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Power takes IndyCar crown as Palou wins at Laguna Seca / Photo: © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Power takes IndyCar crown as Palou wins at Laguna Seca
Australia's Will Power won the 2022 IndyCar drivers championship on Sunday with a third-place finish while Spain's Alex Palou captured the season-ending Monterey Grand Prix.
Palou pulled away in the final 20 laps to defeat US runner-up Josef Newgarden by more than 30 seconds after 95 laps over the 2.238-mile Laguna Seca Raceway in Northern California.
Power, who needed only a podium finish to clinch the season crown, took third to grab his second career title after 2014.
In the championship chase, Power defeated Newgarden by 560-544 points with New Zealand's Scott Dixon third.
Power, 41, won his only race of the season at Detroit but managed eight other podium finishes.
Newgarden, the 2017 and 2019, season champion, settled for a third consecutive runner-up showing.
Power became IndyCar's all-time pole leader on Saturday with his 68th, breaking the mark he shared with legend Mario Andretti.
Dixon missed out on a seventh career IndyCar season title that would have matched A.J. Foyt's all-time record.
Palou, in a legal fight with team owner Chip Ganassi over his 2023 contract status, won last year's season title and ended 2022 with his fourth career victory.
Power seized the lead at the start and stayed there until getting tires and fuel on lap 15, but the Aussie returned to the front after the first cycle of pit stops.
Spain's Alex Palou passed Power for the lead on lap 27 and they pitted on lap 39 just before a caution when Britain's Callum Ilott stalled on the course.
Palou jumped ahead at the restart on lap 43 and Power fended off Sweden's Felix Rosenqvist to stay in second with his four title rivals all in the top 10.
Fast-charging Newgarden, who started last in the field of 25, moved into third behind Power and passed the Aussie for second on lap 46 in the downhill-plunge eighth turn known as the "corkscrew."
Newgarden pitted with 34 laps remaining and fell to sixth but attacked again on fresh tires, taking the lead with 29 laps to go when Power and Palou pitted for the last time.
With 21 laps remaining, Newgarden made his final stop and returned to the track in second, well behind Palou but ahead of third-place Power and that's how they finished.
S. Aparecido--JDB
