INDIANAPOLIS – It could be too early to place Alex Palou within the dialog as one in every of IndyCar’s all-time greats, however the widespread driver from Spain is definitely off to a terrific begin.
Palou has three NTT IndyCar Collection Championships in simply 4 seasons. He’s the primary driver to win back-to-back IndyCar Collection titles since Dario Franchitti gained three-straight from 2009-2011.
He has all of the makings of changing into a generational expertise in IndyCar.
The Sixties and Nineteen Seventies belonged to AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al and Bobby Unser. Rick Mears represented excellence within the Nineteen Eighties. Al Unser, Jr. and Alex Zanardi epitomized the Nineties. Sam Hornish and Sebastien Bourdais have been the celebs of the early 2000s.
The present technology belongs to six-time IndyCar Collection champion Scott Dixon.
Palou is ready to personal the long run.
However there stay some targets that Palou wants to realize earlier than he reaches legendary standing.
In a five-season IndyCar profession that started with Dale Coyne Racing and Group GOH in 2020, Palou has gained 11 races, all coming within the final 4 seasons. With 11 victories in his first 81 begins, that’s fairly a formidable common.
However Palou would be the first to confess that none of these wins have come on an oval race monitor and that could be a motivating issue for the Chip Ganassi Racing driver as he prepares for the 2025 season.
“I’m not proud in any respect about that stat, clearly,” Palou informed NBCSports.com. “I am proud that we’ve not misplaced time on successful championships whereas I am nonetheless getting up to the mark on the ovals, however I am not proud that we’ve not gained on an oval but.
“We have been knocking on that door. I have been pushing myself. All people on the group has been pushing to try to get that one, nevertheless it was not the 12 months but.
“We will likely be working, we will likely be getting ready and hopefully we are able to knock two large targets that we’ve, which is the oval win and the Indy 500 win, in a single weekend subsequent 12 months.”
Group proprietor Chip Ganassi noticed star high quality in Palou when he was at Dale Coyne Racing and employed him to drive the No. 10 Honda throughout the offseason. Palou drove to victory in his very first race for Ganassi within the 2021 season-opening contest at Barber Motorsports Park on April 18, 2021.
Six weeks later, Palou was battling Helio Castroneves for the victory within the a hundred and fifth Indianapolis 500 on Could 30, 2021. Palou carried out with all of the savvy of a confirmed Indy 500 veteran that day however couldn’t beat one of many all-time best drivers in Indy 500 historical past as Castroneves gained the Indianapolis 500 for the fourth time in his profession.
Castroneves turned the fourth, four-time Indy 500 winner that day, becoming a member of AJ Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears as the one drivers to win the world’s largest race 4 instances of their profession.
Palou may have scored his first oval monitor victory within the largest race on the schedule in 2021.
“It will have been unimaginable, however possibly it was too early, possibly it was too early for me to suppose that I used to be good on ovals,” Palou stated. “This has been pushing me to look possibly very deep, very deep on how Scott drives, how my teammates drive, how different folks drive, how different groups carry out, and what I can try to get from myself to try to be the perfect I can on an oval.”
For any IndyCar Collection driver, the best motivation is successful the Indianapolis 500 adopted by an IndyCar Collection Championship.
A championship proves a driver’s talent and talent on road programs, highway programs, brief ovals and superspeedways. The IndyCar title often is the best check of a racer’s talent of any championship in racing as a result of it calls for excellence in numerous disciplines.
The Indianapolis 500 is essentially the most historic race on the planet that pulls the biggest crowd of any single-day, paid sporting occasion on Earth.
An IndyCar Collection Championship is well known all through the offseason, earlier than settling in on a race driver’s report.
An Indianapolis 500 victory stands the check of time as a driver turns into immortalized on the Borg-Warner Trophy with a Bas Aid picture of the motive force’s face added to the everlasting trophy that includes each winner since Ray Harroun gained the primary Indianapolis 500 in 1911.
When requested how essential an Indy 500 win can be to Palou’s profession, his face lit up along with his trademark smile.
“Oh, you will notice once we get it, hopefully very quickly,” Palou stated. “I really like this sport loads. I really like the followers loads, however I really like the occasion and that monitor a lot.
“It has a unique form of vitality. You’ll be able to really feel it while you enter the monitor and through driver intros, seeing everyone there it is tremendous particular. I can’t wait.”
There’s little doubt that Palou is the perfect driver in IndyCar within the 2020s, even with out successful a race on an oval monitor.
But it surely’s apparent that the motive force of the No. 10 DHL Honda is motivated to gather the complete set of IndyCar victories on every kind of monitor. He introduced that up himself when he completed second to Group Penske’s Scott McLaughlin within the Hy-Vee One Step 250 at Iowa Speedway on July 14, 2024.
McLaughlin gained his first race on an oval that day and stated he can lastly name himself “an IndyCar driver” with that victory.
Palou’s response was barely beautiful, contemplating his championship standing.
“For positive a giant step up, however I nonetheless a very long time to go,” Palou stated of ending second on an oval. “I can’t name myself an IndyCar driver but till I win on an oval.”
It was a shocking assertion for IndyCar’s greatest driver to make. Even one in every of his fiercest rivals reassured Palou of his expertise.
“No, you undoubtedly can (name your self an IndyCar driver),” McLaughlin stated with fun. “Don’t fret about that.”
A have a look at Palou’s time at Chip Ganassi Racing definitely proves why he has earned his standing as a generational expertise. He scored three victories in 2021 when he gained his first championship.
On July 12, 2022, Palou made a shocking announcement that he had signed a contract to hitch McLaren in 2023 that included a possible Formulation One alternative. Ganassi objected, invoked the choice 12 months on Palou’s contract, which compelled Palou to meet the phrases of the contract for the 2023 season.
That was a 12 months the place Palou was almost flawless. He gained 5 races in 2023 and have become the primary driver since Sebastien Bourdais in 2007 to clinch the season title earlier than the ultimate race of the season.
By August of 2023, Palou concluded he was on the perfect group within the collection and informed McLaren he wouldn’t honor the settlement to hitch the group in 2024.
Ganassi signed Palou to a contract extension on the finish of final season, and Palou thanked him with one other championship in what some might view as a “bonus” 12 months for this mix.
Palou gained two races in 2024 and was capable of capitalize on the errors made by his championship rivals.
“I’d describe final 12 months 2023 as simply magical once we had 5 wins,” Palou defined. “We by no means had any large points even when the entrance wing was falling off and we completed second in Toronto. Worst end was eighth, so it was only a magical nearly excellent season.
“This one was a magical season the place you find yourself successful the championship, nevertheless it was not all excellent.
“We had a number of downs with some driver errors, some accidents that we have been concerned that we could not actually do something, mechanical points, engine penalties, like this final race at Nashville that we needed to begin twenty fourth.
“We needed to overcome much more much more points however nonetheless it has been magical that we ended up successful the championship back-to-back.”
When he clinched his third IndyCar Collection title within the last race of the season, the Large Machine Music Metropolis Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway on September 15, Palou was 27 years, 5 months, 14 days previous, making him the second-youngest driver to win three championships. Solely Sam Hornish Jr. was youthful at 27 years, 2 months, 8 days when he gained his third title in 2006.
Palou turned simply the thirteenth driver in IndyCar historical past to win at the very least three championships. He’s simply the seventh to win three titles in 4 years with Dario Franchitti — additionally for Ganassi — the final to take action from 2009 by 2011.
By successful the IndyCar Collection title in 2023 and 2024, he turned the primary driver to win back-to-back championships since Franchitti gained three-straight from 2009 to 2011.
Palou is the newest star driver on one of many star groups in all of racing, the famed Chip Ganassi Racing. His third IndyCar Collection Championship was group proprietor Chip Ganassi’s sixteenth in a 29-year interval.
Jimmy Vasser gained Ganassi’s first championship in 1996 in CART. Alex Zanardi gained two extra CART championships in 1997 and 1998, and Juan Pablo Montoya gained the 1999 CART championship, giving the group 4 in a row throughout that stretch.
The string of success continued with Scott Dixon successful six championships starting in 2003 and most not too long ago in 2020. Franchitti gained three of his 4 IndyCar Collection titles from 2009 to 2011.
“It’s surreal to be right here once more, it’s superb that we have gained three championships and that we have been capable of do it back-to-back,” Palou stated. “Man, I simply need extra now.
“This sense of successful, this sense of overcoming points along with the group and dealing each single weekend simply to try to be a little bit bit higher, it has been superb.
NBCSports.com requested Palou was requested which is extra spectacular — that he has gained back-to-back IndyCar Collection championships or that he has claimed three titles in 4 years?
“It is robust to say, however I’d say back-to-back,” Palou stated. “To return-to-back, it’s really actually robust simply because while you win generally it is easy to possibly chill out a little bit bit and suppose that ‘Hey, we have been so good final 12 months, possibly we need not push as a lot. I discovered that after 2021 that, man, everyone’s attempting to catch up from right this moment most likely.
“So, back-to-back is actually robust. That is most likely why we do not see that always. I’d say clearly three and 4 years, it’s totally robust as properly.
“Hopefully we carry on working, we carry on pushing and in case you can try to catch as much as what Dario did again in 2009, and 2011.”
Franchitti can relate to Palou’s streak of success as he skilled that earlier than his profession was reduce brief after struggling a severe head harm in a crash within the 2013 Shell Grand Prix of Houston.
Franchitti gained each the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Collection Championship in 2007 when he was with what’s now referred to as Andretti International. He left IndyCar in 2008 to hitch Chip Ganassi Racing in NASCAR as a result of he needed a brand new problem.
Franchitti returned to IndyCar with Ganassi in 2009 and made essentially the most out of his second IndyCar profession. He gained two extra Indy 500s in 2010 and 2012 and gained three extra IndyCar Collection Championships from 2009 to 2011 giving him a complete of 4 IndyCar Collection titles.
After his racing profession ended abruptly with the crash within the IndyCar Collection race at Houston, Franchitti remained at CGR as a driver coach and guide.
He has labored carefully with Palou and the 2 share a really optimistic relationship.
“I’ve stated it since 2021 that he was an enormous a part of the group success and he’s right this moment, as a lot as he was in 2021,” Palou stated. “I’d say all over the place. He was an incredible, IndyCar driver. He is capable of see stuff that possibly I do not see as a result of I am so centered on my driving.
“Dario is ready to possibly zoom out a little bit bit and be like ‘Alex, possibly it’s essential see what Scott Dixon is doing or what Marcus or Linus or different teammates are doing, or it’s essential try to push Julian, my engineer, on that route.
“He is an enormous a part of the group I’d say that possibly it on the group for therefore lengthy and realizing him so properly privately you lose a little bit little bit of the respect that I’d have if he was from one other group or if I did not have that relationship, nevertheless it’s pushing me to try to be like him. I’m attempting to catch up and hopefully subsequent 12 months we are able to do the identical factor they did again in 2009 with really the identical automobile, identical group, identical quantity.”
Franchitti was among the many first to congratulate Palou for becoming a member of him as a back-to-back champion. He then rapidly reminded the motive force that he stays one-up on him.
“Very first thing he stated, ‘I nonetheless have another’ which means like he did it three years in a row,” Palou defined. “However that is what I imply. It makes you respect what he did however on the identical time, it pushes you to love, hey, man, I can try to catch you.
“I am positive that he’ll be pushing the group, he will likely be pushing myself subsequent 12 months to try to get three in a row as he did.”
Palou made the ultimate race of the season a little bit extra dramatic than obligatory. He was the quickest driver within the Saturday morning follow session and regarded a menace for the pole.
By altering engines after the earlier race at Milwaukee, Palou’s No. 10 was over its allotment of engine modifications for the season, which meant a 9, grid-position penalty for the race at Nashville.
If Palou gained the pole, he would have began ninth. However he certified a stunning fifteenth, which mixed with the penalty, positioned him twenty fourth on the beginning grid.
That put Group Penske’s Will Energy in a respectable place to truly win the championship within the race, if Palou didn’t end within the high 11.
Twenty-four hours later, on Lap 13, the drama all left the championship chase when Energy needed to come into the pits as a result of the lap belts got here unconnected.
5 laps handed earlier than Energy may return to the race and by then, the championship was over. “Yeah, it is loopy,” Palou mirrored. “I’ve by no means heard that any person had points with the belts in IndyCar earlier than, and I’d say that it has been lengthy since any person on the identical time had points with the battery, regular 12-volt battery within the automobile earlier than, like we had a few weeks in the past at Milwaukee.
“So, it has been a season of drama as you say the place you do not you did not actually know if Alex was going to clinch it and run away. No, the battery fails and now Will Energy is getting the chief factors in Milwaukee however then he has a difficulty on a restart after which he loses the lap belts in Nashville on the season finale.
“Not the best way you need your high contender to go down. On the identical time, I believe that is higher than an accident and him being harm or something clearly, however nonetheless it has been a season that no one had an ideal an ideal season total and I am glad that we have been capable of have simply the perfect season total.”
Whereas Palou is the star driver at Chip Ganassi Racing with three championships, the legend within the lineup is Dixon with six IndyCar Collection championships. That’s only one behind AJ Foyt’s report of seven.
Group proprietor Ganassi stated if Scott Dixon is the “Ice Man,” then Palou is “Cool as a cucumber.”
Palou believes conserving his cool is a significant a part of his success.
“It relies upon,” he admitted. “I believe there can be some drivers that could not or would not have the ability to carry out possibly with my mindset, would not have the ability to be so explosive with my mind-set and I’d say not solely racing however life basically.
“But it surely works for me. It is what retains me pushing, what retains me by no means giving up and at all times attempting to see the intense facet of the problems that we’ve.
“On the identical time, I believe it would not work for me to be so explosive and possibly a bit hotter when every thing was good and a bit extra determined when every thing was going dangerous.
“I believe there are two sides which works for various drivers and I am glad we’ve completely different personalities in IndyCar.”
Practically each driver up and down pit lane has displayed a mood on occasion. It’s both directed at one other driver on the race monitor, or possibly one thing that goes mistaken on the group.
However strive to consider the final time anyone has seen Palou get mad.
The driving force stated, seems are sometimes deceiving.
“I have been mad,” Palou stated. “I get mad. I get mad loads. Like it’s best to ask my group. They know after I’m mad.
“I used to be mad after qualifying as a result of we needed to be in Nashville as a result of we needed to go for pole. As an alternative of that we completed fifteenth, once we had the automobile to perform a little bit higher. We simply went too aggressive with downforce and could not maintain it flat.
“So, I used to be mad. They knew it. However I simply possibly did not present all of the world that I used to be mad.”
Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing celebrated his third championship after the race at Nashville Superspeedway on September 15.
Two weeks later, at a extra formal affair referred to as the IndyCar Victory Lap Award Ceremony on the Gallagher Pavilion on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Palou and CGR have been honored for his or her newest accomplishment.
“The driving force by no means ceases to amaze me,” Ganassi stated of Palou. “I’ve by no means met a driver who can keep centered the best way Alex does with all the sideshow noise that goes on on this sport.
“Your profession is off to begin in IndyCar,” Ganassi continued as he checked out his championship driver. “You may have future right here.
“I look ahead to many extra with you.
“It’s good to win the championship with a brand new sponsor at DHL. I additionally need to thank The American Legion and look ahead to one other 12 months with them this 12 months.
“Having nice sponsors makes issues simpler.
“I’ll shut with this – this by no means will get previous.”
When it was time for Palou to talk to the gang, he joked that he wasn’t utilizing a teleprompter. As an alternative, he selected to talk from the center.
“After I was 5 years previous, my dream was simply to be a race automobile driver,” Palou stated. “It wasn’t an IndyCar driver as a result of it felt so far-off, I may dream of reaching it.
“My household didn’t have any expertise in racing. They didn’t have some huge cash, however they received fortunate, they usually made it work. This trophy and every thing goes to them.
“My private group pushes me to get higher on daily basis. And my supervisor, Roger Yasukawa, I need to suppose him for every thing you’ve gotten achieved, for arranging my future.
“I additionally need to thank my in depth group of attorneys that I’ve all around the world. I’ve attorneys all around the world and they’re the perfect. They take actually excellent care of me.
“It’s true that I’ve a extremely in depth group of attorneys.
“Mike, Chip, thanks guys. You took a giant probability on me. I used to be not an IndyCar race winner while you supplied me the No. 10 automobile. You took a giant probability on me and now we’re three-time IndyCar champions.”
The celebrations lasted for a number of weeks after the season concluded in mid-September. However in racing, a group at all times has to maintain pushing ahead to keep up its edge over the competitors.
“We’re already centered,” Palou stated. “I used to be this morning on the store, sure, celebrating and being glad, however we’re already talking about 2025, the issues that I may enhance as a driver, the place we may enhance as a group total.
“So, the blokes, everyone again on the CGR store are working onerous already in direction of that. So yeah, going to be a terrific 12 months.
“And man, I am hungry. I am hungry for extra. I am hungry to try to get extra for the group, to try to get extra for myself.”
So how does Palou high back-to-back IndyCar Collection Championship seasons when he returns to motion in 2025?
“An Indianapolis 500 win after which one other championship, hopefully a three-peat,” Palou stated. “In order that’s a purpose, clearly it is a actually bold purpose, however that is what we have to bear in mind.”
Spoken like a real champion and potential legend.
