Palou Perfection - Again
Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment
By Dennis Krause
One offseason removed from winning eight races a year ago; and a fourth championship in five seasons, Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing were at it again in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the opening race of the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.
Palou bested the field on the streets of St. Pete by 12.4-seconds, the largest in race history, for his 20th career win.
“Incredible. I mean, I don't know what to say from this team anymore. It's been a long offseason. I was sad last year that the season ended. I just wanted to continue going, because I knew it was so magical and so tough to get such a great car, such a great team behind me.
“Yeah, this team has done it again here for this weekend. It's very early on, but still, I think that shows all the preparation they did, and I had by far the best car today.”
Longtime team manager of the No. 10 DHL Honda for Ganassi, Barry Wanser summed up Palou’s race that saw him extend his lead in the event several times to 13 -, 14-seconds.
“That's really tough to do in INDYCAR,” said Wanser. “I was asked to describe how Alex was today, and it was certainly perfection, but the whole team, the pit stops were perfection, and everyone on the team did a great job.”
For a guy who seems to win all the time, Palou was genuinely excited about starting off the new season with a win.
“Yeah, honestly, it feels like -- I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I have really short memory, and I try and forget about stuff very early, or my mind just does. So for me, winning a race, it's pure excitement.
“We are genuinely very excited. We're genuinely very proud of the amazing work that everybody has done in the team. But, yeah, I knew we had the team and the ability to win, but it's never easy. Yeah, I was so excited.”
Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment
Now the 24th driver in IndyCar history to score 20 wins or more, Palou admits he still feels beatable.
“Unfortunately, yeah,” said the 28-year-old Spaniard.
As far as what he feels his weakness is, Palou won’t say.
“I mean, I'm not going to say it here out loud, but I mean —
“I feel there are so many things,” Palou expounded. “We didn't start on pole. We started fourth. I think we could have done stuff better throughout the weekend.
“I feel like myself also driving-wise, you can always brake just a little bit later, just one feet. It only takes one feet later to go a bit faster. You can always go on power a bit better. You can always set up your car better.
“So you can always keep on improving, I feel like, in all sports, which is the beauty of it. So, yeah, not going to tell you where everybody can beat me.”
With four races in five weeks to start off the season, Palou has the opportunity to do what he did a year ago - take control of the championship early. However, there is one race that has Palou’s concern - Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway - especially after a recent two-day test at the desert mile.
“We take it one step at a time, but we need to focus on Phoenix, because Phoenix we struggled.
“We're not looking strong there at the moment. We're not, like, Oh, yeah, we have a car. Like, we need to figure out which car we want to race during practice one and practice two.
“Then Arlington, nobody knows. Who knows? Are we going to be amazingly fast, or are we just going to be slow? Nobody knows.
“Pretty much we take it one step at a time. We're going to focus on celebrating this one tonight, just tonight, and then tomorrow back to work.”
Because perfection is achieved one step at a time.
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.