Championship leader Álex Palou extended his lead over Pato O'Ward to a 35-point advantage, thanks to a second place finish in the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. O'Ward remained second in the drivers' standings, after finishing fifth at the previous race. Josef Newgarden sat third, after finishing seventh at Laguna Seca. Fourth-placed Scott Dixon saw his gap to points leader Palou widen to 72 points, effectively ending his hopes of defending his 2020 title.
The trio of Palou, O'Ward, and Newgarden came into the race with a possibility of winning the championship.
Palou would win if:
He finished 12th or better.
He finished 13th or better and led a lap.
O'Ward would win if:
He won the race and Palou finished 25th or lower.
He won the race and led most laps, with Palou not leading a lap and finishing 13th or lower.
He came second, led a lap, and Palou finished 25th or lower.
Newgarden would win the championship if he won and led the most laps in the race, with Palou finishing 25th or lower and with O'Ward finishing second or lower and with Palou and O'Ward not leading a lap of the race.[6]
Practice 1 took place at 6:00 PM ET on September 24, 2021.[2] Championship contenders Pato O'Ward and Josef Newgarden struggled in practice, as Newgarden spun early in the session (with no damage sustained) and classified ninth, while O'Ward only managed to place 16th. Colton Herta finished fastest with a time of 01:09.2680. 2016 race winnerSimon Pagenaud went second fastest, ahead of championship leader Álex Palou in third.[8]
Practice 2 took place at 12:00 PM ET on September 25, 2021.[2] Colton Herta, who topped the first practice charts, went fastest again with a time of 01:07.9783, despite hitting the wall early in the session. Will Power placed second, ahead of James Hinchcliffe, who won the race in 2017, in third.[10]
Qualifying took place at 3:00 PM ET on September 25, 2021.[2]
The first group in Round 1 saw their session end under a red flag, as Jack Harvey crashed into the tire barriers in Turn 8, in his final race for Meyer Shank Racing. Will Power proceeded to make contact with the stationary Harvey, critically damaging his rear wing and right rear wheels. Despite this, Power advanced to the next round. In the second group, Colton Herta, who was fastest in both pre-qualifying practice sessions, failed to advance to the next round, as he initially attempted to set a time with the primary Firestone tires, which led him to not have enough time to set a top 6 lap with the alternate tires.
At the end of the Firestone Fast 12, Will Power stopped in Turn 10 after hitting the wall, triggering a local yellow flag. This forced championship contenders Álex Palou and Pato O'Ward, along with other drivers, to slow down in the area and abort their fast lap, eliminating them from the contest for pole. O'Ward and Palou would start eighth and tenth in the race respectively. Ed Jones, who had initially set a time that would have put him in the Firestone Fast 6, had his lap deleted, as he was judged to have failed to slow down during the local yellow.
In the Firestone Fast 6, championship hopeful Josef Newgarden took pole position with a time of 01:08.2241, ahead of 2015 race winner Scott Dixon in second and Meyer Shank Racing's Hélio Castroneves in third.[6]
The pre-race warmup session took place at 12:00 PM ET on September 26, 2021.[2] Ten minutes into the 30-minute session, Alexander Rossi and Hélio Castroneves collided at the fountain section, causing terminal damage to Castroneves' suspension, ending his warmup session prematurely. Rossi was able to continue and finish the session. Colton Herta topped the session with a time of 01:08.4762. Previous race winners Scott Dixon and Simon Pagenaud came second and third respectively.[13]
The race started at 3:00 PM ET on September 26, 2021.[2] The first lap saw the first caution of the day being triggered, as Ed Jones hit the rear of Pato O'Ward's No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP car at the hairpin in Turn 11, causing O'Ward to spin in the wrong direction. Jones received a drive-through penalty for the incident. At the same lap, Ryan Hunter-Reay experienced a puncture in his right rear tire after contact with Colton Herta, prompting Hunter-Reay to pit, and Sébastien Bourdais spun and stalled his car. The caution lasted two laps and the race went underway again on lap 4.
On lap 17, O'Ward came to a halt on the main straight and eventually retired from the race, due to a broken driveshaft sustained from the first-lap incident, effectively ending his championship hopes. A second caution was brought out, prompting numerous drivers to pit. On lap 25, the race was green flagged, with Hélio Castroneves leading the pack. One lap later, another caution was triggered, which lasted four laps, as Marcus Ericsson crashed into the tire wall in Turn 1, after dueling with Alexander Rossi. On lap 34, Juncos Hollinger Racing's Callum Ilott spun his No. 77 into a run-off area. Ilott's spin prompted Castroneves to make his pit stop, in anticipation of a caution being brought out, but only a local yellow was flagged instead. As a result, Colton Herta took the lead from Castroneves.
On lap 62, Oliver Askew and Conor Daly made contact on the back straight, causing Askew to crash into the tire barriers and Daly to wander into the run-off area. The incident brought out the fourth and final caution of the race, which lasted three laps.
Álex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing won his first IndyCar drivers' title with his fourth-place finish. Josef Newgarden finished the season as championship runner-up, with him finishing second and Pato O'Ward dropping down to third in the standings, after O'Ward only scored five points due to the premature end to his race. Scott Dixon closed out the season in fourth. Colton Herta jumped to fifth after his win, demoting Marcus Ericsson to sixth.
Scott McLaughlin was the highest-placing rookie in the final standings and was therefore crowned Rookie of the Year, finishing 14th in the standings with 305 points over fellow rookie Romain Grosjean in 15th with 272 points.
^"Points - Indycar Engine"(PDF). motorsports.nbcsports.com. September 26, 2021. Archived(PDF) from the original on September 27, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
Josef Newgarden (Team Penske)
Pato O'Ward (Arrow McLaren SP)
Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)
