Spain’s Palou gets 1st career victory

He earns IndyCar win in Ganassi debut, holding off Power, Dixon

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Fernando Alonso is winless so far this season in Formula One. Same with Carlos Sainz.

Over in IndyCar, though, Alex Palou scored a victory for Spain.

Palou picked up his first career win — in his first race with Chip Ganassi Racing — by holding off a pair of series champions in Sunday’s season-opening race at Barber Motorsports Park. The affable 24-year-old raised his fists in the air when he realized he’d reached victory lane before his fellow countrymen, who both raced 5,000 miles away in Italy earlier Sunday.

Palou is only the second Spaniard to win in the IndyCar Series, joining Oriol Servia, who won in 2005 at Montreal.

“It’s just amazing but I think it was part of the job,” he said. “When you are part of a big team and a successful team like Chip Ganassi, they give you all the tools. You have everything you need to win, and that’s why you see so many successful drivers.”

Palou then vowed to find the best fried chicken in Alabama to celebrate his achievement.

“I think that 80% of the drivers will tell you that after a race we need something that is not good for our body and that’s what I’m going to take tonight if I can, fried chicken. And fries. Lots of fries,” he said.

Palou used a two-stop strategy on the picturesque permanent road course to take control of the race but still had to hold off hardcharging Will Power and Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon over the closing laps. Palou beat Power by 0.4016 seconds to claim his first win in his first race driving for the storied Ganassi organization.

Dixon, the six-time and reigning IndyCar champion, finished third and was followed by polesitter Pato O’Ward, who was on a three-stop strategy.

Palou was the quieter offseason signing of the Ganassi organization, which also added seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson to the four-car lineup. But Ganassi also took a gamble on Palou, who had spent one season driving for Dale Coyne Racing with one podium finish and one lap led all year.

He’d raced in Japan and Europe previously but introduced himself to Ganassi last August at the Indianapolis 500 in hopes of landing a job with an elite team.

“One of the dreams was to come here to the U.S. and once you are in the U.S. you want to be more and you want to be competitive, and to be competitive I wanted to be part of Chip,” Palou said. “I actually introduced myself to Chip at the Indy 500 because I wanted to be part of that team. I saw the spirit of the team. To be part of Chip Ganassi is 50 percent of another dream, which is to become a champion.”

Ganassi had been impressed through preseason testing and warned Palou would be a force this season.

“We did some testing over the winter and he was quick all day long at the tests, at one test he was quicker than Dixon,” Ganassi said. “So we knew the potential was there but you don’t know where you are relative to other teams.”

Ganassi finished with three drivers in the top eight as Marcus Ericsson finished eighth.

NASCAR: In Richmond, Virginia, another week, another agonizing loss for Denny Hamlin.

And this time it was to Alex Bowman, who came from nowhere with 10 laps to go at Richmond Raceway to put the No. 48 Chevrolet in victory lane for the first time in nearly four years.

Bowman won for the third time in his career Sunday and denied Hamlin a win in a race he had dominated to become the eighth winner in nine Cup races this season. He dedicated the victory to crew member William “Rowdy” Harrell and his wife, Blakley Harrell, who were killed in a November car crash in Florida while on their honeymoon.

Bowman’s victory in the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports came on the same day the former driver of the car, seventime champion Jimmie Johnson, made his debut in the IndyCar Series in Alabama. It was the first victory for the No. 48 since June 4, 2017.

Johnson was the only driver of the No. 48 when it was formed in 2001 and Bowman was handpicked by sponsor Ally to replace him.

Bowman overcame a penalty on lap 247 for a loose tire on pit road to rally for the win.

For Hamlin, it was the third defeat in three races.

At the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway he didn’t do enough to move Joey Logano out of his way to earn the win, and last week at Martinsville Speedway he was caught late by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr.

In Richmond, Hamlin raced with the hashtag #fedexstrong on the back of his car and on his pit wall to honor the eight people who were fatally shot at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis on Thursday. He again had the dominant car and led 207 of the 400 laps. He’s led 483 laps the last two weeks.