As the 2024 IndyCar season reaches its climax, all eyes are on Nashville Superspeedway, where the championship will be decided in a high-stakes finale. With 206 laps separating two of the sport’s biggest names from glory, either Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing or Will Power of Team Penske will be crowned the series champion when the checkered flag falls on Sunday.
Palou enters the race with a 33-point advantage over Power (525 to 492), making him the clear favorite to secure his third championship title. A third contender, Scott McLaughlin—Power’s teammate at Team Penske—still has a mathematical chance with 475 points. However, that possibility vanishes the moment Palou starts the race, officially eliminating McLaughlin from title contention.
Looking at the numbers, there’s a total of 54 points up for grabs in a single race: 50 for the win, one for securing pole position, one for leading a lap, and two for leading the most laps. History is also on Palou’s side. In the past 11 seasons, the driver leading the points before the final race has only failed to win the championship once. That rare exception came in 2015 when Scott Dixon erased a 47-point gap in a double-points event at Sonoma to beat Juan Pablo Montoya on a tiebreaker.
For Palou, the path to a repeat title is relatively clear. If he finishes ninth or better in Nashville, he will once again lift the Astor Cup, becoming the first back-to-back champion since Dario Franchitti’s impressive run from 2009 to 2011. Even a 12th-place finish would seal the title, as long as Power doesn’t dominate the race by winning from pole and leading the most laps. In the unlikely case of a points tie, Palou would lose out due to having only two victories this season compared to Power’s three. Notably, Palou’s win at The Thermal Club doesn’t count toward the championship, as it was an exhibition event.
For Power, the mission is simple: finish on the podium and hope Palou falters. Fortunately for him, Team Penske has excelled on ovals this year, winning five out of six oval races. Power took one of those wins at Iowa (Race 2), McLaughlin won two (Iowa Race 1 and Milwaukee Race 2), and Josef Newgarden secured victories at the Indianapolis 500 and Gateway. This performance provides a solid foundation for Power’s comeback hopes, especially considering the adversity he has faced this season. He began the year with a 10-point penalty tied to Team Penske’s push-to-pass controversy, a scandal that also led to the disqualification of both Newgarden and McLaughlin from their podium finishes.
While Palou has yet to claim an oval victory, his consistency on such tracks cannot be overlooked. Since joining Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021, the Spanish driver has posted nine top-five and 16 top-ten finishes across his last 20 oval starts, underlining his reliability even without a win.
Adding to the unpredictability is the fact that this will be the first time since 2014 that IndyCar ends its season on an oval. The series’ return to Nashville brings with it a major change in venue—from the familiar downtown street circuit to the Nashville Superspeedway, a 1.33-mile concrete oval located in nearby Lebanon, Tennessee. This track has not hosted an IndyCar race since 2008, introducing an element of the unknown into an already tense championship battle.
As the field lines up on Sunday, the pressure will be immense. For Palou, it’s a shot at history. For Power, it’s a chance at redemption. And for fans, it promises a thrilling conclusion to an unforgettable IndyCar season.
