“Say congrats and clap” - Behind the curtain of Palou’s all-round 2025 IndyCar success

Credit: Aaron Skillman

If there was one kink in Álex Palou’s shining IndyCar armour, it would have been short ovals.

Where things clicked almost instantaneously on road courses, street courses and even superspeedways - despite Palou’s first oval win not coming until this year’s Indianapolis 500 - it has taken a little more time for the Spaniard to get to grips with the shorter variety of oval.

But the notion that it is anything close to a glaring weakness has been truly quashed at Iowa Speedway this weekend.

It took some fortune, albeit of the calculated variety, as the No.10 team opted to extend Palou’s penultimate stint in Race 2 of the doubleheader weekend in the hope that the early-pitting leaders were trapped a lap down by a caution. 

Sure enough, with the likes of David Malukas, Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward having stopped early for the final time, the yellow flag waved. It was a free stop for Palou under a neutralised race, meaning he would maintain the race lead as those who pitted earlier were confined to the lower end of the top 10. 

But while there was a stroke of luck with the caution actually happening, there was nothing fortuitous about the plan to hang fire on the final stop from master strategist Barry Wanser and company. It was measured as ever from the ‘Perfect 10s’.

“Sometimes it goes like that,” Palou admitted. “We knew that we’re not going to gain much by pitting early, especially the first pit stop. [Newgarden] had a super big lead into us and I did not expect him to pit that lap. It worked for us and it worked for us as well on the last one.

“Sometimes you get lucky; sometimes you don’t. I’m proud that we’re always up there and we’re just trying to get more tickets for getting a yellow. For that, you need to stay out and you need to get beaten when you start and everybody is pushing on new tyres.”

Credit: Joe Skibinski

Palou’s race had its ebbs and flows. He led until Lap 65, when passed by Newgarden, before re-inheriting the lead when the Team Penske driver was caught out for the first of two times by an ill-timed stop briefly before a caution - incidentally both caused by right-front tyre failures for Andretti Global drivers.

Palou led again from Lap 129 through to Lap 183, when Kyle Kirkwood was the only driver not to pit under the fourth caution of the race. Palou quickly dispatched of Kirkwood on the restart to retake the lead on Lap 192, at which point a race-long battle with David Malukas intensified, with Palou canny in his defence against the youngster.

“It was really tough,” Palou conceded. “We got side by side for [several] laps. But like three different times throughout the race, I was like: ‘Man, I cannot let him go.’ Because he was really, really fast and I wanted to stay in the lead, I wanted to stay up front. 

“I’m glad that it worked out but it was really tough. We had to risk it all the time. He was super fair - we never had any contact. He always gave me enough room for me to not be in the marbles. It was a lot of fun.”

As Palou and Malukas streaked clear in their fight, an angry Newgarden - the dominant driver all weekend - was making headway from the mid-teens. And as the lead duo caught gridlocked traffic, Iowa’s six-time-winning master was scything his way through the field.

Within a matter of 20 laps of clearing O’Ward and Conor Daly, a deficit of over five seconds became a pass on Malukas and clear view of Palou’s attenuator. And on Lap 242, the lead was Newgarden’s again, aggressively diving low on Palou in Turn 1.

It was a forceful but fair pass from a purposeful Newgarden, forcing Palou up high and finally allowing Malukas past the robust defence of the Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) man.

Credit: Aaron Skillman

“It was hard racing,” Palou said of his duel with Newgarden. “I think we got small contact heading into [Turn] 1 when he passed me. It wasn’t bad. It was good enough to be in the marbles. But you had to fight hard. I think he knew that, without that, I would have been able to be side by side in Turn 1 and hold the position.”

Newgarden led for eight laps before diving into the pits but found himself jumped by an opportunistic Malukas, successfully executing an undercut for Penske’s AJ Foyt Racing allies as he chased his first career win.

Five laps later, disaster struck as the yellow fell, benefitting the eventual podium of Palou, Scott Dixon and Marcus Armstrong - among a host of others - and their decision to stay out. And from the Lap 264 restart to the Lap 275 finish, there was no denying Palou.

“I was passing so many cars, I felt like I was Lightning McQueen or something,” Palou laughed. “It’s the first time that I’m not getting overtaken every single lap on a short oval. It was fun. It was very fun. 

“There was a lot of traffic, which was good. It was fun getting to see different people struggling in different areas, then you would get to another car and he would be running the line that you liked and then you would struggle for five, 10 laps. But it was fun.”

For the first time on a short oval, it was victory for the three-time champion and 2025 champion-elect. There is no IndyCar track type left to win on. And most impressively of all, he has taken victory on each track time in this historic 2025 season alone.

Not only was it a short oval race win for Palou but a pole position to boot - a first on a short oval and fourth of the season - as he remains the only driver to achieve multiple P1 Awards this year in a continuation of the elevation of his already-formidable raw speed.

Credit: Travis Hinkle

“I’m an IndyCar driver now finally,” Palou joked upon ticking the short oval box. “[Wanser] told me as soon as I jumped out of the car. It feels amazing.

“It’s tough. That’s why it’s so fun to race in IndyCar, with these teams, with these different tracks, different challenges that you have. You go to a street course and you need different techniques than on a road course. And then you go to an oval and you have superspeedways and then you come here and it’s completely different to IMS. 

“It’s super fun, keeps you awake, keeps you having to push every single weekend. I was already super happy with our first pole here. But to be able to get our first win here and fight on track, it’s been a good day.”

A breakthrough on a short oval was only a matter of time for Palou. He will always have the Indy 500 as a legacy-defining and as special a first oval win as he could possibly have. But while many categorise ‘ovals’ as one, short ovals are an entirely different beast.

It has taken Palou years of development to refine his precise driving style on chaos-inducing, bullring-like tracks such as Iowa.

“Getting the 500 and getting my first oval win was like: ‘Man, it’s great. I can already say that we’ve won on an oval,’” Palou said. “But short ovals, for me it’s the same difference as road course and street course. It’s that different. 

“At a superspeedway, especially at Indy, the car just feels like you’re on a road course and you’re doing the fastest high-speed corner that you have four times every lap. The way that you need to drive it, it’s super smooth and you don’t want to oversaturate the tyres or the car. 

“Then [at Iowa], it’s the completely opposite animal. It’s like driving a crazy bull. You need to tell the car that that’s how you need to do it. With all the bumps, the different tarmacs that you have and you need to drive it super hard.

Credit: Chris Owens

“Everybody’s head after a short oval, especially after a race like today, it’s super big because it's a lot of information. But you need all of that.

“[Winning] is going to give me the confidence to know that I’m able to do it. I know that there’s still a lot of work ahead to try and be as good as some of the guys - like Josef was getting through traffic - but at least we know we can do it.”

Wanser suggested winning at Iowa was arguably the toughest of Palou’s 18 career wins given the nature of the short oval - the factor of traffic and ever-changing strategy. 

There was even a minor disagreement between Palou and his strategist at one stage.

“I didn’t disagree,” argued Palou in a light-hearted moment that emphasised the chemistry within the No.10 camp. “I just asked. I double-checked. I was like: ‘Are you sure?’ That’s not disagreeing. That’s making sure everything was on you. I was going to blame you!”  

But all was well that ended well and Palou continues to bring predictability and inevitability to a series renowned for its unpredictability. And even in a race as wild, frenetic and seemingly volatile as Sunday’s second of the Iowa doubleheader, he and the No.10 team still played and executed everything perfectly to find their way to Victory Lane.

Best believe it is not a matter of coincidence. This is a team-and-driver combination - and culture of trust - of the like that IndyCar has scarcely seen.

“Álex basically brings to us the same thing Dario [Franchitti] did to the No.10 car,” Wanser acknowledged. “He gave us all the options. So when you look at strategy and options during the race, whether it’s before the race - the starting tyre, the setup of the car - and then what he has to do for us in the race to perform against everybody, he gives us all of those options. 

“We’re never at a point where it’s like: ‘We can’t do this part of the strategy or we can’t do that part.’ We have it all, even sometimes when he doesn’t agree.”

Credit: Chris Owens

It was a seventh win of the season for Palou - the first driver to win that many races in a single season since Sébastien Bourdais 18 years ago. And he has achieved that in only 12 races.

At 129 points, has considerably over a two-race championship advantage over O’Ward with only five rounds remaining as he hurtles towards a third successive title and fourth in only five years with CGR at the age of only 28. 

“Honestly, it’s crazy,” Palou said of his year. “It’s been an amazing season. When I say I don’t really have words… it’s tough to describe. It’s magical. Everybody in CGR and the No.10 car especially is feeling that and we don't really know how to describe how happy [we are] and how hard they’re working to be here.”

Palou realises it is pressure-off to an extent amid his points advantage. But only because he has driven in that same loose fashion all season. That has been a key ingredient to his success.

“We started racing not thinking about the points and I raced hard today - as hard as I could, risking everything - because I wanted to get the win and I wanted to fight hard,” Palou divulged. “I don’t think we’ve ever raced for points. 

“The only places I remember was probably [finales at] Nashville last year and Long Beach in 2021, where you know that if you finish in that position, you can be the champion. That’s when you race for points. All the other races, it makes no sense. 

“If we change the way they call the strategies or the way I drive just for thinking about points, we’re going to start dropping towards the back. We’re doing the right thing.”

Even Dixon, a six-time series champion and 59-time race winner - ranking second all-time on both counts - is marvelling at his teammate’s level. He is a driver accustomed to having dominated throughout his career, but he is now the one on the receiving end by a teammate.

Credit: Chris Owens

Such is the rarity of what Palou is producing, Dixon struggles to suss out exactly why Palou and his No.10 team have been as emphatically dominant as they have. But he is impressed and, despite inevitable frustration, happy for his long-time team.

“It’s hard to really pinpoint,” Dixon said of where Palou has gained such an edge. “As far as the team, they really haven’t made any mistakes, even if it’s in-session. This year with us [on the No.9 car], we’ve had a tonne of failures. We’ve had a lot of things go wrong and it’s hard to build on that. 

“For them, they came out of the gate, qualifying was a little bit different for them at St. Pete but they won the first race and then they were able to build on that. We had our own issues there [with the radio failing], which was kind of frustrating. 

“They’re just covering everything. The style of car right now, if you look at driving style, he has a very smooth driving style - actually quite similar to Dario - whereas with all that weight at the back in the hybrid, it’s quite difficult for me. It’s not something that feels natural and I just agitate the car a lot with my aggressive style. 

“It’s been a learning year for me and one to really try to grasp and do things a little bit better. The race stuff for me and slowing my hands down and all that stuff has been easier to adapt to than the qual situation.” 

With five races remaining, Palou needs to win three times to equal the all-time single-season record of 10 wins - set by AJ Foyt in 1964 and Al Unser in 1970. He has multiple wins at Laguna Seca and Portland but will have to break through in Toronto, Milwaukee or Nashville.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

“It would have been a little bit closer without my excursion in Mid-Ohio,” said Palou, who made a rare error to gift Dixon the victory in Round 10. “Sightseeing… it was lovely. But that’s the way it is. It’s not that it comes easy, as we saw last weekend at Ohio. 

“I never look at the end result, honestly. Although it would be amazing to look back and be like: ‘Wow, we won 10,’ if it stops here and we look back and it’s like: ‘We won seven,’ it’s going to be quite impressive. 

“I’m going to work towards getting 10 obviously. But I’m not waking up and thinking about getting 10. It seems like it’s only three but it’s very far. That’s one more win than I got [to win the title] in 2024.”

Regardless of whether Palou even wins again in 2025, this is already a season that will be looked back upon for the rest of time. So why not take a step back and enjoy that greatness now rather than looking back when it is too late?

These are unprecedentedly special times for IndyCar racing. Times that even Palou’s closest and most legendary competitors cannot help but appreciate.

“They’re just doing a hell of a job,” Dixon said. “It can be frustrating but it’s also cool to see. Some of us have had years like that where everything just clicks. For him and for the No.10 car group, it’s firing on all cylinders.

“All you can do is just say congrats and clap. Good on them.”