For the fifth time in six years — and the fourth year straight — Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou is the NTT IndyCar Series champion.
It’s an incredible run, with only Sébastien Bourdais matching his four-straight title run, having done so in the mid-2000s before the Indy Racing League and the Champ Car World Series merger.
But while he’s far from a stranger when it comes to winning championships, Palou told OutKick over Zoom on Monday that he’s always taking time to appreciate his successes.
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“Every single day, man, like, almost every single day,” Palou said. “I kind of need to pinch myself and be like, ‘It’s incredible to be in this position.’ I never thought in my entire life that I would have an opportunity like this. I’m just trying to enjoy as much as I can because I know at some point it’s going to end, right? And there’s going to be someone else sitting in this seat, in this chair, and I just want to make sure I take it all in.”
Palou’s run has been incredible, especially in a series renowned for its competitive balance and the need to master three totally different styles of racetrack.
As much as that comes down to Palou, it also comes down to the environment at CGR and the people who have worked to get the No. 10 Honda to victory lane for so many years.
“It’s very tough to stay up top… and the thing I like the most is the fire that everybody has at Chip Ganassi Racing,” the 29-year-old from Spain said. “Although they have already won 18 championships, there’s people that are in my car who have been for each one of those 18 championships, and they still work as much as they can to make sure that we can continue to battle and fight for the championship.”
That team is about to see a big change as Palou’s longtime teammate Scott Dixon will move to Arrow McLaren in 2027 after 25 years with CGR.
While the new driver of the No. 9 has yet to be announced at the time of writing, Palou will likely be the most experienced driver on the team, which also includes Kyffin Simpson in the No. 8.
Still, he doesn’t expect to see his role on the team change in any way.
“I don’t think it’s going to change much, honestly. Like, I think the way we have of working at Chip Ganassi Racing,” Palou said. “There’s not a lead driver that kind of manages a bit more than everybody else or has more say.”
He said that he expected it to work that way, especially in his first season on the team when he was driving alongside not just Dixon, but another bona fide motorsports legend: NASCAR great Jimmie Johnson.
“So I thought that I had like zero say on how we were going to operate and how we were going to prepare the cars and stuff, and that was not the case,” he explained. “They treated me like another one like them. I had the same (input) as they did, and I think nowadays it works the same way with Kyffin… whoever is fastest at practice, that’s the leader of the team that day.”
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Looking to the future, Palou isn’t just chasing more championships; he’s also going to have a big part in the future of the series.
He was front and center at the series’ marquee events, including the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, a massive success for the series.
“It was a big win for IndyCar, and also that showed what we’re able to achieve,” he said, before joking that maybe hitting the highs of last month’s race around the Nation’s capital were lofty. “I think that was a 12 out of 10 as an event in general.”
But the series is in a good place and will only get better with the introduction of its first new chassis in well over a decade, the Dallara IR-28.
Palou tested the new car on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in August, and is set to give it a shakedown on the track’s iconic oval on Thursday.
The early returns are very good.
“I mean, it was incredible,” he said. “I would love to race it next year instead of in ’28, but honestly, I think everyone at IndyCar and both engine manufacturers, Honda (and Chevrolet), have done incredible work on developing this new car. We had like almost zero issues.”
He then pointed out that this car has more than a year of development before it makes its in-race debut in 2028.
“I think, already now, if the car was on track with the other IndyCars, that car would win the race by far,” he explained. “So, yeah, I’m excited to see what we’re able to do and achieve with the car if we work for a full year.”
Now that’s a sentence that could make other IndyCar teams nervous: Alex Palou getting behind the wheel of an even faster car.
