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IndyCar Nashville: Palou secures title after early Power troubles, Herta takes maiden oval win

Alex Palou has defended his IndyCar Series crown to claim a third overall title, while Colton Herta charged to a maiden oval victory at Nashville Superspeedway.

Knowing main championship rival Will Power needed to finish on the podium to put pressure on the Chip Ganassi driver, Palou’s route to the title was made easier when the Team Penske driver was forced to pit early after a seatbelt came loose.

That put Power five laps down and he was only able to recover to finish 24th, meaning Palou’s low-key 11th place sealed the title in the season finale.

The Spaniard has become a three-time champion, and is also the first driver to go back-to-back since Dario Franchitti pulled off three in a row from 2009-11. Palou, at 27 years old, becomes the second-youngest three-time champion in the series’ history, behind Sam Hornish Jr.

At the front, Herta’s late charge featured a thrilling battle with Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward as the pair pushed through lapped traffic.

Once David Malukas pitted on lap 201, it put O’Ward and Herta in a fight for the lead.

Colton Herta, Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

O’Ward held the advantage out front until the two came up to Sting Ray Robb. O’Ward was forced to the high side on Robb, which allowed Herta to dive to the bottom and make an inside pass to seize the lead.

In the end, Herta was able to take the win by 1.8106s over O’Ward at the 1.33-mile oval, marking his first IndyCar oval triumph and, coupled with Power’s lowly finish, it has pushed Herta into second place in the final championship standings.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden finished third, with polesitter Kyle Kirkwood taking fourth for Andretti ahead of another Team Penske driver, Scott McLaughlin, in fifth.

AJ Foyt’s Santino Ferrucci came home in sixth ahead of Marcus Armstrong for Chip Ganassi, as Meyer Shank’s Malukas took ninth after his late-race gamble on a caution.

Jucos Hollinger’s Conor Daly rounded out the top 10 just ahead of title winner Palou.

IndyCar Nashville - Race results

   
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Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval Mph Pits Points Retirement
1 United States C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian 26 206

1:43'15.2534

  185.722 4    
2 Mexico P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren 5 206

+1.8106

1:43'17.0640

1.8106 185.623 4    
3 United States J. Newgarden Team Penske 2 206

+1.9611

1:43'17.2145

0.1505 194.656 4    
4 United States K. Kirkwood Andretti Global 27 206

+4.7175

1:43'19.9709

2.7564 187.691 4    
5 New Zealand S. McLaughlin Team Penske 3 206

+7.7837

1:43'23.0371

3.0662 173.046 4    
6 United States S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises 14 206

+9.2336

1:43'24.4870

1.4499 167.608 4    
7 New Zealand M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing 11 206

+14.3870

1:43'29.6404

5.1534 176.437 3    
8 Sweden L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing 8 206

+14.6519

1:43'29.9053

0.2649 175.770 4    
9 United States D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing 66 206

+15.2726

1:43'30.5260

0.6207 175.991 4    
10 United States C. Daly Juncos Hollinger Racing 78 205

+1 Lap

1:43'18.9149

1 Lap 187.143 3    
11 Spain A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing 10 205

+1 Lap

1:43'29.5905

10.6756 177.922 4    
12 Netherlands R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing 21 205

+1 Lap

1:43'32.1299

2.5394 184.374 5    
13 United Kingdom J. Harvey Dale Coyne Racing 18 205

+1 Lap

1:43'34.0733

1.9434 154.691 3    
14
C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing
20 205

+1 Lap

1:43'34.5803

0.5070 182.762 4    
15 United States A. Rossi Arrow McLaren 7 205

+1 Lap

1:43'37.8089

3.2286 184.963 4    
16 France R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing 77 204

+2 Laps

1:43'25.4584

1 Lap 187.905 4    
17 New Zealand S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 9 204

+2 Laps

1:43'27.8090

2.3506 186.394 3    
18
N. Siegel Arrow McLaren
6 204

+2 Laps

1:43'29.2187

1.4097 176.370 4    
19 Denmark C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 45 204

+2 Laps

1:43'31.2500

2.0313 173.186 4    
20
R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises
41 204

+2 Laps

1:43'31.4682

0.2182 162.043 3    
21 Brazil P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 30 204

+2 Laps

1:43'33.6153

2.1471 182.417 5    
22 United States K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing 4 202

+4 Laps

1:43'20.9025

2 Laps 185.306 5    
23 United States G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 15 202

+4 Laps

1:43'32.0545

11.1520 173.852 5    
24 Australia W. Power Team Penske 12 198

+8 Laps

1:43'24.6827

4 Laps 178.353 6    
25 Sweden M. Ericsson Andretti Global 28 137

+69 Laps

1:19'42.9485

61 Laps 21.270 4   Accident
26 United Kingdom K. Legge Dale Coyne Racing 51 85

+121 Laps

43'09.5186

52 Laps 186.042 2   Accident
27 Sweden F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing 60 55

+151 Laps

23'12.4834

30 Laps 189.373     Accident
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