Sometimes all you need is a little luck. Alex Palou’s front wing was hanging on by a thread but the key was it lasted 40 laps to get the Spaniard to the finish. As a result of doing so, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES points lead actually extend his points lead in coming from a 15th place starting spot to finish runner-up in Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto.

Even while doing so, Palou admitted he drove the final 20 or so laps worried that he wasn’t going to make it until the end. His front wing from the Lap 46 incident with Kyle Kirkwood and Helio Castroneves could have broke free at any time.

It luckily for him, didn’t. Remarkable at that.

Palou felt like it was a matter of time. He had to slow down to hang onto a badly handling race car at that point and still managed to hold everyone minus one driver off in the process.

“Yeah, so I could feel it dragging on turn two, that it was flat out, and you are turning right. I could feel it dragging. I was, like, Oh, man, that’s not good,” Palou admitted.

“Then also on the curve in turn five and in turn eight, but I didn’t think it was that bad. I could feel that it was increasing. And I was, like, Oh, man.

“Barry told me, Ten laps to go, and I thought, honestly, that it was not going to — we were not going to end the race with that nose.

“Yeah, I was pretty surprised. I think it was only the vinyl, like, the stickers that were holding it because there’s nothing else there. So, yeah, pretty impressive.”

Palou’s gap to the lead was growing while his gap to his competition behind was dropping drastically. Colton Herta made it to his rear wing. Will Power was behind Herta just biding his time. Even Marcus Ericsson was lurking.

If Palou let Herta by, he’d realistically fall back to fifth at best. If he pit, he’d likely fall down to 15th. So, he held on.

“At one point I thought we were going to finish behind Marcus,” Palou continued. “I saw it on the mirrors that it was Colton, Power, and Marcus; and I said, Oh, man, I’m not going to be able to make it.

“But I was concerned about fuel, which was the biggest problem for our strategy. I was concerned on tires because with the front wing I just couldn’t turn left. I was concerned by the wing. So I was a bit concerned about everything, to be honest.

“The right side started disappearing, and the left side started coming up, and I was, like, Oh, man, that’s not good.

“Yeah, it was really bad, honestly, and it was tough to drive because I didn’t really have the same grip to the right and to the left.

“Obviously it’s one of the most bumpiest tracks that we have on braking zones, on curves, and then turn ten it was the worst where I couldn’t do anything. I was just trying to go around, but I was losing quite a lot of grip compared to the following guy.

“As I said, glad that we made it with the front wing.”

While this wasn’t a win in the victories category for Palou, it was a win in regards to the championship as he finished ahead of all his main rivals for the title after starting behind them prior to the 85-lap event.

Which forced us to look at something that we didn’t expect to entering the weekend. How much would be cut out of his lead.

Scott Dixon started seventh. Josef Newgarden was in 11th. How much further would they finish ahead of Palou?

Dixon and Newgarden had combined to have won 6 of the previous 10 Honda Indy Toronto’s including 4 of the last 6 and 3 of the last 4 at that.

Dixon was coming off of a runner-up finish in Mid-Ohio and had three straight top two finishes here including a win just last season. Newgarden is a two-time winner.

However, Palou finished two spots ahead of Dixon and three clear of Newgarden.

It was a wild day for the Spaniard that saw him climb into the top 10 after the first pit sequence. Then, he was called down pit road on Lap 44 which proved to be a championship type of decision.

By doing so, he was back in the game for a potential win.

Then came the Lap 45 restart for which Kyle Kirkwood punted Helio Castroneves in Turn 11. Palou went to the outside to evade getting caught up in it and when Castroneves spun up, Palou scrapped the wall. It damaged the wing.

He felt fine so didn’t pit.

“I was behind the 27. I know he was the leader on my strategy — on our strategy, let’s say. I will speak to at that time,” Palou said of the incident.

“I went on the inside because they didn’t go when it was green. Everybody started going, and I didn’t want to get overtaken.

“I went on the inside. He tried to be on the outside, and I think I got checked up, braked, and the 27 spun around the 60, or the 0-6.

“Then I just tried to avoid the car, but he hit me, and I hit the wall. I don’t know how, but the engine was still running, and we were able to drive off only losing a couple of spots.”

Under that caution, all but three cars that didn’t pit on Lap 44 did. That was a questionable move by those three and didn’t work out for them.

Kirkwood was penalized and Palou got by Herta for the top spot on the Lap 44 pit strategy. But, with the damaged wing and having to save fuel, he didn’t have anything to hold off Christian Lundgaard.

But, he held off the rest to finish second for his ninth straight top five finish including five top two results in the last six races.

He’s on a string of finishes of 1st, 4th, 1st, 1st, 1st and 2nd.

Which is why even with Newgarden 2nd in Road America and Dixon runner-up in Mid-Ohio and now fourth, the points lead keeps growing.

Palou’s points lead grows from 110 over Dixon and 116 over Newgarden entering the weekend to 117 and 126 respectively leaving it. Marcus Ericsson goes from 122 down to 142. Pato O’Ward dropped from 127 back to 143.

“Yeah, it feels great,” Palou said of extending his points lead. “Honestly, we had a really fast car. We wouldn’t be here without a fast car.

“What happened yesterday in qualifying was my fault completely. The car was fast. I just didn’t put the lap together when I had to and then it started raining. Otherwise, we would have had a lot easier weekend.

“But, yeah, anyway, I’m glad that he were with able to overcome. It’s not easy in INDYCAR and especially on races like that.

“I think our race was a lot more difficult than it might seem if you look at the results. Like, at one point I was in the wall. I didn’t know if we were going to be able to make it from there or not. We had to overtake quite a lot of cars on track, manage the fuels, manage the tires.

“It was a tough race, for sure.”

The gap from Palou to Dixon remains two races which is massive heading to what could be Palou’s worst weekend.

Palou has finished 11th, 14th, 6th and 13th at Iowa and 15th, 12th, 20th and ninth in Gateway. Those two tracks account for 3 of the next 5 races.

So, for Palou to hold onto the lead and even extend it, well that’s a huge win.

Newgarden has won 6 of the last 8 oval races including being 2-for-2 this season. He’s absolutely a threat at both Iowa and Gateway which make up 3 races in a 5 race stretch.

Dixon may be 0-for-17 at Iowa, but he’s also had five straight top five finishes there too including a pair of runner-ups at that.

Then it’s to Nashville. Dixon won last year and was runner-up in 2022. After is to the Indy road course to where both Dixon and Newgarden have won at. So has Palou, most recently. Then it’s to Gateway.

After that is Portland for which Palou won at in 2021 and Laguna Seca to where he won last year.

This next 5 race stretch could be where Palou can keep this untouchable or opens the door.