“It was everything” - Palou mastering IndyCar short oval craft

Credit: Joe Skibinski

Álex Palou is in a dream position with two races remaining in the 2025 IndyCar season. 

With the Spaniard having wrapped up the championship with a couple of rounds to spare for the first time under the current points system, he essentially has nothing to lose in the remaining oval rounds at the Milwaukee Mile and Nashville Superspeedway.

And in qualifying on the iconic mile-long Wisconsin-based oval, the newly-crowned four-time champion knew he could push harder than if he still had a championship to consider.

“I pushed a little bit more than all other times that I’ve been on ovals in qualifying,” he said with a smile. “I knew that starting P8 or P3 didn’t really change much. But getting the pole or not getting the pole, it was everything. 

“So I for sure carried a bit more speed than my brain thought I could do. It’s probably always there so I might need to do it more often.”

Running last in the qualifying order, owing to his standing in the championship, Palou ousted AJ Foyt Racing’s David Malukas - who was on track for his first pole - by over 0.7 mph to take a last-gasp sixth P1 Award of the season.

His 162.971 mph two-lap average speed saw him as the only driver to notch a lap in the 163 mph range, with only Malukas and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward within the same mile per hour. But this emphatic level of performance came as somewhat of a surprise for Palou.

“I guess I didn’t expect it,” Palou admitted. “I wanted it and I felt really good after practice. I knew my lap [for second in practice] was on a completely clear lap so I was like: ‘I don’t know if I have much more speed than that.’

“I knew that the car was towards the direction I wanted. I still needed a little bit more help from the car and Julian [Robertson], my engineer, did small changes on the springs and found a way to get me a bit more comfortable.”

Credit: Joe Skibinski

Palou had six poles in 81 starts before the start of this season; he has now matched and doubled that tally in only 16 races in 2025. His previous-best single-season tally was three.

From 16 rounds in 2025, he now has a 50 percent record of starting on the front row, has started inside the top three 10 times and the top six on 14 occasions. His worst qualifying result is still only ninth place.

He qualified 13th and 10th at Milwaukee for the doubleheader last year, improving his two-lap average by over 3.5 mph to take pole this time around.

“[It felt] a bunch faster,” Palou described. “The corner was a lot tighter and the walls were coming faster. On my first real push lap in practice, I was like: ‘Oh wow, this feels a lot different.

“[In qualifying] I was like: ‘Just go for it.’ Worst-case scenario, you’re just going to lose a little bit and that’s it - you’re going to do a bad lap. I was a bit uncomfortable, but after Lap 1, I was like: ‘I kind of like this.’ I think I discovered something here at Milwaukee, at least for qualifying.”

If there was anything Palou saw as even a minor weakness in his armoury in years previous, despite his three championships in four years with Chip Ganassi Racing, it was that peak qualifying pace and particularly short oval performance.

But this year, he has shown this dominant, field-topping pace across all track types. Two of his six poles have come on short ovals, with his first two oval victories also coming in 2025 in the Indianapolis 500 (superspeedway) and at Iowa Speedway (short oval).

He has firmly etched himself into the conversation of the quickest oval drivers in the series.

“A lot [has improved compared to last year], honestly - just the way I feel comfortable with the car,” Palou explained. “It’s not that the car changed a lot but it’s more understanding what do I need from the car, and whenever I have understeer or oversteer, how to manage it. 

Credit: Joe Skibinski

“I’ve been a lot more comfortable on street and road courses. This year, I’m trying to find those ways and I think I’m discovering a little bit, bit by bit.”

Despite breaking his short oval duck with victory at Iowa last month, Palou does feel he has yet more ground to make up when it comes to racecraft on short ovals. The crucial element of traffic running is not yet something he is entirely comfortable with.

Knowing how to be quick across one lap and in a race on short ovals is very different.

“Qualifying is a different animal than when you go to a race,” Palou suggested. “Although we won in Iowa, that yellow helped us a tonne. We were dropping back like a stone. That’s the stuff that we really need to work, try and get better in races and try and get better in traffic. 

“There’s a couple of cars and drivers around that were in Iowa a tonne better than me going through traffic. That’s what I need to work towards [on Sunday].”

Should he hold onto the lead at the start of the race, Palou will be the first driver to catch the lapped traffic. And when contemplating whether patience was a possible play early in Sunday’s race, his head started to shake.

“I won’t stay patient,” he insisted. “That’s an issue… you cannot really stay patient. You need to go for it. Whenever you get to traffic, that’s when the race really starts and when you hopefully can, as a driver with your car, try and get an advantage with other people. 

“We’ve seen what Josef [Newgarden] does on short ovals. He doesn’t make a big difference on qualifyings or whenever he has clean air; it’s whenever he goes through traffic super quick. It’s tough to stay patient but it’s a long race so better try and stay as calm as possible.”

In these final two races though, much like the scope for risk-taking in qualifying, Palou is able to experiment with taking more risks to improve in traffic.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

“That doesn’t mean that I’ll go crazy - I would never do that. I wouldn’t drive crazy,” he said. “But for sure, if I’m on the fence of: ‘Should I try and get that pass or not?’ I’ll for sure go for it.”

Another element of oval racing that Palou feels he needs to improve at is tyre management - one of the aspects of his skillset that makes him so formidable elsewhere. And he expects degradation will be a key factor on Sunday.

“I think the tyres are really good for like 20 laps,” he theorised. “The grip is amazing and then suddenly you start losing some grip. That’s going to create a lot of passing opportunities.”

With his point for pole at Milwaukee, Palou has drawn level with O’Ward in the oval standings for the season. Beating the Mexican - an oval supremo - in oval points is something Palou views as “important” across these final two rounds.

There remains one big record on the line for Palou in the final two races too, as much as the biggest prize is already clinched. Should he win the final two races, he will equal the record of 10 victories for most wins in a single-season.

“That’s what I’m working towards, obviously,” Palou admitted. “That’s our biggest goal. It’s a goal that probably I’m not going to have the chance to try and get it again in my career, so having that chance, I need to go for it. 

“I know the best way is to obviously start up front and to try and win. I don’t know what it would mean… I guess it would just make this year even more magical.”