Alex Palou chasing elusive Indy 500 win: My face ‘would look good on that trophy’

Bruce Martin
Special to FOXSports.com

INDIANAPOLIS — Get to know Alex Palou and there are a few things that immediately stand out.

The first is his total and complete focus. All he thinks about is racing. 

The second is his complete coolness and calmness, even under fire.

“I’ve only seen Alex get mad once,” 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson told FOX Sports of his former teammate. “And when Alex got mad, it only lasted for five minutes, and he was back to being nice again.”

In an intense profession that includes a high degree of risk, Palou is the coolest driver on the track. But he laughed when he was asked why he never gets angry.

“I can tell you I get mad sometimes, but at the end of the day, it’s quite simple. I’m living the dream,” Palou told FOX Sports. “It’s amazing to be a racing driver. It’s amazing to be an INDYCAR driver and to do this for a living. I’m enjoying every single day.

“Even a bad day in an INDYCAR is an amazing day.”

Palou is a nice guy, but this nice guy has finished first often. And drivers in the NTT INDYCAR Series are mad at their inability to find a way to defeat him.

He was an INDYCAR rookie in 2020 before joining Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021. His first race for the team was a victory in the season-opening race at Barber Motorsports Park.

It was the start of the first of three INDYCAR Series championships in four seasons, including the last two in a row.

Palou is on a roll and doesn’t show signs of slowing down. He opened the 2025 season with two-straight victories before he finished second to Kyle Kirkwood in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

It must have motivated Palou because he won the next two races at Barber Motorsports Park and the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course to kick off the month of May.

But he has never won the Indianapolis 500. In fact, he has never won a race on an oval.

He came close by finishing second to Helio Castroneves in the 2021 Indy 500, but that remains his best-ever finish on an oval.

Palou was the fastest driver in last Saturday’s Indianapolis 500 qualifications and was part of the Fast 12 round on Sunday. He advanced into the Fast Six group that would fight it out for the pole, but Palou finished sixth in that round with a four-lap qualification average of 231.378 miles per hour around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.

He starts Sunday’s 109th Indianapolis 500 on the outside of Row 2 with former teammate Felix Rosenqvist in the middle and CGR teammate and 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon on the inside of the second row.

Palou is the best driver in INDYCAR that has yet to win the Indianapolis 500, a title he wants to remove on Sunday.

“It’s good and bad,” Palou told FOX Sports. “It’s not what we want. We want to be introduced as Indianapolis 500 champion, but it takes time. It’s hard to win. That’s why it is so important and separates some drivers who are really elite and amazing drivers.

“We’re pushing and that is all I think about. Hopefully, we can get rid of that introduction this year.”

Palou admits he has dreamed of winning the Indy 500, but reality would be 20 times better than his dream. 

He realizes it is difficult, and there are no guarantees that it will happen, but he is confident that he will one day win it.

“I feel more confident than ever before,” Palou said. “I got to experience different parts of the 500, like running up front, running in the back, having to overtake, having a fast car, having not such a fast car. I feel more ready than ever, and I think it’s enough to win, so that’s why. And I’m hungry to win it.

“We are ready. You start getting excited thinking about traffic and how to get a fast race car for the Indianapolis 500. I’m excited for the race to come.”

Palou was a rookie at the 2020 Indianapolis 500, a race that was moved to August 23 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and fans were not allowed in the massive Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

He drove for Dale Coyne Racing, started seventh and finished 28th, crashing after 121 laps.

The following year, his first with Ganassi, Palou finished just .493-of-a-second behind Helio Castroneves, who became the fourth, four-time Indy 500 winner that day.

Palou was so close, but the Indy 500 win remains so far away.

“My race against Helio in 2021 was amazing,” Palou recalled. “He won it in a car that was a little bit slower than mine. He won it because he was better than me. That’s it. Period.

“I had the faster car than Helio, but he just had more experience. He was much better than me reading the traffic and knowing when to overtake, when to defend.

“I think I have a lot more experience now. I don’t have as much experience as Helio, but I believe I could have done something different.”

Palou finished ninth in the 2022 Indianapolis 500. He won the Indy 500 Pole in 2023 and led 36 laps, but midway in the race during a pit stop under caution, Rinus VeeKay ran into Palou as he was leaving pit lane.

Palou’s Honda went back to 28th place, but he was able to race his way to a fourth-place finish in what may have been his best Indy 500 in terms of racing.

Last year, Palou started 14th and finished fifth, so he is a legitimate contender for this year’s win.

But is he prepared to make a bolder move if it means winning the Indy 500?

“In that race, you don’t think about the championship at all,” Palou explained. “A third place is not good enough. A second place is not good enough. It’s only first that counts.

“You don’t act crazy, but I think everybody goes there to win the Indianapolis 500.

“Hopefully, all the moves we make will work.”

Palou competes for one of the greatest teams in the history of the Indianapolis 500 and the NTT INDYCAR Series at Chip Ganassi Racing. 

The team won its first Indy 500 in 2000 with Juan Pablo Montoya. Scott Dixon won the 2008 Indy 500 from the pole, Dario Franchitti won two of his three Indianapolis 500s with Ganassi in 2010 and 2012 and Marcus Ericsson was the last with his victory in 2022.

Ericsson is now with Andretti Global, but Dixon and Palou remain, along with young driver Kyffin Simpson of the Cayman Islands.

Chip Ganassi Racing has also won 16 INDYCAR Championships, including Palou’s titles in 2021, 2023 and 2024.

Palou is the face of INDYCAR, but Team Penske star Josef Newgarden has become the face of the Indianapolis 500 after winning in 2023 and 2024. 

Newgarden is attempting to become the first driver to win three-straight Indy 500s on Sunday, but with the penalties that were assessed after the qualification round on May 18, Newgarden has to start 32nd in the 33-car starting lineup.

“I don’t believe I’m the face of INDYCAR,” Palou said. “I’m not as big with social media to be a big character and the face of IndyCar. That’s OK. There are drivers bigger that do a better job than me as the face of INDYCAR.”

Palou admits that for now, Newgarden is the face of the Indy 500, and he wants to displace him in that role.

“It’s a goal,” Palou said. “It’s important. Everybody has to see last year’s winner when they enter the track. 

“Unfortunately, I never got to see my face at the entrance to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hopefully, we can make that happen.”

When it comes to faces, however, there is no greater accomplishment for a racing driver than having their face attached to the Borg-Warner Trophy along with the other faces of the winning drivers throughout the long and storied history of the Indianapolis 500.

That cements a driver’s career and legacy for the ages.

It is a lifetime goal for Palou.

“Absolutely, it is,” Palou said. “It’s the biggest goal you can have. One of the biggest in motorsports.

“I’m pretty sure that my face — although I’m not really handsome — would look good on that trophy.”

Bruce Martin is a veteran motorsports writer and contributor to FOXSports.com. Follow him on X at @BruceMartin_500.

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