with Ferrucci and would talk to him about the start, treating him like a teammate.
“Santino and I talked about Turn 1,” revealed Power. “He braked a little early and drove me clean. From there it was a pretty straightforward race. We had a better car on red tires than Palou. It was green for a long time.”
There was only one caution during the race, for four laps, when there was contact in the chicanes on the first lap, involving Turns 7 and 8, when Kyle Kirkwood made contact with Scott Dixon. As Dixon came back on the track, he hit Pietro Fittipaldi, who received an avoidable contact penalty. Dixon felt the penalty should have gone to Kirkwood. The Kiwi was unable to continue, finishing 28th, and only earned five points. That dropped Dixon to fifth in the title fight.
Power earned 53 points (50 for the win, two points for leading the most laps, and one point for leading a lap) and is now 54 points behind Palou. With three races left, all on ovals with the doubleheader at Milwaukee and the season finale at Nashville, there are 162 points possible. Power, the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner, has captured two titles, 2014 and 2022, and is fighting for a third at age 43.
Palou leaves Portland with 484 points, followed by Power with 430, Colton Herta 417, Scott McLaughlin 396, and Dixon ranked fifth with 383 points. Although Palou has never won on an oval, at worst he can earn five points for finishing last, assuming he starts the race. Anything can happen in the next three races.
