By claiming his third NTT IndyCar Series Championship in a four-season period, Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing is in the midst of a historic run.
It’s A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti caliber excellence.
When he clinched his third IndyCar Series title in the final race of the season, the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway on September 15, Palou was 27 years, 5 months, 14 days old, making him the second-youngest driver to win three championships.
Only Sam Hornish Jr. was younger at 27 years, 2 months, 8 days when he won his third title in 2006.
Palou became just the 13th driver in IndyCar history to win at least three championships. He is just the seventh to win three titles in four years with Dario Franchitti — also for Ganassi — the last to do so from 2009 through 2011.
By winning the IndyCar Series title in 2023 and 2024, he became the first driver to win back-to-back championships since Franchitti won three-straight from 2009 to 2011.
Palou is the latest star driver on one of the star teams in all of racing, the famed Chip Ganassi Racing. His third IndyCar Series Championship was team owner Chip Ganassi’s 16th in a 29-year period.
Jimmy Vasser won Ganassi’s first championship in 1996 in CART. Alex Zanardi won two more CART championships in 1997 and 1998, and Juan Pablo Montoya won the 1999 CART championship, giving the team four in a row during that stretch.
The string of success continued with Scott Dixon winning six championships beginning in 2003 and most recently in 2020. Franchitti won three of his four IndyCar Series titles from 2009 to 2011.
“Yeah, it’s insane,” Palou told SPEED SPORT the morning after winning the 2024 IndyCar Series Championship. “It’s insane that I’m around those names. It’s a privilege to still have Dixon in the team. I’m 100 percent sure that I wouldn’t be here today talking without him on the team. If you remove that part, the team is not as strong.
“And man, I’m hungry. I’m hungry for more. I’m hungry to try and get more for the team, to try and get more for myself, and to hopefully join the same list but for the Indy 500 championship.”
Palou was fairly well known as an up-and-coming racer when he joined the NTT IndyCar Series in 2020 driving for Dale Coyne Racing and Team GOH.
Ganassi liked what he saw in the kid from Spain and signed him to drive the No. 10 Honda after the 2020 season concluded.
In 2021, the first race of the season was at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala.
Palou started third and won the race, the first of three wins that season as he won his first IndyCar Series championship.
On July 12, 2022, Palou made a stunning announcement that he had signed a contract to join McLaren in 2023. Ganassi objected, invoked the option year on Palou’s contract, which forced Palou to fulfill the terms of the contract for the 2023 season.
That was a year where Palou was nearly flawless. He won five races in 2023 and became the first driver since Sebastien Bourdais in 2007 to clinch the season title before the final race of the season.
By August of 2023, Palou concluded he was on the best team in the series and told McLaren he would not honor the agreement to join the team.
Ganassi signed Palou to a contract extension at the end of last season, and Palou thanked him with another championship in what some may view as a “bonus” year for this combination.
Chip Ganassi Racing is home to Palou, and he plans to stay at home where he feels most comfortable.
“One hundred percent, and it’s a way to always maybe say sorry to the team at CGR to just be like ‘Hey guys I’m sorry for what I did,’” Palou admitted. “Instead of just saying sorry in words, bringing another championship home, it’s the best way for all the crews for Mike Hull, Chip Ganassi, everybody that is at CGR to celebrate.”
It was also a special season for Palou and the man who calls the race strategy for the No. 10 Honda at Chip Ganassi Racing, team manager Barry Wanser.
As Palou was closing in for the championship in 2023, Wanser was diagnosed with throat cancer before the penultimate race of the season at Portland Raceway.
Palou had to undergo a medical procedure and Mike O’Gara took over his role that day.
Palou honored Wanser by winning the Grand Prix of Portland and clinching the championship with one race left in the 2023 season.
This year, Wanser returned to the top step of the timing stand and called race strategy for Palou. When Palou clinched the 2024 IndyCar Championship with an 11th-place finish at Nashville Superspeedway, Wanser sprinted to the championship stage to celebrate after his health issue denied him that joy in 2023.
“It was very emotional for him, which is crazy because he’s done it many, many, many times and to think that he still gets so into the competition, and he cares so much it’s amazing to me,” Palou said. “It was emotional for everybody that he was able to be back with us celebrating on track instead of being at the hospital recovering like last year.
“It was very sad that he did 99 percent of the job in 2023, and he was not able to celebrate. It’s sad just because you don’t know when it’s going to be the next one. So lucky enough we’ve got it we didn’t have to wait more than one year to celebrate again and to have Barry with us celebrating was super emotional.”
And then there is the man who runs the team and owns it all, Chip Ganassi.
Around the team, he’s known as “Mr. Big.”
Ganassi has a big persona and a big way of showing his satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
A victory can get the winning driver a bear hug like a grizzly bear, but when Ganassi is really happy, he will give a playful slap in the face to the winner.
“When you get the slap, it normally means that he’s super happy, which it’s amazing,” Palou admitted. “Honestly, once again, he built an organization that has won 16 IndyCar championships. To be able to see that he cares so much, it just blows my mind. I’m really happy to be part of it.
“But at Nashville, before we went out to try and win the championship, he obviously said that he was very happy about how all the year went how all the engineers and mechanics worked, but he wanted, and he demanded all of us to bring the championship home.
“I really love that side of like, ‘Hey guys, it’s been a great year, but the job is not done yet. It makes a big difference if we finish first or if we finish second.’
“So that kind of good push and good pressure. It’s pressure, but it’s the pressure that you want. It’s a pressure that he wants results and he’s giving you all the tools that we need to win.”
Ganassi pushed and Palou delivered.
The champion driver and team were reunited on the championship stage to celebrate yet another championship.
But this one was different for Palou.
It was his first as a father.
On Dec. 4, 2023, Palou’s wife, Esther, gave birth to Lucia.
Young Lucia was there to celebrate her father’s championship, even though the chaos was something she didn’t necessarily know how to handle.
It was a family moment Palou will forever cherish.
“Best moment of my life, when she was born and when we got to celebrate our third championship together and her first championship with us,” Palou said. “It’s super special to have her there.
“She was crying a little bit because there was too much noise, too much music, and too many people around.
“But I cannot wait for her to be more conscious, to be a bit bigger, and to tell her that she was there for my third championship.”
Simply put, it’s cool to be Alex Palou.
“It’s the coolest thing ever I can tell you that,” Palou said. “It’s amazing. I’m very lucky to have the family I have around me the wife my daughter. But the success around everything. It’s been incredible.
“I enjoy my life every single day when I wake up until I go to bed, and I couldn’t ask for anything more.”