Bob Pockrass
FOX Motorsports Insider
Alex Palou has won the Indianapolis 500 and appears well on his way to winning a fourth INDYCAR title in the last five years.
What more does he have to accomplish?
“Another championship and another 500 and so on and so on and so on,” Palou said. “There’s a lot. There’s many races that we need to win.”
Yeah, and how many is that? Palou swears he isn’t looking at trying to reach 10 victories (or a record 11th) in one season after winning five of the first six races this year with 11 more to go.
At the Detroit Grand Prix this Sunday (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX), Palou seeks to become the first driver since 2000 to win the Indy 500 and the following race.
“I don’t think that way,” Palou said. “I think more of I would love to win Detroit [this weekend] now after the 500. It’s pretty tough, and we’ve not seen that happen very often, that after the 500 to win the next race. That’s the goal.”
Palou does have “just” 16 victories in the series, which ranks him tied for 31st (with Dan Wheldon) on the all-time list — he would need to win 15 more to get to the top-10 all-time and 26 more to get to fifth. A.J. Foyt has the record with 67 victories.
A fourth title would tie him for third on the list behind seven-time champ A.J. Foyt and six-time champ Scott Dixon. Mario Andretti, Sebastien Bourdai and Dario Franchitti each have four.
Only three drivers have won three consecutive titles (Palou has won two in a row), and Bourdais’ four consecutive Champ Car titles is the INDYCAR record.
Palou’s boss, car owner Chip Ganassi, dismissed talk of trying to reach those benchmarks.
“You know what I need to talk about? Detroit,” Ganassi said. “We just try to do the best job every day that we can. And if you do that, the long term takes care of itself.
“When you want to talk about start talking about comparisons and history … all that stuff, that’s for you guys, not me.”
But chasing records can be a storyline and a sign of accomplishment, and Ganassi knows that.
“Records are only important if you’re close to breaking one,” Ganassi said.
The most immediate record Palou could achieve would be wins in a season, which is 10 (Foyt in 1964 and Al Unser in 1970). The more modern era record is eight (Michael Andretti in 1991, Al Unser Jr. in 1994 and Bourdais in 2007).
“I don’t have a number,” Palou said about wins for this year. “Winning five is already the most that I’ve won in an INDYCAR season. So it’s pretty cool.”
The 28-year-old Palou could have more than a decade left in INDYCAR, and if he continues this tear, he could potentially break many records.
“In my mind, I don’t have a list of stuff that I want to accomplish,” Palou said. “I have accomplished a lot more than I’ve ever thought and a lot more than I could have put on any list.
“It’s more about every day trying to beat the competition at every single race that we can and trying to do the best that we have.”
Not only will Palou likely not continue this tear — he’ll admit that himself — but there is also a new car coming. INDYCAR would like to have the new car ready for the 2027 season.
“Any time a new car comes along, it jumbles the field,” Ganassi said.
But, as Ganassi said, the focus isn’t on 2027 or beyond. It’s on Detroit. But it’s been hard for Palou to focus on Detroit during an intense media tour in New York City.
“I don’t feel as prepared as I should,” Palou said Wednesday at the Empire State Building. “But on the flight [Thursday] to Detroit, I should have a couple of hours that should be OK to be at least ready for a track walk [that night] and just to have an idea of what the schedule is going to be for the weekend.”
If he does win Detroit or earns a few more wins heading into August, the record for wins in a season could become a focus.
“Records are made to be broken and if somebody hasn’t done it in the modern era, why shouldn’t it be us to do it?” Ganassi said.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and IndyCar for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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