For the penultimate round of the 2022 IndyCar season, the 25-car field headed to the West Coast for a race around Portland International Raceway.
The iconic corner of the venue is the first turn chicane, which funnels down tightly and has caused many first-lap incidents over the years.
Unexpectedly, the entire 25-car field successfully navigated turn 1 at the start of the race. Nobody even used the runoff area, and the race got underway without interruption.
The green flag condition persisted for much of the race, taking away any thoughts of stretching fuel into a two-stop race.
With no strategic advantages to be had, the polesitter Scott McLaughlin was able to head up the field for the entire afternoon. The Kiwi only lost the lead during pit stop cycles, and cruised to victory by 1.179 seconds.
McLaughlin’s advantage was helped by others fighting behind him on a late restart, which saw his nearest rivals losing time while sorting out the rest of the top five positions.
The win was the 29-year-old’s third of the season, and kept him alive in the championship battle, if only just.
Will Power crossed the line second, and by virtue was able to keep the points lead. The veteran’s calm and collected demeanor continues to serve him well, and gives him the best chance in years to secure a second title.
Scott Dixon consistently clawed back positions from his 16th-place starting position. By running a solid race and ending up on the podium in third, the six-time champion keeps his hopes alive for a seventh going into the final round next weekend.
Unfortunately for his Swedish team-mate, Marcus Ericsson did not have such good fortune. After starting in 18th, the Indy 500 winner only worked his way up to 11th, and has nearly fallen out of contention for the title.
Christian Lundgaard was able to take over second place on the opening lap, but slipped down the order with a double dose of pit stop trouble and one trip through the trackside signage. He ended up down in 21st, but the rookie was still impressive in his Portland debut.
The only yellow of the day came on lap 84, when Rinus VeeKay hip-checked Jimmie Johnson into the wall in the braking zone for turn 1. Johnson was an innocent party in the contact, and VeeKay was given a drive-through penalty for his aggression.
Simon Pagenaud was the first car to retire just past the halfway point with a gearbox issues. His Meyer Shank Racing team originally thought they could stay on track, but the issue proved to need attention back in the garage area.
Another early retirement came by way of Conor Daly, who suffered a rather large fuel fire on his third pit stop. Daly was unhurt, but there was damage to his car and he was forced to bring the car to a halt early.
With many different championship permutations still possible, everyone is already looking ahead to the season finale from Laguna Seca. Only time will tell if the champion will be crowned for the first time, the seventh time, or somewhere in between.
| # | Driver | Time / Gap | Laps Led | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott McLaughlin | 01:56:15.6892 | 104 | 54 |
| 2 | Will Power | -1.1792 | 2 | 41 |
| 3 | Scott Dixon | -1.6006 | – | 35 |
| 4 | Pato O’Ward | -13.8892 | – | 32 |
| 5 | Graham Rahal | -14.8208 | 2 | 31 |
| 6 | Colton Herta | -16.3039 | – | 28 |
| 7 | Alexander Rossi | -17.0044 | – | 26 |
| 8 | Josef Newgarden | .17.6062 | – | 24 |
| 9 | Callum Ilott | -18.0978 | 1 | 23 |
| 10 | Felix Rosenqvist | -18.6356 | – | 20 |
| 11 | Marcus Ericsson | -23.5169 | – | 19 |
| 12 | Alex Palou | -27.5282 | – | 18 |
| 13 | Kyle Kirkwood | -28.3322 | – | 17 |
| 14 | David Malukas | -29.0288 | – | 16 |
| 15 | Jack Harvey | -31.2329 | – | 15 |
| 16 | Devlin DeFrancesco | -32.5754 | – | 14 |
| 17 | Helio Castroneves | -33.8121 | – | 13 |
| 18 | Takuma Sato | -34.0886 | – | 12 |
| 19 | Romain Grosjean | -34.7299 | – | 11 |
| 20 | Rinus VeeKay | -35.4454 | – | 10 |
| 21 | Christian Lundgaard | -44.5500 | 1 | 10 |
| 22 | Dalton Kellett | -1 lap | – | 8 |
| 23 | Simon Pagenaud | -10 laps | – | 7 |
| 24 | Jimmie Johnson | -28 laps | – | 6 |
| 25 | Conor Daly | -43 laps | – | 5 |
