Alex Palou came home in P4 to secure his first IndyCar title, and back-to-back titles for Chip Ganassi at Long Beach on Sunday. Colton Herta picked up his second consecutive win and third of the season, in what is surely a good sign for Andretti Autosport heading into 2022. An early wreck and then retirement for Pato O’Ward capped off a rough day for McLaren in both F1 and IndyCar, as Pato saw his championship hopes slip away due to what was said to be a broken drivetrain. Palou drove a solid race, staying out of any issues and running clean all day, much to the dismay of Josef Newgarden, who needed to put in a perfect race, and needed a disastrous race from the Spaniard.
Palou officially clinched the Championship during the race, as once Herta had officially led the most laps Newgarden was out of championship contention, since he needed to score all 54 possible points to even have a shot to beat Palou. Early hairpin chaos took O’Ward out of the top 10, as Ed Jones tried to send it up the inside, but ended up making contact with the young Mexican driver, sending him spinning around.
Palou becomes the first Spaniard to win a title, and the first Ganassi driver not named Franchitti or Dixon to bring the title home to Chip. Stay tuned to NRN for the Pizza at the Pagoda podcast review, and the Season Review coming to the NRN website!
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