LEXINGTON — Alex Palou’s No. 10 American Legion Honda bears the slogan ‘Be The One,’ a nod to the organization’s veteran suicide awareness and prevention campaign.
When it comes to the NTT IndyCar Series, Palou has been the one all season long.
Palou won his third straight race Sunday afternoon, taking the lead for good on lap 57 of the 80-lap Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the 2023 Accord Hybrid.
The 26-year-old Spaniard has won four of the past five races and holds a comfortable 110-point lead over Scott Dixon, Sunday’s runner-up, in the chase for the championship with eight races remaining.
“We had a good car and a good strategy, honestly,” Palou said. “We had a really fast car. We knew we needed to try something different (from) the guys starting up front. Everything went well with strategy and pit stops and our pace was really good.
“I’m super-happy.”
Starting fourth on the grid, Palou took the lead for the first time on lap 28 before relinquishing it briefly to Dixon on lap 29. He reclaimed the top spot on lap 31 and held it until pitting for the final time on lap 54.
Both pole-winner Colton Herta and fellow front-row starter Graham Rahal ran into trouble on their final pitstops, clearing the way for Palou. Herta was penalized for exceeding the pit road speed limit and never recovered, finishing 11th.
Rahal lost valuable time on his final stop when his crew had trouble with his left rear tire. He finished seventh.
“We win as a team and we lose as a team,” said Rahal, a Columbus-area native who won at Mid-Ohio in 2015. “I thought the Fifth Third Bank car should have been further forward today. It’s a quick reminder that we’ve got to do better at every phase of the program.
“I’m disappointed. That’s a fact.”
Palou reclaimed the lead for the final time on lap 57 and sailed from there, winning with an elapsed time of 1 hour, 37 minutes and 31.98897 seconds. Dixon, who has six career victories at Mid-Ohio, finished 5.0242 seconds behind Palou.
“Second place is great but unfortunately the man we’re chasing finished first,” Dixon said. “Congrats to Alex and the 10 car crew.”
Dixon conceded that overcoming the 110-point margin in the points standings won’t be easy.
“Anything is possible. Like we’ve always said, you’re never out of it until you’re out of it. We’ll keep trying as hard as possible.”
Will Power started seventh, but moved up four spots to reach the podium. Power is seventh in the points standings.
“It was a good day,” Power said. “A typical hard and competitive IndyCar race.”
The next stop on the series is the Honda Indy Toronto on July 16. Palou hopes to keep the momentum rolling.
“This is the best moment of my career so far,” Palou said. “We’re focused on what we can do. I know we can have a good couple of races coming up. We’ll try to maximize what we can do and win when we can.”
