Ah, yes. "Only 99 points". How many times did we try to warn you how misleading that particular choice of words was?
You have to give everyone credit for trying to generate interest surrounding an IndyCar championship battle that has been over since (checks notes) literally any one of the six races that have been contested this summer.
But in hindsight, let's just cut to the chase: IndyCar on Fox's "It's On" promo promoting Pato O'Ward's alleged championship charge at Alex Palou was the definition of cringe, and I've got to believe that they knew that when they made it, but they went ahead and made it anyway.
Based strictly on that promo, you'd think Sunday's race was the Super Bowl. You'd think it was Game 7 of the World Series after a 3-0 lead. You'd think it was 2021 Abu Dhabi.
It wasn't anything of the sort. It was 99 points, a gap of more than two full race wins (provided both drivers compete), with four races to go.
Shy of Alex Palou being locked in a track port-a-potty or being kidnapped by Zak Brown until he signs yet another meaningless McLaren contract, it was over.
Pato O'Ward has been winning races since two weeks ago. Nothing against the guy or his performance; this is IndyCar. It's hard to do. Only two other guys (aside from Palou) have won this year. He is in the form of his life right now, and he continued that on Sunday with his fifth straight top five finish. He had never even recorded four straight until last week, and his two wins during that stretch are also a career high for such a stretch.
Couple that with having the series' best worst finish of anybody, and in any other year, he'd probably be the championship favorite. Scratch that; he would be the favorite. His 33.5 points per race average is higher than Palou's championship mark in 2021 (31.8, excluding double points for the Indy 500) and in 2024 (32.0).
But Alex Palou has been winning races (consistently) for the past five months. His median finish this year is a win. And if he had scored runner-up finishes in all 14 races so far, he'd have 30 fewer points than he actually has.
The idea that O'Ward had any chance whatsoever to outscore Palou by 100 points (101 after Laguna Seca qualifying) over the season's final four races was not logical.
We get it. O'Ward is IndyCar's most popular driver, and the series had to capitalize on him still being in championship contention. Plus, anything is always possible, and I don't want to sell that fact short; look at Palou's mechanical issue at Milwaukee last year. Plus, O'Ward did win on back-to-back race weekends. And the math said that it wasn't theoretically over.
If you want to get technical, it still isn't. There are 162 points on the table (147 if both drivers compete in all three remaining races), and Palou's lead is 121 (so you're saying there's a chance?).
But O'Ward's Toronto win was nothing more than the Kansas City Chiefs' touchdown to cut the Philadelphia Eagles' lead from 34-0 to 34-6 in February's Super Bowl. Anyone who couldn't see that was fooling themselves.
At some point, you've got to be realistic. In 81 races at Chip Ganassi Racing, Palou had never been outscored over a four-race span by more than 79 points by anybody. And yes, that includes his back-to-back DNFs at the Indy road course and Gateway in late 2021, when he still managed to hunt down, of all people, O'Ward and claim his first championship.
Even O'Ward's stretch of two wins and two fifth place finishes, which was aided by Palou giving away a win at Mid-Ohio with a late mistake and being on the complete wrong pit strategy in Toronto as O'Ward pulled away to win, was only enough for him to outscore by the championship leader by 12.
Palou's latest, and perhaps most convincing, beatdown delivered a much-needed reminder to the portion of the IndyCar fanbase who truly believed it was "on" between the driver of the No. 10 Honda and the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet.
Yea, about that...it wasn't.
At Laguna Seca, where he entered having posted finishes of third, win, second, and win in his four career starts dating back to 2021, he never relinquished the lead from pole, save for an early pit sequence under yellow.
Palou has eight wins in 14 races this year in a spec series. His seventh win (with five races to go) marked a modern era record, and even if he doesn't match the all-time record of 10, the fact that the field is as tight as it is right now is more than proof enough that this season has been the greatest of all-time.
That's not to mention the fact that he has led the championship standings for more than 13 months running and is poised to become the first driver to win the Indy 500 and the championship in the same year since 2010. It's hard to believe this is the guy who supposedly couldn't win on ovals.
And it's not a knock on O'Ward. But I sincerely hope we don't hear "it's only 121 points!" with three races remaining from the same folks who tried to sell us that the 99-point gap was nothing more than a chip shot field goal.
If Zak Brown believes in miracles, maybe he'll try to sign Palou for a third time. After all, I think it's pretty clear that he'd be leading the Formula 1 world championship over either one of McLaren's current two drivers, at least for those of us willing to admit that F1 should no longer be considered a rung above IndyCar.
The best driver in the world right now competes in the NTT IndyCar Series, and with three races remaining on the 17-race schedule, him clinching his third straight title and fourth in five years is a formality.
Palou has a chance to clinch the championship with two races to go at Portland International Speedway on Sunday, August 10. In 2023, he became the first driver to clinch the title with one race to go since 2005, and he also did it at Portland. The BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland is set to be shown live on Fox beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET two Sundays from now. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!