Alex Palou, Pato O'Ward To Start 1, 2 At Laguna Seca Amid Championship Battle

Bob Pockrass

FOX Motorsports Insider

MONTEREY, Calif. — Pato O’Ward couldn’t be too upset with his front row starting spot for Sunday’s INDYCAR race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

But if he looks at the driver who is on the pole, it isn’t the one he would want to see.

Or is it?

Pato O’Ward prior to the INDYCAR Series Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

Championship leader Alex Palou won the pole — his fifth in the 14 races this year — and earned the point that goes with it.

“Now it’s 100,” O’Ward lamented Saturday afternoon. “It just makes it that much harder whenever the one that you’re trying to beat is having as good of days or better.”

That 100 is the gap in the standings between Palou and second-place O’Ward. The two will start side-by-side at the front of the field for the 95-lap race Sunday (3 p.m. Eastern, FOX). Palou has dominated the season with seven victories, while O’Ward is coming off his second win of the season last week at Toronto.

“You’d much rather be next to each other than not. Usually, if you’re next to him, it means that you’ve been qualifying well because he seems to be the master this year at that, and we seem to be a little bit more of a stranger to the Fast Six [final round],” Palou said.

Alex Palou celebrates his pole winning qualifying run prior

“Our Fast Six record this year is pretty good. We’ve only got two and we’ve got a pole and a second.”

O’Ward knows he has an uphill climb.

The Arrow McLaren driver cut 30 points off Palou’s lead last week by winning at Toronto. Palou finished 12th, as his choice in tire strategy didn’t produce results, with more cautions than the team had predicted.

For Palou, he said having O’Ward right next to him actually helps when trying to race for the title. With four races remaining, O’Ward is the only driver who has a marginally reasonable shot to challenge Palou for the championship.

“We’re obviously the only two that can win the championship now,” O’Ward said. “And I’m the one that’s chasing down pretty hard.”

The maximum points a driver can earn in a weekend is 54. Palou can’t clinch on Sunday but could put himself in a position to clinch at the next race in two weeks at Portland International Raceway.

“It’s better to have your closest competitor close,” Palou said. “You want to be on the same kind of strategy. When you have somebody starting, like 17th, it might look good on paper. But then suddenly, they do a crazy strategy and they cycle to the front and you have no chance to fight for it on track.”

The Ganassi driver, who has won three titles in the last four years — including back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2024 — obviously likes his chances to fight for it on the track. His pole-winning speed was 0.2867 seconds faster than O’Ward in the final round.

“It was not very close,” O’Ward said. “We’ve definitely seen closer ones before. But it’s my best start here, so I’ll take that.”

O’Ward said he didn’t have much for Palou in that final run. The drivers will see if they will be neck-and-neck on Sunday.

“It’s for sure making it more challenging and more interesting for everybody,” Palou said. “I like it. Honestly, I like it.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.