Power Bests Palou in Qualifying for Nashville Championship Race

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

LEBANON, Tenn. – Chalk one up for Will Power.

In the battle to see who will take home the Astor Cup when the checkered flag flies on Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway, qualifying could not have gone in more opposite directions for the two drivers that are vying for the championship in the NTT IndyCar Series season finale.

Power, the 2014 series champion and driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet, will roll off from the outside of the second row in fourth place on Sunday, while his championship rival Alex Palou, who is looking for his third title in the past four years will be way back in 24^th place at the start of the race.

“We needed the pole, but that was as fast as I could go, is wide open all the way round,” Power said of his run. “There’s nothing more I could have done. Gotta work through the cycles of the pit stops and see if we can get to the lead and lead laps. Not a bad place to start strategy wise, to be honest. It’s actually not terrible.

“You know, you can sit back and you can play off other people when you’re there, when you’re leading. A little bit tough on that first stint to lead and sort of get to the traffic and all that. So, if I didn’t have to get the point, I’d be like, yeah, this is about where I want to be.”

Palou didn’t appear to be shaken by the struggles in qualifying and having to start so far back, chalking it up to a balance issue with his car that didn’t allow him to go flat out during his run.

“We just didn’t have the balance right like this morning,” Palou said. “This morning we were able to be flat. Like you have to be to be like top 10 at least even top 12. And I couldn’t. So, yeah, Lap 1 wasn’t great and it just started going downhill.”

He added that having to start at the back of the field will help cement his strategy for Sunday knowing he won’t be able to bide his time and try and work his way forward conservatively, instead he’ll be hammer down from the drop of the green.

Palou need only to finish ninth or better and the championship is his no matter what Power does on Sunday.

“I don’t think I can take a very conservative approach starting 24th. We need to move forward, man. It’s different when you are ninth, eighth and maybe there you can take it easy. You get 60 laps going on and then decide from there. But from P 24, I think I need to start moving very fast.”

Despite starting near the front of the field and Palou starting at the rear, Power explained that where Palou is running in the race won’t be top of mind for him as he knows he’ll have to finish in the top three to even have a shot at the title.

“We won’t be thinking about him to be honest,” Power said. “Like, we have to win the race unless he crashed out early or something. But ultimately, yeah, he’s gonna make his way up there so we know we’re gonna have to have the pressure on him by just doing our thing.

“Just do our thing and put it forward where it falls. We got ourselves into a position where we’re relying on him to have a bad day and that’s the way a championship goes.

“I probably won’t ask [where Palou is running] the whole race. They may tell me, but I just don’t need to know that. I just know that, you know, I need to be at the front….You’ve got to be top three. Like, it’s got to be a great day for us. Simply.

“We’ve got to have a very good day and that means just putting my head down, think of nothing else but a good day.”

Through it all though, the competitive spirit has not been dampened for either driver and if past performance is any indication, we’ll see these two drivers duking it out at some point on Sunday, whether it’s Power gunning for the win or Palou charging his way through the field.

“I’ve got to finish in the top three to have a shot, at least,” Power said to Palou after qualifying.

Palou remarked with a smile saying:

“I’ll see you there.”