The Chip Ganassi Racing driver put in a masterly performance at the front, but when Power pressed, Palou pulled the trigger on his remaining push-to-pass on the penultimate lap to build enough buffer to pull the Penske driver back hold.
Palou started the race from third on the grid and started in the first corners to pursue the leading pair of polesitters Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi.
Then Power’s Penske stablemate Josef Newgarden triggered a violent incident on lap 1 after losing traction on the lawn at the exit of Turn 4 to spear across the circuit and collect a number of cars in the process.
Andretti’s Colton Herta sped into the side Newgarden, which then went into the arriving Ryan Hunter-Reay – when Arrow McLaren SP’s new recruit, Felix Rosenqvist, was thrown into the air after collecting Carlin’s Max Chilton.
O’Ward then held the lead on the restart, despite struggling with the softer option tires on the first stint and complaining that his McLaren SP run felt “undrivable”.
Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Romain Grosjean and Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda crash
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
The Mexican pitted at the end of round 18, along with Rossi, who threw Palou off balance when he was able to bring his two-stop strategy into play.
Palou began to build a gap with the now runner-up Power and was able to hold his pace until he was a third of the race behind him – ahead of O’Ward.
But O’Ward was able to overtake the Spanish driver to regain the net lead of the race four laps later, but had to assert himself again at the middle distance on a three-stop racing schedule.
From there, Palou stayed in the driver’s seat, but power then became his main threat – he thwarted the advantage as the Australian tried to kickstart his 2021 title ambitions with a win.
As the gap narrowed, Palou decided to pit again with 29 laps left for fresh primary tires, and Power followed one lap later.
From then on it was all about controlling tire wear and fuel economy, but Power continued to squeeze Palou when Conor Daly’s Ed Carpenter race car in front of them refused to submit to the blue flags to stay on the lead lap.
Race winner Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Photo by: Barry Cantrell / Motorsport Images
Though Power came to a second within two laps, Palou used his passport to outrun the 2014 IndyCar champion – and took his first win on his first outing with the Ganassi team.
Power crossed the line 2.5 seconds ahead of reigning champion Scott Dixon, who felt O’Ward’s breath on the back of his neck as the polesitter tried to take advantage of his fresher rubber.
Sebastien Bourdais took an excellent fifth place thanks to an opportunistic strategy by his AJ Foyt team in which he made his first stop under the second caution period – brought out for seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who spun at Turn 12, after breaking out of Rinus VeeKay’s filthy air.
Bourdais was then able to make the most of his fresh primary tires to get through the midfielders early, as was VeeKay behind him.
VeeKay was also implicated in the first-lap crash but managed to continue without damage and recovered with aplomb from the broken finger he sustained in a test accident in Indianapolis last week to finish in sixth place.
Graham Rahal, who tiptoed through the wreck in lap 1, was also able to prevail, as his team from Rahal Letterman Lanigan was able to unlock the performance in the earlier warm-up phase and finished in seventh place ahead of Marcus Ericsson.
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Ericsson was fourth for much of the final stint, but his earlier stop forced him to save fuel – and the ex-Sauber F1 driver had to back off against the supercharging Bourdais and VeeKay.
The Swede ended up standing on the decay lap after running out of fuel, but still finished eighth ahead of Rossi, who made an early effort to implement his three-stop strategy.
Romain Grosjean was the best of the newcomers and finished 10th – 24 seconds behind Rossi, but 5 seconds ahead of Jack Harvey in 11th place.
Three-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin got off to a brilliant start and kept ninth, but had to drop the order with three stops and eventually finished 14th, battling two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato on death.
After falling on lap 1, Chilton was able to return after only two laps lost, while Rosenqvist and Herta rejoined the fight later in the race for a larger collection of championship points – Rosenqvist classified 21st and Herta one place behind.
