LEXINGTON, Ohio – The more he and his competitors claim IndyCar’s 2023 championship is wide-open, the more Alex Palou stretches his lead, which looks insurmountable.

As IndyCar passed the halfway point of the season Sunday in its ninth race, the 2021 series champ grabbed his fourth win in five races and third in a row, a hot streak the series hasn’t seen in more than three years.

Here’s how Palou rode toward victory at the end of IndyCar’s 80-lapper at Mid-Ohio.

Alex Palou gains an edge in the pits

As it did a week ago, where Road America pole-sitter and late leader Colton Herta seemed to take his final pitstop one lap too early, pit stop strategy proved pivotal as Palou grabbed the lead – and never let it go.

Starting fourth, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver started on Firestone’s harder primary compound tire, setting up an ability to run longer early than the three drivers ahead of him (Herta, Graham Rahal and Kyle Kirkwood).

Battling: IndyCar at Mid-Ohio highlights, crashes, incidents

Herta pitted from the lead at the end of Lap 27, with Rahal doing so at the end of Lap 28, handing the lead to Palou, who stayed out one lap longer. Palou was largely clear of traffic on his in-lap and out-lap, allowing him to shoot him out to the front with 50 laps to go.

Alex Palou makes best of tire strategy

The flip side of that strategy? Palou needed to stay out for more than 20 laps on those red alternate tires, with Herta and others on the harder blacks an advantage at the end of the stint. Palou handled it by building nearly an 8-second lead on Herta in the first half of that stint.

And even while Palou was held up by Benjamin Pedersen, running in the back of the field and about to be lapped, the driver of the No. 10 Honda managed to get around the No. 55 Chevy by Lap 48 with a 3.8-second lead on Herta. By Lap 50, Palou had the cushion back up to 4.5 seconds by Lap 50 and 6.8 seconds by Lap 52.

When he pitted at the end of Lap 53, Palou’s gap on Herta was 8.2 seconds.

Alex Palou's challengers make mistakes

The final pit sequence proved most pivotal.

Herta was called for a pitlane speeding violation at the end of Lap 54, saying on the radio he believed his speed limiter failed. He was given a drive-through penalty, falling to 13^th after serving his penalty. He finished 11th.

Rahal, still in line for a potential top-5 – which would’ve been his first of the year – saw his pit crew struggle to get his left-rear wheel attached properly, wasting valuable time. He finished 7^th.

That handed 2^nd place to six-time Mid-Ohio winner Scott Dixon, who moved into 2^nd place in points with his second podium of the year and third-straight top-4 finish. On Lap 57, Dixon trailed his Ganassi teammate by 8.4 seconds, and 10 laps later, both of them finishing the race on the primary tire, that gap only increased to nearly 12 seconds. By final margin was 5+ seconds, with Will Power taking 3^rd.

IndyCar Series standings

With his fourth win of the year, Palou increased his points lead to 110 over Dixon, with Josef Newgarden, who struggled this weekend and finished 12^th, down 116 points to the leader. By virtue of his Lap 1 crash with Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Ericsson gave up his hold on 2^nd place in the championship with his last-place finish. He now trails Palou in the title race by 122 points, sitting in 4^th.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: Alex Palou wins third race in a row, fourth in five starts