Alex Palou’s championship lead took a massive dent after crashing out of the opening race of IndyCar’s double-header round at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night.
Starting third in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Palou quietly remained in the position through the early portion of the 250-lap race as passing was increasingly tough at the repaved 0.894-mile oval.
When the caution waved on lap 80, after a right-front wheel issue slowed the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda of Graham Rahal, it set up a sequence of pit stops. Andretti Global’s Colton Herta led the field down pit road on lap 84, followed by Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin and then Palou.
After a quick pit stop by the crew, Palou attempted to launch out of the box but was in second gear and stalled the car, losing several spots and falling down to 19th.
Palou then managed to surge up to 12th on merit by lap 175. He moved up one spot when Herta made his second pit stop, but moments later disaster struck.
Palou came out of Turn 4 and was running high when the car snapped around on the front stretch and slewed sideways across the start/finish line, with the left-rear making significant contact with the outside wall before coming to a stop in Turn 1.
The damage was severe enough that Palou was unable to continue, stepping out of the car before the wrecker truck took the car back to the garage to the team, who are forced to make repairs before the second race begins on Sunday at 12 pm ET.
“I think I just lost it out of (Turn) 4,” said Palou, the reigning and two-time IndyCar champion.
“Yeah, driver mistake. There was no reason why I had to push there; just trying to recover from another driver mistake I did in the pits.
“Yeah, unacceptable. Very sorry for the No. 10 car. The car was good, it just wasn’t our day.”
It was Palou’s first retirement since crashing out at Road America in 2022 – 37 races ago.
The two-time champion now holds a 37-point lead (336-299) over Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward in the championship standings with seven races remaining in the 2024 season.
