Pato O’Ward To Lead INDYCAR Field To Green, Alex Palou Eyes Title From Fifth

PORTLAND, Ore. — Alex Palou joked that he went “looking for mushrooms” during the final qualifying session Saturday at Portland International Raceway.

Hey, the way he has cruised through the season, he deserved some time to go off the grid.

Palou didn’t make that off-course excursion on purpose and will start fifth Sunday, as he attempts to clinch the 2025 INDYCAR title with two races remaining. The driver he is battling, Pato O’Ward, will start from the pole.

But O’Ward didn’t technically win the pole Saturday. His Arrow McLaren teammate, Christian Lundgaard, won the pole with the fastest time in the final round of qualifying but has a six-spot grid penalty for an engine change earlier in the Portland weekend.

That means O’Ward doesn’t get the one bonus point for the pole and remains 121 points behind Palou in the standings. If Palou leaves Portland with a 108-point lead, he clinches the title. If he leads by 98 points, all he has to do is start the final two races at Milwaukee and Nashville to capture his fourth (and third consecutive) championship.

“The guy’s pretty much won it already,” said O’Ward, not trying to worry about what he views as the inevitable. “I know they’re making a big deal out of this. … He has got to have the worst luck he’s ever had in his career, just like the best luck he’s had in his career this year in order for us to keep this alive.”

Palou has won two of the last four races on the 1.964-mile road course, located just north of downtown Portland, where temperatures are expected to be in the low-90s for the race. It will be about 10 degrees warmer than Friday and Saturday.

“Nobody knows what the track and the tires are going to do,” Palou said. “Not yet. … [The track] is going to change tomorrow.

“As of today, yeah, I think we have a great car. I can’t wait.”

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver appeared to have a car capable of winning the pole until going off track and having the nose of his car bump into a tire barrier. The car did not have significant damage.

“I’m happy that we had pace,” Palou said. “Obviously not happy that I went looking for mushrooms there. … I tried a little bit too hard and just lost the car.”

O’Ward was also happy with his performance at a track where he struggled a year ago. He was good but not great in the two practices prior to qualifying.

“In practice, I wasn’t feeling super-confident just because I was really struggling with the car,” O’Ward said. “I was struggling to get a lap together.”

While it would have been nice to cut a point off Palou’s lead by earning the bonus point for winning the pole, O’Ward had no ill will toward his teammate beating him for the top spot.

“I’m super pumped to see both cars [No.] 1, 2,” O’Ward said. “I just missed it there in [the final round] a little bit.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.