“He’s (still) got the Power.”
Hey everyone, and welcome to another edition of Dre’s Race Review, and it’s been a newsworthy week in the world of IndyCar. We have a new partial owner on the board, we had Will Power stave off the unthinkable idea of a Penske-winless season, and Alex Palou clinched his fourth IndyCar Series Championship in five years. Let’s get into it.
Under New Management
In a story that didn’t get the traction I felt it should have last week, IndyCar announced that Roger Penske had sold a 33% stake of the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to FOX Sports. Reportedly, the deal was worth between $125-135m. Everyone in IndyCar obviously jumped up and down in glee with excitement that FOX Sports showed their “commitment” to the series by stumping up a large amount of cash. Me… *sighs*
First of all, am I the only one who was slightly concerned that the purchase values the entire IndyCar Series AND one of the most iconic and legendary tracks in the world at just $400 million?! The land alone that the track sits on would be worth a significant chunk of that money. It reminded me of Top Gear’s Italian Supercar challenge when Jeremy Clarkson brags “Yeah, Maserati Merak SS*, the guy just spent £10,000 rebuilding the engine… sold the whole car for 7! Says a lot about what the rest of it’s worth!1”
THAT’S NOT A BRAG. Sports franchises have exploded in value in the last few years. The Celtics had the biggest sale in Sports history for $6 billion less than a year ago, alongside the Lakers being valued at $10 billion when Jeanie Buss sold her stake after Le Mans. Now, Josef Newgarden is no Kobe Bryant, but this feels cheap.
Also, I’m not sure I feel good about a TV Network having that kind of influence and ownership on a Motorsport series. Juggling the delicate balance between sport and entertainment is a very, very tricky thing, and I’m not entirely convinced that Year 1 of FOX has been any better than what came before. Having IndyNXT on TV has been fun, we’ve added a drone here and there, but beyond throwing the house at the 500, which never needed the promotional help to begin with, it’s been at times, a frustrating, samey watching experience2. And now they own a third of a series, what is FOX’s long term play for the growth of IndyCar? What’s the plan beyond moving your calendar around so you don’t mess with football?
It reminds me a lot of the cheek of Sky Sports when they did a 2023 documentary talking about European Soccer’s attempts to form a breakaway league and how bad it was… until it sinks in that Sky’s £300m gamble in 1992 was what led to the Premier League, a breakaway, in the first place. “See, this is bad, but when we did it, we changed football forever!”
Look, I’ll be real with you – I’m just a writer. It’s not my job to improve IndyCar, as much as I want it to be the best series it can be. But this has been a frustrating season to watch as a relatively neutral fan, so much so, I’m not sure I want more of what FOX has served. But alas, here we are. Just keep it quiet and don’t invite anymore Barstool influencers and keep it moving.
Power Surge
As for the race itself, it was a very interesting tactical affair early on. We had a split at the top. Christian Rasmussen was a Primary tire starter after dropping from pole to 7th via an engine penalty. As was Palou, who just needed to lose less than 14 points to Pato to take the title. The Top 3 on the grid as they ran, Pato, Felix Rosenqvist and Will Power, all started on the Alternate tire and wanted to take advantage of what was going to be a red tire race, with temperatures in the 90’s*. The Alternate turned out to be anywhere from 0.5-1 second a lap faster depending on wear, and it was the race tire of choice. When we had a huge smash between Conor Daly and Christian Rasmussen (More on that later), most of the field came in to switch tires, except for Will Power.
It led to a carbon copy of last year’s Portland race, where Power had alternates to burn in open air ahead of Alex Palou, who decided to take his Primary stint early and have the race come to him later. Power pulled out an 11 second lead before stopping, and in doing so, came out ahead of the already stopped Rosenqvist and took the net lead. With Pato O’Ward out via a burnt-out ECU, Power was now in front, with Christian Lundgaard giving chase, with the big kickers behind being that Lundgaard had one more set of brand new reds compared to Power’s used set and alternate stint still to run, with Palou 20 seconds behind but with only red tire stints left.
And with Power’s final stop putting him directly behind a blocking Marcus Ericsson trying to stay on the lead lap, it bunched the three main protagonists up. But Power held his nerve, passed the traffic when he needed to and managed what turned out to be a flawless victory, a tactical masterpiece, and Penske dodging the bullet of what could have been their first winless season since 1999.
What added extra significance to this race, was the prevailing rumours surfacing that Will Power might be out of Penske at the end of the season. They reached fever pitch during the weekend, with Power openly discussing that he may not get an extension, with David Malukas the favourite to take his seat for 2026 being the theory of many for most of the season. It didn’t help that the Lithuanian-American driver was dressed in Gallagher gear for the weekend, normally a Scott McLaughlin livery.
Now I’ve not had a chance to talk about this rumour mill for most of the season until now, so here’s my take – Roger Penske is a fool if he chooses to replace Will Power right now. I get some of the arguments why. A re-signing takes Power to at least his Age 45 season, around the age he told Helio Castroneves to kick rocks, and Helio was fourth outright in 2017 when he was demoted to a 500-only entrant. If you think Power is done at the highest level, now might be a good time to pull the cord. But that is blatantly not the case when you look at Team Penske right now.
Across their garage, Josef Newgarden is in the middle of his worst IndyCar season and even if you give him the benefit of the doubt for 2025 (He has had some hellacious bad luck), he has not been the juggernaut he’s been in years past. Scott McLaughlin’s rough season is a lot more self-inflicted and arguably even more surprising given he should have been right in title contention last year. He sits 11th and nearly 350 points behind Palou.
The best Penske in the team right now is William Steven Power, who has been a man of calm, rational, and generally more stable performances and is good value for his 6th in the standings. It’s not amazing by any stretch, but it’s an important role in a team that’s been reigned in the fires of chaos and scandal for the last two years. A true Penske in a team that’s lost some of its identity in recent seasons.
And even if you wanted to push Power towards the door… David Malukas is not ready for that jump in my opinion. He’s got talent, no doubt about that, he should have at least one IndyCar win by now with some of his short oval prowess. You can see elements of his potential at times. But he’s not the complete package yet, and his 10th in the standings is held up massively on his promoted second at the 500, and his fourth at Iowa Race 2 (Not to mention his error in Race 1 from when he was in a contending spot).
I think Malukas is the unfortunate symptom of a very young and over-excited Gen Z fanbase that Malukas has fostered since coming into the series, the emotional fallout of his poor treatment by McLaren when he was chosen to be the driver of the #6 car, and the constant narrative from Motorsport fans who always get an itch to see the younger, more “exciting” driver get promoted up the ladder, even when it doesn’t actually make that much sense.
I like Malukas, but he needs at least another year of seasoning before thinking about a top-tier seat. This year has proven what I said last year, if Penske needed an oven-ready replacement for the #12, it missed the boat in not tying down Christian Lundgaard, who’s now in orange and still has a chance of a Top 3 Championship finish in his first season in a challenging team. And remember, Lundgaard is almost as experienced in terms of starts as Malukas. That’s your yardstick. If Penske wants Malukas that badly, why not just open up a fourth car again and have him pay for it as an open runner? It’s not like his family is lacking funds. Put your money where your mouths are? Otherwise, I think Malukas is just fine where he is at Foyt as a future option and nothing more.
I think everyone at Penske deserves another year and a chance to establish themselves in a new leadership era for the team. But I think seeing Will Power make a statement win like that and then being shown the door in three weeks time would be a very silly move. But this is IndyCar after all, stranger shit has happened.
Palou’s Coronation
The moment Pato O’Ward’s McLaren had to be parked for eight agonising laps due to a blown ECU, Alex Palou was more or less IndyCar Champion right then and there. It was only third on the day for the Champion-elect, but it was another example of just how incredible he has been when needed. He was basically told after half-distance “Make up 20 seconds on Will Power at half-distance to win the race”, and he did. Wild.
But none of that matters now. Palou has won the Championship, two rounds early. It’s his fourth IndyCar Championship in five years and now he has a 500 victory to boot. If he retires tomorrow, he does so as one of IndyCar’s greatest, regardless of era for the sheer reign of terror he’s put on the field. Think about it, if it wasn’t for the legal dispute of his own making in 2022, he might have five in a row. Truly a Planet X level of accomplishment for you Balatro fans out there.
But to put it into even greater context, you need to remember one thing. Portland was Palou’s 96th start in the series. These are his major stats:
19 Wins, 42 Podiums, 56 Top 5’s, 11 Pole Positions (1 Indy 500 Pole), 4 Championships, 1 Indy 500 Win
This is obscene. It’s extra-terrestrial. And don’t forget, his first season was with Dale Coyne. If you take just his fives seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing, he has an average finish of 6.013, with a 67% chance of finishing a race in the Top 5. A 23% chance to win. In a glorified spec series, that is RIDICULOUS. He is essentially the new Dario Franchitti, and I wasn’t sure that guy was ever going to be replicated in the 10 car.
For all of those crossover Motorsport fans who mentioned Formula 1 and going for it over there – That ship has sailed. Palou had a biblical 2023 season right when F1 had its most volatile silly season, 5 wins with an Average Finish of 3.7, and F1 teams barely batted an eye for the then 26-year old. The days of talent like Michael Andretti and Jacques Villeneuve being gambled on are over when the series has its own highly successful Road to F1 ladder in Europe.
Alex Palou has moved on from that dream. He’s settled now in the United States, now with a daughter with his wife, Esther. It’s about time we do the same. Palou doesn’t need to be in F1 to prove how great he is, his record speaks for itself, against a superb IndyCar field, many of whom at some point, we also begged to see in F1, ala Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden. I’m not going to argue with you if you think F1 is the pinnacle of Motorsport, there’s many a case for it. But you don’t have to be in it in order to earn the respect of anyone who knows their wheel. Palou is absolutely one of those people.
And one more terrifying fact. A 44-year old just won this race. Alex Palou is 28. There’s 15 more years of this in him if he wants it. Just what on earth is his final career going to look like if this man is the Scott Dixon regen he very much looks like?!
It’s Alex Palou’s world. We’re just living in it.
The Lightning Round
If your first thought upon seeing Alex Palou’s domination of IndyCar was: “We need a Playoff system because the last two races don’t mean anything”, please kick rocks. The NASCAR Playoff system is the biggest joke in Motorsport and people like Shane Van Gisbergen4, despite being incredible in Road Courses, are proving why it’s ripe for exploitation.
I don’t say this term lightly – Conor Daly and Christian Rasmussen both need to be parked for Milwaukee for their idiotic “driving” early on in that race. Rasmussen ran Daly off the road and that should have been penalised, but both men rejoined dangerously and Daly nearly pinned Rasmussen against the wall. Daly retaliates again by a contact-induced divebomb at the apex of Turn 1 in a move he knew full well wasn’t on. And then they collide at 150mph at Turn 10, with Daly sent careening into the outside wall at speed.
While I’m glad Daly is okay, he is not without blame in that one. His move around the outside of Turn 10 was ambitious at best, he absolutely pinches Rasmussen against the apex (He didn’t leave a car width in my opinion), with the Dane likely too stubborn to back off and induce the contact that sent Daly flying. Both men were colossally stupid, and both know better. I know Daly will get more of a “pass” because of popularity in the series, but he is just as much to blame for the clear “redmist” driving we’d bury Max Verstappen for doing in Barcelona. PS: Whoever was on the radio saying Daly ran out of talent there, is embarrassing. All that fighting for 20th place. Man…
PS x2: Kyle Novak saying “No Further Action” on Rasmussen off the back of that was embarrassing too. And taking a page out of F1’s copybook by allowing drivers to run others four wheels off like Lundgaard did to Palou late on is not the page you want to be stealing, I promise. That’s why F1 stewarding’s in the shitter right now too. And while you’re at it, why didn’t you throw a caution when Josef Newgarden was pointing the wrong way FOR A FULL MINUTE. Did we learn nothing from Laguna Seca? This shit is dangerous, cut it out.
Felix Rosenqvist lost control of a race he likely should have won because he was stuck behind… Jacob Abel and Sting Ray Robb. Jeez.
One day, Kyle Kirkwood’s 2025 IndyCar season will be featured on a Secret Base episode of “Collapse”. If you know, you know.
Another day of the underdog – Graham Rahal with his best IndyCar performance outside of Indiana in years via a P4 finish, Alex Rossi’s first race with Ed Carpenter as his strategist leads to 5th and his best result since last year’s Laguna Seca race, and Callum Illot going off sequence again and finishing 6th. All three men who badly needed a result, got them. And a fun bonus fact: If Prema were eligible for charters and hence, Leader’s Circle money, Illot’s sixth would have taken him into the magical 22nd place over Louis Foster, by two points.
Also, Will Buxton was trying so hard at the end to tee up the monologue finish as Will Power hit the line. Very Alex Jacques… just Jacques is better at it, bless him.
The Verdict: 6/10 (Decent) – A mad first portion of the race, followed by another inevitable IndyCar dirty air, train like finish at the end with Power content to sit behind Ericsson and box Lundgaard in. Ultimately, a pretty good race, but nothing too crazy to write home about. See you in Milwaukee.
- Never forget the fact that the owner also spent £38 putting a vanity SS badge on the car. I get they clearly left that in for a joke in the episode, but you ever get the impression that Clarkson was straight up conned on that one? ↩︎
- Only fair I mention to counter-act this that James Hinchcliffe, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey have been very good this season and add a whole lot to their respective broadcasts, and Kevin Lee is as good as anyone is in Motorsport today. ↩︎
- General rule of thumb in IndyCar? An average finish of 8 or less should put you in title contention. SIX is insanity. ↩︎
- I love me some SvG, but the man’s average finish being 22 this season says to me he probably shouldn’t be competing in a playoff race. Almost like Trackhouse deliberately hired him to game the system or something… ↩︎
