IndyCar Road America results and points as Alex Palou wins

Road America results and points standings: Taking advantage of a problem for Josef Newgarden on a restart, Alex Palou took the lead with two laps remaining Sunday to win the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America and retake the NTT IndyCar Series points lead

Palou’s No. 10 Dallara-Honda finished 1.9106 seconds ahead of Colton Herta and Will Power as the Chip Ganassi Racing driver led only five of 55 laps in scoring his second victory of the season. Palou’s first career IndyCar win came in the season opener at Barber Motorsports Park.

Palou has a 28-point lead over Pato O’Ward, who finished ninth after winning last week at Detroit. He is the first Chip Ganassi Racing driver other than Scott Dixon to win multiple races in a season since Dario Franchitti in 2011.

'@AlexPalou is PUMPED!@RoadAmerica // #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/4bGFJkomJo

— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) June 20, 2021

Newgarden led a race-high 32 laps and finished 21st of 25 drivers with his No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet as the last car on the lead lap. It was the second consecutive near-miss for the two-time series champion, who finished second last week at Detroit after O’Ward passed him with three laps remaining.

Here are the IndyCar results and points standings Sunday in the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America:

RESULTS

Click here for the box score from the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America. Click here for the lap leader chart.

Here is the finishing order with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out:

1. (5) Alex Palou, Honda, 55, Running
2. (2) Colton Herta, Honda, 55, Running
3. (4) Will Power, Chevrolet, 55, Running
4. (13) Scott Dixon, Honda, 55, Running
5. (7) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 55, Running
6. (18) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 55, Running
7. (9) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 55, Running
8. (20) Takuma Sato, Honda, 55, Running
9. (10) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 55, Running
10. (22) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 55, Running
11. (14) Graham Rahal, Honda, 55, Running
12. (16) Oliver Askew, Chevrolet, 55, Running
13. (8) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 55, Running
14. (17) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 55, Running
15. (19) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 55, Running
16. (11) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 55, Running
17. (3) Jack Harvey, Honda, 55, Running
18. (6) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 55, Running
19. (25) Cody Ware, Honda, 55, Running
20. (15) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 55, Running
21. (1) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 55, Running
22. (23) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 54, Running
23. (12) Ed Jones, Honda, 50, Off Course
24. (21) Kevin Magnussen, Chevrolet, 33, Off Course
25. (24) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 19, Mechanical

Winner’s average speed: 119.424 mph; Time of race: 1:50:55.0534; Margin of victory: 1.9106 seconds; Cautions: 4 for 7 laps; Lead changes: 11 among 7 drivers; Lap Leaders: Newgarden 1-13; Palou 14; Dixon 15; Newgarden 16-24; Magnussen 25-30; Sato 31-32; Newgarden 33-39; Palou 40-41; Chilton 42-48; Askew 49-50; Newgarden 51-53; Palou 54-55.

POINTS

Click here for the points tally in Sunday’s race.

Through nine races, here are the full points standings for:

Drivers

Entrants

Engine manufacturers

Top 10 in the standings: Palou 349, O’Ward 321, Dixon 296, Newgarden 261, Pagenaud 255, VeeKay 243, Herta 242, Ericsson 239, Rahal 228, Sato 206.

NEXT: The NTT IndyCar Series will race Sunday, July 4 (noon ET, NBC) at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the 10th round of the 2021 season (click here for the full broadcast schedule this year).

Three riders remain locked in a tight battle with 17 points separating the leader Cooper Webb from third-place Chase Sexton and these are only a few Supercross numbers to consider entering Seattle.

Seattle Supercross numbers — *Chase Sexton made a statement in Detroit with his second win of 2023. – Feld Motor Sports*

For the fifth time in 10 rounds. Sexton, Webb, and Eli Tomac shared the podium in Detroit. Between them, the trio has taken 23 podiums, leaving only seven for the remainder of the field. Jason Anderson, Ken Roczen and Justin Barcia have two each with Aaron Plessinger scoring the other.

Webb and Tomac won the last four championships with two apiece in alternating years, but they were not one another’s primary rival for most of those seasons. On the average, however, the past four years show an incredible similarity with average points earned of 21.0 for Webb and 21.3 for Tomac. With five wins so far this season, Tomac (23 wins) leads Webb (19) in victories but Webb (43) edges Tomac (41) in podium finishes during this span.

Tomac has won two of the last three Seattle races and those two wins in this stadium are topped only by James Stewart. Fittingly, if Tomac gets a third win this week, he will tie Stewart for second on the all-time wins’ list. Tomac tied Ricky Carmichael for third with 48 wins at Oakland and took sole possession of that spot with his Daytona win.

Sexton still has a lot to say and after winning last week in Detroit, he is speaking up. The Supercross numbers are against him entering Seattle, however, because a points’ deficit this large after Round 10 has been erased only once. In 1983 David Bailey was 47 points behind Bob Hannah, and like Sexton he was also in third place. Bailey took the points’ lead with one race remaining.

The seven points Sexton was penalized last week for jumping in a red cross flag section in Detroit could prove extremely costly.

In fact, it has been a series of mistakes that has cost Sexton the most. In the last two weeks, he lost 10 points with a 10th-place finish to go with his penalty. Erase those, and all three riders hold their fate in their hands.

Plessinger’s heartbreak in Detroit is still fresh, but the upside of his run is that was his best of the season and could turn his fortunes around. Prior to that race, he led only seven laps in three mains. He was up front for 20 laps in Detroit with five of those being the fastest on the track.

Last week’s win by Hunter Lawrence tied him with his brother Jett Lawrence for 17th on the all-time wins’ list. With the focus shifting to 250 West for the next two rounds, Jett has a great opportunity to pull back ahead. The real test will be at the first East / West Showdown in East Rutherford, New Jersey on April 22.

Last Five Seattle Winners

450s
2022: Eli Tomac
2019: Marvin Musquin
2018: Eli Tomac
2017: Marvin Musquin
2014: Ryan Villopoto

250s
2022: Hunter Lawrence
2019: Dylan Ferrandis
2018: Aaron Plessinger
2017: Aaron Plessinger
2014: Cole Seely

By the Numbers

Detroit
Indianapolis
Daytona
Arlington
Oakland
Tampa
Houston
Anaheim 2
San Diego

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Results and points after Detroit
Chase Sexton wins in Detroit, penalized seven points