Alex Palou’s car suffers power failure to start IndyCar race in Milwaukee

WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Alex Palou was helpless as he sat in the cockpit of his disabled car watching his hold on the IndyCar championship slip away.

The second of two races at the Milwaukee Mile was about to begin and the Spaniard’s car suddenly lost power.

He was stuck. The car wouldn’t start.

And rival Will Power was going to take control of the title race.

At least that’s how it seemed.

Chip Ganassi Racing changed a battery inside Palou’s car and he rejoined the action 29 laps into the race Sunday. By that time, Power had taken the race lead and wiped out all of Palou’s 43-point lead in the standings.

Attrition and Power’s own mistake dramatically changed outcome.

Palou watched car after car retire from the race and finished 19th. Power, on a restart, inexplicably spun on his own. The Australian fell a lap off the pace, finished 10th, and ultimately only cut Palou’s lead to 33 points with the season finale remaining.

“Long shot now,” Power conceded “God gave us a chance. That’s a season, man, you can’t make those mistakes.”

What could have been a dead-heat headed into the Sept. 15 finale at Nashville Superspeedway is still Palou’s championship to lose.

“Bit sad and disappointed today. It was out of my control and the team’s control,” Palou said. “It is a sport, it is what it is. We were getting happier and happier getting more points, one more point, one more point. On to Nashville.”

Scott McLaughlin, Power’s teammate at Team Penske, won for the third time this season. He beat Scott Dixon, Palou’s teammate at Ganassi, in a 1-2 finish for New Zealanders.

For Dixon, who made his 400th career start on Saturday, his 142nd podium passed Mario Andretti for most in series history.

But this race was primarily about the championship and Palou somehow recovered from a nearly catastrophic issue. IndyCar midway through the season introduced a new hybrid engine and teams had been greatly concerned it would have a negative impact on the championship.

The engine failed on Dixon’s car in its debut race in July and Dixon said when he saw Palou stranded, he twice asked his team what had happened.

“I was kind of trying to make sure we weren’t doing the same thing, making sure it wasn’t the same problem I had at Mid-Ohio,” Dixon said. When told the Ganassi team changed a battery in Palou’s car, Dixon said it could still be related to the hybrid.

“The DC to the DC on the hybrid could kill that, as well. There’s a lot more parts now,” Dixon said. “The hybrid can get into a funny kind of…