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INDIANAPOLIS — The secret to Alex Palou’s historical success in IndyCar was on full display with his latest victory in Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Instead of dominant a race by starting on the pole and leading nearly every lap other than pit stops as he did last Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, Palou’s win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course was much more calculated.
Palou started on the pole, but it was front row starter Graham Rahal that went to the outside to blow past him in Turn 1 on the opening lap.
Rahal would lead 49 laps in the race and appeared to be on his way to finally break into Victory Lane.
Palou, however, could have said, “Not so fast, my friend.”
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver was content to drive behind Rahal for most of the race, which featured a new IndyCar tire requirement where teams had to use two sets of Firestone Blacks and two sets of Firestone Reds.
Palou passed Rahal in Turn 7 on Lap 58. He pitted on Lap 65.
Rahal’s final set of tires were Blacks. Palou saved his best set of Reds for the end.
The top three drivers in the race including Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren and Will Power of Team Penske used the same tire strategy. That included starting the race on scuffed Reds, then Blacks on the next two stints, and finished on new Reds.
That proved to be the winning strategy.
Once in the lead, Palou was in control, even during an IndyCar rarity in 2025.
A yellow flag waved for the first time in 408 laps when David Malukas went off course in Turn 8 and stalled. It was the second yellow flag of the season and the first since Laps 1-6 in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was March 2.
That set up a restart on Lap 72 and despite O’Ward’s best efforts, Palou was able to keep the lead and drive to a 5.4840-second win over O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
“I would say the first stint we had used tires, while Graham had new tires. So that’s why he was pulling a lot more, and I was struggling a lot there,” Palou explained. “I really struggled.
“Then we did a great job in the pit stop. Then we kind of, like, chased Graham back. When I was behind him, I wanted to overtake him, but I think the issue was that we also had traffic. Yes, he couldn’t move faster, but at the same time I got their tier from two cars. So, I couldn’t really move there. I was stuck. I started hurting my tires.
“Then that’s it. We both pitted at the same lap. We both pitted and went out together, and suddenly I caught him back when he started struggling with the tires.
“But, yeah, I was trying. I was not trying to be patient. I was patient, but I was trying my best to try and overtake him.”
It was Palou’s 15th career IndyCar win, his fourth win in five races in the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season and he has 97-point lead over Kyle Kirkwood and 98 over Christian Lundgaard heading into the 109th Indianapolis 500.
O’Ward’s second-place finish came on the IMS road course. He finished second to Josef Newgarden in last year’s 108th Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the oval.
Two different race courses, but the same venue.
“We fought hard today,” O’Ward said. “Started eighth, and I was pretty happy with the balance of my car. Just missed it there in qualifying with the issues that we had in a straight line, but Ian fixed it. It was good to have good pace.
“In terms of strategy it was nice to be in a boring fuel save, ‘follow the leader’ type situation. It was nice to be able to push and undercut, overcut.
“I think the tire rule, at least from our side, that was pretty eventful, I would say. I would be keen to seeing that in Detroit because the green tire would be great.”
Power used to dominate this race in the early years, but he remains a force as he proved Saturday with another podium finish for Team Penske.
“It was just a solid day,” Power said. “I didn’t pass anyone on track. It was the same as Barber. Didn’t pass a single car. Just spent the whole day sort of like in a good pit stop strategy and speed and sort of overcut there at the end. Got us a couple of positions.
“Yeah, it was a very uneventful day. It was eventful in the car catching and driving hard the whole day, but as far as chopping through the field or anything. I mean, when you start seventh, obviously it’s not like you’re able to pass a lot of people.
“But, yeah, it’s a very stout field. People don’t make mistakes. Even the person who finishes last — I don’t know who finished last, but I know when I lapped Abel, he stuck behind me at the same pace, exactly the same space. Hardly dropped off.
“It’s just a stout field with great teams and drivers. Maybe we need to try a lock-out push-to-pass system where you get within a second and it locks the guy out in front and create passing like that, but it’s cool to see. I’m not sure what it looks like on TV, but yeah, I think this was the first step, try something with tires, but I think you need to do something more.”
Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske was fourth in the No. 3 Chevrolet with Scott Dixon rounding out the top five in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
After leading most of the race, Rahal finished sixth.
“I’m genuinely proud of the effort,” Rahal said. “I don’t think I locked up once, I don’t think I put one wheel wrong, I defended as best I could, but the Ganassi cars are in a league of their own.
“The grip they have; their ability to follow so close. We tried our best and I’m proud of the effort of the Fifth Third Bank guys. I tried to drive as flawlessly as I could because I knew that was the only way to beat them but unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that today. We’ll keep working hard. We’ve made gains and we will continue to try to close the gap.”
Everything is working for Alex Palou, but even he knows a streak like this doesn’t last forever.
“I mean, it’s crazy,” he said. “I’m sad that it’s going to end at some point, and it’s going to be tough in my career to feel as good as I feel now. I know that, and that makes me sad, but happy at the same time.
“It’s amazing. It’s amazing. I know I’m with the best team out here, and they give me the best tools they have, the best people to fight for races every single weekend, and it feels sweet.”
