As he felt his lap seatbelts come loose just 12 laps into the Nashville season finale and he headed for the pitlane, Will Power would've known immediately that his IndyCar title hopes were over.
But it was only after the race, after the issue had reared its head again, that he had the sobering thought that had he been in a crash, he could have been "thrown out of the car".
"It actually just popped [out], a failure, it didn't just come loose, it just popped off," Power told a group of media including The Race.
"I was in the middle of a battle, and then I felt it, I'm like, 'Yeah, that's off, I have to pit'.
"Then it did it again later in the race. So it's a faulty seatbelt, faulty clasp, or whatever it is.
"[It was a] pretty bad situation, really, because I didn't even think about, 'Man, if I hit the wall, what happens there?' If it's just popping off, a little bit of pressure from my body, I might get thrown out of the car.
"So, yeah, that didn't cross my mind after we plugged it in. 'Did it not quite go in?'. But after the second time, I was like, there's something wrong with it."
Power, who confirmed he'd never had that kind of issue before, did make it to the end of the race but going five laps down initially while the issue was fixed consigned him to the back.
He ultimately ended up 24th and last of the cars running at the finish, eight laps down.
"That is a strange one in a clasp that we've been using," he added. "What happens if I have a crash at some point? Was it just a faulty clasp? I don't know.
"I know we've got to clearly look into it pretty deep, because it's a serious situation, if it is faulty, for that manufacturer."
His Penske team is investigating the issue further.
Power ended the season tied on most wins for a single driver (three) but still felt like a title outsider heading to the Nashville finale as Alex Palou's only realistic contender, as the minimum he needed was a top-three finish to overhaul his Ganassi rival.
That belt issue, combined with Colton Herta winning the race and Scott McLaughlin finishing fifth, meant Power fell from second to fourth in the final standings.
Ultimately, a spin in the penultimate race at Milwaukee - on a day when Palou was effectively sidelined by a pre-race battery issue - was the pivotal moment; without that, Power could have cut the gap by far more and eased the pressure on his shoulders for a result in the finale considerably.
Crashing into Penske team-mate McLaughlin in Toronto while fighting for the top five was another crucial error, along with crashes at Iowa and in the Indianapolis 500. While Palou didn't have a perfect season, it seemed only perfection would beat him and all the contenders left too many points on the table.
Herta, who ended up as the championship runner-up, crashed out of the Indy 500 when he had a really strong car, and spun in a Detroit race that he had taken pole for.
McLaughlin - who jumped Power but remained third in the points - also crashed in Detroit and hit Power at Laguna Seca. No one was perfect enough to unseat Palou.
Still, Power looks back on his season with pride.
After winning the 2022 title, Power had a disastrous 2023 and racing took a backseat in his mind as his partner Liz experienced serious health concerns. He's admitted he considered quitting racing because he was worried about making sure his children had parents, and weighing up some of the toughest questions anyone in life can face - the kind that make racing seem trivial.
With Liz fighting back and attending races this year, Power's been back on form, as his record shows. He just felt he didn't find the same balance between aggression and consistency as he did in 2022, when he only won one race but remained extremely consistent.
"Very satisfying," he said of his season.
"Three race wins, one on an oval, won a couple of road courses. Had a dominant win too [at Portland in August].
"I feel like my race pace is always very good on the road and street courses. It's just a matter of getting up to the front and using it.
"It's just a good year for the whole team. Obviously we'd love to win the championship, and I think we all had the potential. It's just, Palou is very good; very, very good. He's very measured. He's a tough guy to beat.
"So if you're beating him in a championship, you've done a good job."
Power should know - he's the only person to beat Palou in a championship since the now three-time champion joined Ganassi for 2021.
Palou's staggering record
Palou, who finished 11th at Nashville, won in 2021, 2023 and now in 2024 to become the first back-to-back champion since Dario Franchitti took three in a row with Ganassi from 2009-11.
Palou said Franchitti had told him that he had to win three titles in a row now - something Palou joked he would start on come Monday.
But Palou's achievements are no joke. In the space of four seasons, he's racked up three titles - a feat only 13 drivers have done previously. He's in his fifth year in IndyCar and is just 27.
It's not the perfect or most direct comparison, but six-time champion Scott Dixon, Palou's team-mate, took 13 years to bag three titles. And this title also meant Palou surpassed Power and Josef Newgarden, who are on two titles.
The rate at which he's racked up this record is so, so impressive and there's little sign of the run ending.
He did make one rare mistake, crashing at Iowa, but you'd struggle to pin any other 2024 issues on him - like being taken out by Newgarden in Detroit, which ended a run of Palou finishing in the top 10 in the previous 24 races.
He also had an average finishing position of 2.5 - yes you read that correctly - on road courses. His numbers beggar belief.
The Race asked Palou what’s next given the rate of success he's achieved. Does he look at long-term aims or merely try to win the next race, and the next, and the next?
"I love to have the opportunity to be in a position to win races and championships," he said.
"I'm not setting a goal of trying to win four or five or anything like that. I think it's surreal to have won three IndyCar championships. I never thought in my best dreams that I would be in this position.
"I take one race at a time, one lap at a time. For me, every lap that I'm doing is the most important of my life. I do the same for every race. Hopefully we can keep on winning races and championships."
The only significant change for Palou entering the 2024 season was that he became a father last December. Other drivers have spoken about how having children makes you more focused because you have to manage your time better.
It's clearly had an impact on him.
"They say winning is the best thing in life, which I agree [with]," he said. "They say being a dad is the best thing in life, which I double agree. But when you do both the same year, it's really super special.
"It's been an amazing year of learning, obviously. Maybe sleeping a little bit less. Not being able to be on the simulator as much as I used to at home, playing video games.
"It's been amazing. I wouldn't change anything that I'm living at the moment. It was the best thing to have her at my first win this year at the Indy road course, to have her today celebrating."
Every year you try to look for something that might derail Palou.
In 2022 he was being sued by his own team as he tried to engineer his way to McLaren, which certainly didn't help the second half of his season. But it seems like a lifetime ago that Ganassi and Palou were opposed as they fit so well together. It shows why Ganassi has fought so hard to keep him.
He won last year despite a contractual dispute with McLaren after he ultimately snubbed it to stay at Ganassi and won this year even after McLaren has initiated proceedings in a commercial court in the UK for a breach of contract and potential damages.
He's cruised through these off-track problems the last two years, so they appear to have been vanquished - at least in terms of their impact on him behind the wheel.
There is significant change at Ganassi next year, with an Indy NXT (formerly Indy Lights) programme and a new technical tie-up with the Meyer Shank team that has been with Andretti-aligned since 2022.
Asked by The Race about how Ganassi will replicate its form amid these changes, team owner Chip Ganassi replied: "That's a good question." (Thanks, Chip!)
"I guess it will be Monday before we get into that. Right now I think we're just going to celebrate a little bit tonight.
"I think it's not a big stretch for us. Basically we're turning our sportscar team into an Indy NXT team, and we'll go from there.
"We still have a great group of engineers. We still have a great group of people. Bringing on a technical partner like Mike Shank is a good thing for our team, and I hope it's a good thing for his team.
"I look forward to it."
It's a sobering thought but, short of multiple reliability issues and a perfect challenger, it's hard to see anyone else wrestling the IndyCar Series from Palou's grasp.
