IndyCar: Alex Palou has already clinched a championship in 2024

Sunday afternoon's BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway was the 10th and final road or street course race on the 2024 IndyCar schedule, as three consecutive oval events are scheduled to wrap up the 17-race season in the coming weeks.

Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou, the overall championship leader, entered Sunday's 110-lap race around the 12-turn, 1.967-mile (3.166-kilometer) natural terrain road course in Portland, Oregon with a 34-point lead in the road and street course standings over Andretti Global's Colton Herta, with Team Penske's Will Power a further 14 points back.

It was going to take a mega effort from one of those two drivers (and a disastrous effort from Palou) to leave the Pacific Northwest as this year's road and street course champion, and though Power won the race by nearly 10 seconds, Palou scored more than enough points with a runner-up finish to seal his third road and street course championship in his fourth year behind the wheel of the No. 10 Honda.

Power, the winner at Portland and Road America, finished in second place in the road and street course standings, 36 points behind, with Toronto winner Herta a further six points behind in third.

One championship decided

When the 27-year-old Spaniard won the road and street course championship in 2021 and 2023, he also went on to be crowned IndyCar champion.

In 10 road or street course races this year, the two-time series champion won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The two-time series champion also won the exhibition race at the Thermal Club, though that race paid no points.

With two races at the Milwaukee Mile, which the series hasn't visited since 2015, and Nashville Superspeedway, which the series hasn't visited since 2008 and wasn't initially scheduled to visit this year, left on the 2024 calendar, Palou owns a 54-point lead over Power. Herta is 13 points behind Power, who is one of the few drivers to have raced at both tracks.

The seven oval races on this year's schedule are the most since 2011, and a season hasn't finished with an oval race since 2014. It hasn't finished with three in a row since it finished with four in a row in 2010.

Palou has recorded three top five finishes in four oval races so far this year and sits in fifth place in the oval standings. The 11-time race winner is still in pursuit of his first oval victory.

Power's only top 15 oval finish this year is a win at Iowa Speedway, where he also finished just ahead of Palou in second, and he sits in eighth. He won at Milwaukee in 2014.

Wrapping up the road and street courses

Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood finished in a quiet fourth place in the road and street course standings, even with no wins in such races this season following a two-win season a year ago.

He finished just ahead of three road or street course winners from this season, with Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon finishing in fifth place, Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward finishing in sixth, and Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin finishing in seventh.

Dixon won on the streets of Long Beach and Detroit, O'Ward won on the streets of St. Petersburg and at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and McLaughlin won at Barber Motorsports Park.

Team Penske's Josef Newgarden, who led the road and street course standings early in the year before his season-opening victory on the streets of St. Petersburg was stripped from him 45 days after the fact due to the push-to-pass scandal, only finished in 13th place, with his deficit to Palou (191 points) greater than his own point total (180).

Iowa winner McLaughlin and Indy 500 and Gateway winner Newgarden are separated by just two points atop the oval standings, with the former seeking his first oval title and the latter seeking his third overall and second in a row.

The first race at Milwaukee is set to be shown live on Peacock beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET this Saturday, August 31, meaning that fans will need a paid subscription of either Peacock Premium or Peacock Premium Plus to watch.

The second is set to be shown live on USA Network beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 1. The season finale at Nashville is set to be shown live on NBC beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 15.

While FuboTV will not air the first Milwaukee race, start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss the final two races of the 2024 IndyCar season!