PORTLAND, Ore. — Chip Ganassi stopped Alex Palou earlier than Sunday’s race at Portland Worldwide Raceway and inspired his driver to make use of the race to shut out the IndyCar championship.

Palou informed the boss he deliberate to do it with a walk-off win. And he delivered.

Palou is now a two-time IndyCar champion with Ganassi following a dominant run Sunday that gave him his series-leading fifth win of the season.

“He likes to win, he informed me that. He informed me earlier than the race, I mentioned ‘Let’s go wrap this up as we speak,’ he checked out me and mentioned, ‘I’ll wrap it up with a win,'” Ganassi mentioned. “I mentioned ‘OK, nice.’ He referred to as his shot as we speak.”

Ganassi then eventually addressed Palou’s future with the group, which has been unsure and at occasions contentious the final 14 months.

“Alex Palou goes to be in our automobile, I can inform you that, for positive,” Ganassi mentioned.

That wasn’t so clear even final month, with Palou scheduled to hitch Arrow McLaren Racing in 2024 as an IndyCar driver. He already spent this yr as McLaren’s take a look at and reserve driver in Method One, however has had an obvious change of coronary heart concerning his future.

“I’m going to get pleasure from it as a lot as attainable, the win from as we speak, the championship,” Palou mentioned in declining to debate the contractual battle between driver, McLaren and Ganassi.

McLaren has filed a lawsuit in the UK searching for not less than $20 million in damages and to recoup cash already superior to Palou. McLaren claims it gave Palou an advance on his 2024 wage and coated his authorized charges final yr throughout mediation in Palou’s try to hitch McLaren this yr.

The settlement reached final September stored Palou in a Ganassi automobile in IndyCar for this season however allowed him to do F1 work with McLaren on non-conflicting weekends.

This third season with Ganassi for Palou — and fourth in IndyCar because the 26-year-old from Barcelona moved to the US after a brief stint racing in Japan — turned out to be one of the best of his profession.

Palou locked up the title with one weekend remaining within the 17-race schedule, marking the primary time in IndyCar the championship has been settled earlier than the finale because the late Dan Wheldon received in 2005. Sebastien Bourdais in 2007 received the Champ Automotive title with one race remaining earlier than the 2 collection unified.

“I by no means thought I might be an IndyCar champion and to be a two-time IndyCar champion simply feels wonderful, like a dream,” Palou mentioned. “It was a tremendous weekend. We simply raced how we have been doing all season.”

Palou this yr led IndyCar in almost each measurable statistic: wins, poles, podiums, top-five finishes, top-10 finishes, races led and laps accomplished. In truth, Palou completed all however two laps all season and will have had a sixth victory however was spun on pit highway throughout the Indianapolis 500 and needed to drive his method again to a fourth-place end in a race he appeared poised to win.

His lowest end all season was eighth, twice.

“It has been a tremendous season, we have simply had one of the best vehicles in every single place, we have been in a position to maximize our outcomes,” Palou mentioned. “We needed to win the championship and have it settled so now we are able to calm down.”

Palou began the race with a snug factors lead over Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon, the one driver mathematically eligible to problem the Spaniard for the title. However it did not matter what Dixon did within the race as a result of if Palou podiumed, the championship can be over.

He did excess of podium at Portland.

Palou led 69 of the 110 laps to attain a decisive victory over runner-up Felix Rosenqvist, who completed 5.4353 seconds again. Dixon, the six-time IndyCar champion, completed third for the third consecutive time at Portland. Palou and Dixon have locked down first and second within the IndyCar standings heading into subsequent Sunday’s finale in Monterey, California.

“I do not know if we had sufficient pace for Alex, he was positively quick,” Dixon mentioned in lauding his teammate. “He form of does all the things proper. He is a hell of a competitor, an enormous expertise.”

It’s the second title in three seasons for Palou, who received each titles driving for Ganassi, and the fifteenth IndyCar title for the group proprietor and twenty second total. Of Ganassi’s many title winners, Palou joins Dixon (six), Dario Franchitti (two) and Alex Zanardi (two) as drivers with a number of championships.

“He is actually particular,” Ganassi mentioned. “He is a part of our group and we could not be extra comfortable about that.”

Pato O’Ward completed fourth for McLaren and was adopted by Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden and Rinus VeeKay was sixth for his greatest end of the season. Juri Vips completed 18th in his IndyCar debut.