At the Olympics Break, Alex Palou Is Five Races from Third IndyCar Championship

• Thanks to the Olympics, the NTT IndyCar series is on the back burner until resuming action on Aug. 17.

• Alex Palou is leading the point standings in his bid for a third championship in four seasons.

• With 411 points, Palou leads Will Power (362), Scott Dixon (358), Colton Herta (354) and Pato O’Ward (340).

That noise you hear isn’t an auto racing engine. It’s fireworks at the Olympics.

With NBC’s cameras focused on swimmers, basketball players and gymnasts, the Paris games have shut down activity in the two major motorsports series in the United States. It’s an extended vacation for the IndyCar Series, which resumes Aug. 17 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, and the NASCAR Cup Series, idle until an Aug. 11 date at Richmond Raceway in Virginia.

When IndyCar returns to action next month, drivers and teams face a five-race sprint to the finale at Nashville Superspeedway Sept. 15 and the naming of a 2024 champion. The remaining schedule: WWTR Aug. 17, Portland Aug. 25, Milwaukee Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 and Nashville Sept. 15.

Alex Palou is leading the point standings in his bid for a third championship in four seasons. With 411 points, Palou leads Will Power (362), Scott Dixon (358), Colton Herta (354) and Pato O’Ward (340).

Palou leads the series despite some issues in recent races. He lost a shot at winning at Mid-Ohio July 7 when he was slow to put his car in gear leaving the pits on the final stop. Another problem in the pits July 13 at Iowa Speedway dropped him from the top five to a 23rd-place finish. He rallied from 18th to finish fourth at Toronto.

Of the five drivers at the top of the standings, veteran Dixon owns the most impressive record at the four remaining venues and shouldn’t be overlooked in his bid for a seventh series championship.

Dixon owns two wins at Gateway in Madison, Illinois and scored three straight victories (2006, 2007, 2008) at Nashville Superspeedway. He has a trio of third-place finishes at Portland and a win at Milwaukee. Twice a winner this season, Dixon has finishes of fourth, fourth and third in the past three races.

Palou has two wins at Portland but has a best finish of seventh at Gateway and hasn’t run at Milwaukee or on the Nashville concrete surface.

Other than Dixon, Power is the only driver in the top five with experience at the four remaining tracks. He has won at Gateway, Portland and Milwaukee. Power has finished outside the top 10 in three of the past four races this season.

Herta, who led 81 of 85 laps in winning at Toronto, and O’Ward, who crashed at Toronto, also will be making their debuts at Milwaukee and Nashville. Herta has a best finish of fourth at both Gateway and Portland. O’Ward has four podium finishes at Gateway and a best finish of fourth at Portland.

The Milwaukee track, which opened in 1903 and has hosted 113 Indy-style races, is returning to the schedule for the first time since 2015. And the Nashville track replaces competition on the streets of Music City, where construction projects prevented racing this season. There is the possibility that IndyCar will return to a Nashville street course in the future.

The Nashville season-ender will mark the first time IndyCar has decided its championship on an oval track in a decade.