Milwaukee — Alex Palou will have to wait at least one more day before winning his fifth INDYCAR championship.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver had a shot Saturday in the first race of a doubleheader weekend at The Milwaukee Mile, but rains forced INDYCAR to suspend the race after 90 of the scheduled 250 laps.
With at least 126 laps needed for an official event, the race will resume at 9 a.m. ET on Sunday on FS1.
The second race of the doubleheader is still scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on FOX.
“The weather keeps it real interesting for us,” Andretti Global driver Will Power said on the FS1 telecast.
It could get more interesting Sunday morning, as FOX Weather predicts a 40 percent chance of rain before and a little chance in the afternoon and evening.
INDYCAR hopes to run both races to their 250-lap completion. If the Saturday race doesn’t finish, it will have a cutoff time of 10:25 a.m. ET. Then it will resume three hours after the conclusion of the regularly scheduled Sunday race.
INDYCAR officials say they need three hours between the events for teams that need to change engines or make any other necessary repairs.
Palou entered the race 91 points ahead of Kyle Kirkwood and 110 points of Christian Lundgaard. He needed to be 108 points ahead of both after the first race in order to clinch the crown. All he needs to be ahead after the second race is 54 points as the season ends Sept. 4 at the Laguna Seca road course in Monterey, Calif.
After 90 laps Saturday, Pato O’Ward was the leader, followed by Felix Rosenqvist, Alexander Rossi, Josef Newgarden, Christian Lundgaard and Kyle Kirkwood.
Palou was 13th, one spot behind David Malukas, who had stopped most recently and potentially is in the best position when the race resumes.
As long as it resumes in the morning, teams will not be allowed to add fuel or change tires before the restart of the race.
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