Chip Ganassi Racing scored their 15th NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship on Sunday after Alex Palou in the No.10 American Legion Honda scored his fifth victory of the season to claim his second championship win in three years with one race remaining.
Scott Dixon in the No.9 PNC Bank Honda wrapped up a great day for the team as he came home in third place.
Speaking following the action, team owner Chip Ganassi said:
Alex is certainly special and we noticed that in his first weekend and his first race win at Barber three years ago. “I told him, ‘Hey, let’s go wrap this up with a win,’ and he said, ‘Okay great.’ He called his shot today.”
Speaking to Paddock Eye following the action, Ganassi said:
Well, that was the standard set a long time ago, whether it was with Zanardi and Vasser or Dario and Dixon. That’s kind of the standard around here, so we’re always trying to beat our own records.
I guess this is pretty high up there since we won two before the last race, so I have to say it’s right up there.
Alex Palou commented following the action saying:
“We made it to victory lane in Portland and I could not be happier with this moment because we clinched the championship. Barry, we are missing you, but we are looking forward to seeing you soon. Thank you to The American Legion and Parkland for all your support this year. It’s been an amazing year and we still have one to go.”
It is believed that Palou has signed a new contract with Ganassi for 2024.
Scott Dixon in the No.9 PNC Bank Honda scored his third consecutive podium in Portland and his 136th career top three finish and his fifth of the season.
We had a pretty good run and then we kind of got caught up in traffic. First of all, huge congrats to the No. 10 team on winning the championship. We tried the red ones there but then they left the car there, waited for the leaders to pit and it cycled out. It is what it is. I think we had a good second place car and perhaps the pace of Alex, but congratulations to them.”
Marcus Ericsson in the No.8 Huski Iced Spritz Honda finished the race in seventh place and speaking following the action he said:
“First of all, massive congratulations to all of Chip Ganassi Racing on the championship and then of course Alex on his win and his championship. He’s been the class of the field all year and it’s hard to get a more deserving champion than that. I’m really happy for him and the whole team. For me, it was a tough race. A lot of pushing and shoving and getting pushed off, pushing people off. But in the end, we fought all the way through and ended up at a P7 finish. I think we did well to get there after a tough race. We wanted more, but a good day for the team and I’m happy for everyone.”
Marcus Armstrong in the No.11 Ridgeline Lubricants Chip Ganassi Racing Honda over came on track adversity to finish the race in 19th and speaking following the action he said:
It was a good day up until we had that moment toward the end. We had a good first stint going long on the reds. The car was very balanced and that made it easier to extend the stint. From there, we had good pace on the blacks, as well. I thought the No. 11 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda was very good. We were in a good spot running P7 mostly, but an unfortunate ending.”