What To Know About INDYCAR At Portland: Title Race, Power's Future, Caution Calls

PORTLAND, Ore. — Alex Palou, viewed by many as the 2025 INDYCAR champion-in-waiting, looks back on a year ago at Portland International Raceway knowing he had a solid day in second.

He also knows he got his butt kicked. Will Power won that race by an astonishing 9.82 seconds.

So it was a good result but one where Power had the better race. At the end, he also had the better tire choice for the 12-turn, 1.964-mile track located just north of downtown Portland and just south of Vancouver, Washington.

Can Will Power get the win again at Portland?

"He just destroyed us," Palou said. "The pace that he had was crazy. I was right behind him at some point, and I could not do anything to stop him.

"It was frustrating, but at the same time, we still finished second, and our car was really, really good there. I was still kind of happy."

Palou could leave Sunday from Portland really happy if he clinches his fourth INDYCAR championship. He enters the 110-lap race Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FOX) at 121 points ahead of Pato O’Ward with three races left in the season. He clinches if he leaves Portland with at least a 108-point edge on O’Ward.

"It just feels like a normal weekend," Palou said Friday morning. "It feels very special, obviously, because we know it can be a different one at the end. But at the same time, it's still early on. It's not the last race of the season, where it's the last chance, and one driver is going to win it here.

Alex Palou could clinch the title this weekend.

"There’s good odds of if we do the job that we know that we can do, we can try and win the championship this weekend. But as long as I win it this year, I'll be happy."

Here is what to know going into the final road-course race of the season. The final two