Team Penske last went winless in 1999, and it will remain that way for another year.
Will Power, on used Firestone reds, held off a hard-charging Christian Lundgaard and Alex Palou in the final 20 laps to score the victory at Portland International Raceway.
“Yeah, it was a nice day because I got to push as hard as I could for the whole race, which usually that’s fuel save,” he said. “I was glad my engineer picked that strategy. He was going to pit me. Then he said to stay out, to be a leader. Had faith that I’d had a lot of pace.
“Yeah, it’s a Team Penske-type day, man. When we’re put in the position, we can win. It’s obviously been a rough year on many fronts. Yeah, very nice to get a win.”
It’s his 45th career victory in 318 NTT IndyCar Series starts and first of the 2025 season.
Lundgaard, on new Firestone reds, couldn’t catch and overtake Power in the closing laps and brought his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet home to a runner-up finish. Thanks to early mechanical problems by Pato O’Ward, Palou clinched the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship with a third-place finish.
“Yeah, it sucks finishing second twice,” Lundgaard said. “No, at the end of the day I’m happy to be in the situation that we’ve been in on the 7 car this weekend. We’ve shown so much pace all weekend. We’re fastest in practice one, seventh in practice two, pole on the race. Obviously had our grid penalty, still raced our way up to second.
“I think there’s only things to be proud of considering where the team was last year. We were first and second in qualifying. Last year none of the cars transferred through Q1. The trajectory the team is on is only upward and I’m excited for the years to come.”
“I’m so glad that we got it,” Palou said. “That was one of the two goals that we had this season and I’m happy that we got it this year again, three years in a row. It’s amazing the work that these two persons do to put an amazing team together that gives us a chance to win every single weekend and fight for every single championship.
“It’s been amazing. This year has been even more than magical with the 500, with so many wins. Today we wanted a win, as well. We gave everything that we had on track. It didn’t work.
“But yeah, super happy.”
Graham Rahal and Alexander Rossi rounded out the top-five.
Callum Ilott, Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Armstrong, Felix Rosenqvist and Colton Herta rounded out the top-10.
Will Power holds off Christian Lundgaard to win at Portland, Alex Palou wins title
Race summary
O’Ward led the field to green at 3:37 p.m. ET. Caution flew on Lap 3 when Santino Ferrucci got loose exiting Turn 12 and hit the outer pit wall.
Back to green on Lap 8, caution flew the same lap for debris on track.
Back to green on Lap 11, caution flew on Lap 14 when Christian Rasmussen turned Conor Daly in Turn 11 and sent him into the tire barrier. Will Power stayed out to take the race lead.
Back to green on Lap 21, O’Ward suffered an electrical failure on the backstretch. Which put him eight laps down as the team fixed the issue on pit road. Power pit from the lead on Lap 35. Josef Newgarden pit from the lead on Lap 38. Which handed the lead to Graham Rahal, who pitted under the first caution. He pit from the lead on Lap 41, and the lead cycled back to Power.
Power pit from the lead on Lap 61 and took new Firestone blacks. Alex Palou pit from the lead on Lap 64. Rahal pit from the lead on Lap 69 and Power cycled back to the lead.
Christian Lundgaard kicked off the final cycle of green flag stops when he pit from second for fuel and a new set of Firestone reds. Power pit from the lead on Lap 80 for a used set of Firestone reds. Palou pit from the lead on Lap 82 and took a new set of Firestone reds. Rahal pit from the lead with 24 laps to go and Power cycled back to the lead.
With 16 laps to go, Power held a 0.750 second lead over Lundgaard and a 1.3 second lead over Palou in third. With 15 to go, the gap shrank to half a second over Lundgaard and under a second over Palou. With 13 to go, Palou overtook Lundgaard for second in Turn 6, but couldn’t hold onto the position. As a result, Power pulled away to 0.717 seconds over Lundgaard and 1.296 over Palou. With 11 laps to go, Palou officially clinched the 2025 NTT INDYCAR Series championship.
With nine laps to go, Power held a 0.623 second lead over Lundgaard and a one second lead over Palou. After running multiple laps behind, Power overtook and put Marcus Ericsson a lap down. With seven to go, Power pulled to a one second lead over Lundgaard and a 1.5 second lead over Palou.
Palou made a move to the outside of Lundgaard in Turn 6, but ran through the grass. This gave Power breathing room, as he drove on to victory.
Will Power holds off Christian Lundgaard to win at Portland, Alex Palou wins title
What else happened
Scott Dixon turned Newgarden in Turn 2 with 27 laps to go. He received a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.
Will Power holds off Christian Lundgaard to win at Portland, Alex Palou wins title
Nuts and bolts
The race lasted two hours, one minute and six seconds, at an average speed of 107.038 mph. There were 11 lead changes among five different drivers and three cautions for 11 laps.
The NTT IndyCar Series returns to action on August 24 at the Milwaukee Mile.
