Winners and Losers From NTT IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Portland

• Another win means Alex Palou will be able to enjoy what has become an IndyCar race-winning tradition for him, namely, enjoying fried chicken in his post-win celebratory dinner.

• Alexander Rossi enjoyed his best finish—and his first podium—of the season with a second-place showing, followed by Scott Dixon, Jack Harvey and Josef Newgarden.

• With two races left in the season, Palou now has a 25-point edge over Pato O’Ward, who came into Portland at the top of the rankings. With his disappointing 14th-place finish Sunday, O’Ward drops back to second place. Josef Newgarden moved up to third place, 34 points behind Palou.

The city of Portland better make sure it has one heck of a great fried chicken joint stay open late on Sunday night.

Alex Palou, who struggled in his last two races—27th at Indianapolis and 20th at Gateway—roared to his now series-leading third win of the season in Sunday’s IndyCar Grand Prix of Portland race at Portland International Raceway.

In so doing, Palou will be able to enjoy what has become a race-winning tradition for him, namely, enjoying fried chicken in his post-win celebratory dinner. Forget steak, champagne or even caviar, as they might say in the South, the Spaniard is a big fan of fried chicken!

But even more importantly, Palou, who crashed in Friday’s practice and avoided a major wreck in the first turn of the opening lap Sunday, returns to the top spot in the IndyCar point standings after dropping behind Pato O’Ward heading into Portland.

“We kept our heads down,” Palou told NBC Sports after the race. “We knew the race was real long and I cannot believe it, we made it. The guys gave me the numbers and we followed it.”

Palou came into the race with a nine-point deficit behind O’Ward but leaves Portland with a 25-point advantage with two races to go: next Sunday at Laguna Seca and two weeks from now at Long Beach.

“I don’t care much about the points at the moment,” Palou said. “I just think the race we did today was amazing. With all the bad luck we had, we still won. I’m proud about that. Fried chicken tonight!”

Alexander Rossi enjoyed his best finish – and his first podium – of the season with a second-place showing, followed by Scott Dixon, Jack Harvey and Josef Newgarden.

“It worked out for us,” Dixon said. “It was a weird start to the day and thankful it ended up paying off for us.”

As it stands, Palou now has a 25-point edge over Pato O’Ward, who came into Portland at the top of the rankings. With his disappointing 14th-place finish Sunday, O’Ward drops back to second place.

Josef Newgarden moved up to third place, 34 points behind Palou. Dixon, the defending series champion, dropped slightly from third to fourth, from 42 to 49 points back, while Marcus Ericsson is 75 points back.

Ericsson, who was the lowest-ranked of the top five competitors remaining, finished seventh Sunday, leaving him still mathematically in the championship game. But he also runs the risk of being eliminated if he fails to finish with at least a top-five showing next week at Laguna Seca.

Rounding out the top 10 in Sunday’s race were Felix Rosenqvist (sixth), Ericsson, Colton Herta, rookie Scott McLaughlin and Graham Rahal.

Meanwhile, the other six drivers who were still mathematically in the hunt for the championship – but a far distant place in the rankings coming into Portland – are now all eliminated: Colton Herta, Graham Rahal, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Takuma Sato and Rinus Veekay.

Turn 1 Fun and Games

Portland is known for its notorious first turn, which has seen numerous incidents in its now three IndyCar races held since 2018. Sunday’s opening lap once again proved to be problematic, leading to a significant incident that involved multiple cars.

Entering the right-hand turn on Turn 1, Felix Rosenqvist made contact with Scott Dixon and overshot the turn, while Dixon and teammate Alex Palou were forced into the runoff area. Both drivers were able to collect their cars and continued on.