The Grand Prix of Portland will be the 28th IndyCar race to take place on the 1.964-mile road course in Portland, OR., that was won last year by eventual champion Alex Palou in his Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda. He scored the victory from his first ever IndyCar pole position but his was by no means a straightforward flag-to-flag triumph; Palou and teammate Scott Dixon were penalized for missing the chicane at the start of the race while avoiding a potential accident, and had to slice through the field from the mid-teens to finish first and third.
There are seven drivers still mathematically eligible for the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series championship with two races to go. Will Power leads Team Penske-Chevrolet teammate Josef Newgarden by 3 points, chased by Ganassi’s Dixon (-14), Marcus Ericsson (-17) and Palou (-43), with third Penske driver Scott McLaughlin (-54) and Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet’s Pato O’Ward (-58) in sixth and seventh. The three points that separate Will Power and Josef Newgarden is IndyCar’s closest margin between the top two drivers with two races remaining since 2008. The 43 points separating the top five drivers in the championship is the tightest title chase since 2003.
