Chip Ganassi Racing may have a new method to start off races with disaster to end up in victory lane. Palou was one of two Ganassi cars to go off track while battling for the lead into turn 1. Teammate Scott Dixon dove to the inside from third on the start and looked ready to take the position when Arrow McLaren SP's Felix Rosenqvist came in hot and tapped the left-rear tire of Palou. Rosenqvist went hard into the runoff area, while Dixon and Palou's respective recoveries left both Chip Ganassi Racing team cars in the turn 1 runoff as a yellow came out for other spins further back in the field.
They recovered well with Palou taking the win and Dixon coming come in third.
“I can only believe it that we found our way to victory,” said Palou. “I don’t care that much we have the championship points lead. I would just be trying to win the race. I did that today!”
“I did not know what had happened behind me at the start, until I felt followers ramming into the back of me,” Palou said. “Until I noticed it was my teammates.”
Final Results:
Alex Palou
Alexander Rossi
Scott Dixon
Jack Harvey
Josef Newgarden
Felix Rosenqvist
Marcus Ericsson
Colton Herta
Scott McLaughlin
Graham Rahal
Ed Jones
Takuma Sato
Will Power
Pato O'Ward
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Conor Daly
Rinus VeeKay
Sebastien Bourdais
Max Chilton
Jimmie Johnson
Simon Pagenaud
Romain Grosjean
Helio Castroneves
Oliver Askew
Callum Ilott
Dalton Kellett
James Hinchcliffe
Check out the recap by Nate Ryan at NBC Sports:
Paul Kelly provides a recap from the mother ship: