IndyCar Series leader Alex Palou's bid to become a three-time champion was furthered on Sunday when he finished fourth in Toronto, despite starting on the ninth row of the grid.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who entered the race with a 35-point lead over Team Penske’s Will Power, left Canada with an increased margin of 49 points over the Australian.
Power damaged his own title hopes by crashing into his team-mate Scott McLaughlin, earning him a late drive-through penalty when both were running ahead of the Spaniard.
Although Power remains in reach of Palou after finishing 12th, McLaughlin’s exit into the wall puts him 83 points in arrears.
That also allowed Toronto dominator Colton Herta to jump to fourth in points, 57 behind Palou, with the Andretti Global driver not ruling out a late run for the championship.
Palou’s team-mate Scott Dixon leapt to third in the title chase, having charged from 15th to third, but gained only four on Palou overall.
Dixon admitted that such a net gain was “frustrating” given that Palou started from even further back in 18th after he was penalised for impeding Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward in qualifying.
Although Palou didn’t make the headway that Dixon managed via his aggressive overcut strategy across the two rounds of pitstops, he ended up just seven tenths behind at the finish after a sequence of late cautions for crashes, many of which gifted him track positions.
“We were just there and waiting for somebody else to make those mistakes,” said Palou of his stealthy drive to pick off positions. “So, I needed it, and they did [make mistakes] today.
“It was a shame that we had to start from 18th. The car was amazing, super-fast, super easy to drive. So, we finished in the top four, three [Ganassi] cars in the top five for the team.”
When asked if he’d change his mindset for the title run-in – which comprises five races over the final four rounds at the Gateway oval, Portland, a Milwaukee double-header and Nashville's oval after the Olympic break – he replied: “No, absolutely not.
“The goal is still the same, to win as many races as possible. There’s still a lot of points to play for, so we need to keep doing what we're doing.
“It’s going to be good to recharge the batteries a little bit now before we’re ready to push for the last couple of races.”
Although Dixon’s fourth podium of the season improved his overall standing in relation to Palou, he pointed to outside circumstances that have hindered his own challenge.
“Some people cleared out of his way in the last 10 laps for him,” sighed Dixon, referring to the three spots Palou gained thanks to the intra-Penske clash and then O’Ward’s spin that led to a vicious accident and red flag.
“I wouldn't say it's good fortune. They do a hell of a job. That's why he's won two championships in the last three years.
“I don't want to take anything away from that. You create a lot of your own good luck. They do a good job of that.
“We'll keep fighting here. I think without our tyre issue at Road America and the [hybrid] problem at Mid-Ohio, we would maybe be leading the championship.
“It's frustrating, but you can't do anything about those situations. It's out of your control.
“We'll keep our head down here. I think this time last year we were 120 points back, we closed it to 60 or 70 [78 by the end of the season].
“They're a tough team. I see all they do, and they do it well. But until we're out of it, we're never going to give up.”
