PORTLAND, Ore. – Will Power’s 2024 IndyCar title hopes remain alive after the Team Penske driver became the series’ first driver to pick up three victories this season at Portland International Raceway Sunday afternoon.

After dropping from 2nd- to 4th-place in the championship eight days ago by virtue of a late-race restart crash while battling for a podium spot, the two-time champ took the lead of Sunday’s 110-lapper from polesitter Santino Ferrucci on the opening Turns 1-2 chicane and never seriously surrendered control afterwards, leading a race-high 101 laps.

With points-leader Alex Palou gaining one spot, from 3rd to 2nd, during Sunday’s race, the defending champion (and fellow two-time Astor Cup winner himself) had his cushion trimmed by five points from 59 to 54 during Sunday’s race, with Power himself making up 12 points entering next weekend’s doubleheader at The Milwaukee Mile.

Here’s how he did it:

IndyCar Race recap: Will Power cruises in Portland for his third IndyCar Series win of 2024

Lone race caution allows Power to consistently build lead

The race’s only caution fell midway through Lap 1, as six-time series champion Scott Dixon was shoved off-course by Kyle Kirkwood, sending the Chip Ganassi Racing driver trundling down the mid-pack train and trying to get back up to speed. That speed gap compared to those around him would prove devastating a couple turns later.

Coming through Turn 8, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Pietro Fittipaldi tried to squeeze by Dixon on the inside, running over the top of the curbing, but the pair’s wheels banged, shooting the No. 9 Honda straight off into the outer barriers.

Fittipaldi was handed a drive-thru penalty for avoidable contact from race control, even though Dixon felt Kirkwood was at fault.

IndyCar news: Scott Dixon crashes out Lap 1 of Portland IndyCar race; all but ending title chase

The race remained under caution for five laps before Power took the green flag and began to build his lead.

Power, Penske excel in the pits

Palou overtook Ferrucci for 2nd place on Lap 8, and by Lap 10, he’d closed within 1.2-seconds of Power, a deficit that would remain relatively consistent through the end of the pair’s first stint.

Power dipped in for his first stop on Lap 32, with Palou running a lap longer as he often does to try and gain a fuel advantage towards the end of the race. But in atypical fashion for the Ganassi crew, a lengthy pitstop of more than nine seconds prevented Palou’s overcut from turning into a lead once the full field completed their first pit exchange.

By then – and with no more cautions falling the remainder of the race – Sunday’s action soon turned into a two-man race, with Power’s cushion on 3rd place by Lap 42 more than six seconds.

With the help of a deviating tire strategy – Power ran his second stint on used alternates, vs. Palou’s slower used primaries – the Team Penske driver pushed his lead up above three seconds by the race’s halfway point.

Despite lapped traffic, Power runs away from Palou

Power again used a strong day on pitlane to his advantage on his second stop, boosting his lead by more than two seconds to 5.5 seconds on Lap 60 by the end of the second pit exchange. Compared to Palou, Power spent two fewer seconds in his pit box than Palou, while also gaining 1.1-seconds on his in-lap.

That cushion would prove important.

By Lap 65, the leaders began to encounter cars on the tail end of the lead lap. As Power struggled to overtake the first few cars he approached, Palou’s deficit to the lead shrunk under one second – and got as low as 0.3 seconds. Power remained resolute, carving his way through the competition, and eventually recovered a 1- – and then 2-second – lead.

The pair pitted for the final time just before Lap 90, and shortly after Power blended out on-track and got up to speed, his lead had reached 2.9 seconds – a cushion that would reach 10 seconds before the checkered flag.

With Power’s Penske teammate Josef Newgarden more than 23 seconds back by the checkered flag, Palou safely held onto a runner-up finish, his 6th podium of the year. Following last weekend’s race-winner Newgarden, Colton Herta strung together his fourth-consecutive top 5 in 4th-place. In his first full-time season running for Chip Ganassi Racing – and his future in the sport presently unclear – Marcus Armstrong registered his fourth top 5 of the year in 5th place.

Marcus Ericsson (6th), Scott McLauglin (7th), Ferrucci (8th), Graham Rahal (9th) and Kyle Kirkwood (10th) rounded out the day’s top 10.

Entering The Mile, Power trails Palou by 54 points in the championship race, with Herta (67 points back) and McLaughlin (88) the only other drivers within 100 points of Palou as he attempts to become the first-back-to-back champion in IndyCar since Dario Franchitti (2009-11).

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: Will Power dominates Portland, within 54 points of title lead