Palou Gets Back On Top At Road America
Photo by Travis Hinkle/Penske Entertainment
By Dennis Krause
Alex Palou’s slump, if that’s what you want to call the previous two races where he finished 25th and eighth, didn’t last long.
Sunday, the three-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champ and current championship leader, was back in the winner’s circle, taking his sixth win of the season in the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR in a race that saw teams employ varying tire and fuel strategies.
“It was tough,” said the driver of the No. 10 SOLO Cup Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. “It was a crazy race. I don't know about how it looked from the outside, but from inside, it just felt like there was a lot going on. Lots of yellows, obviously, that were shaking (up) how we were looking.
“We were looking really bad at the beginning, then really good, then terrible, then really good. It was tough to be up there. But yeah, we just had to stay focused on battling against the people that were on our strategy.”
While the strategy by the team’s Senior Manager of Racing Operations, Barry Wanser, worked out in the end, Palou admitted it wasn’t obvious to him right away.
“I didn't agree with Barry’s strategy call. I got to be grumpy for a couple of laps, and then I saw it was working out, and I started saying thank you again. It was interesting, but for sure, we got the win because of the team that we had on both pit stops and strategy. They made it look really good, and HRC that gave us the mileage we needed to gamble and to make it with that stop that we did.”
Wanser knew his driver wasn’t just grumpy.
“Well, he doesn't get grumpy, so when he is grumpy, I know he's really mad and questioning what we're doing. But I don't know if you were following that race, we didn't know we were on the right strategy until like 10 to go. We're reacting based on what we think is happening.
“There was obviously a lot of cautions this race. But we made some strategy changes on the tires during the race that we went against what we all agreed on before the race, so he wasn't very happy about that, but we saw what our competitors were doing and who we were racing, so we had to make that change to be able to stay with them and then beat them. And it worked out.
“Look, today was luck to be on the right strategy because it was hard. There were several different strategies going on.”
Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
Palou led six of the race’s 55-laps, but didn’t take the lead for good until lap 53 when teammate Scott Dixon pitted from the lead. When the team radioed Palou that they thought Dixon was two laps short on fuel, he still didn’t feel confident as Dixon is as master at saving fuel.
“Yeah, that's the thing,” said Palou. “He (Wanser) has more information than me, and when I was following Scott I could see that he was not saving as much as I was. I was like, this guy is crazy; how is he going to do it. But I didn't know. Like I don't have a lot of information.
“If it was another driver, I would have probably just focused on myself, but I know that Scott can make crazy stuff happen.
“Yeah, I trusted Barry but I was like, man, if he gets a yellow he's still P1 and we're not going to be able to pass him. We were still trying to get that first position on track just in case there was a four-lap yellow at the end and then he was still leading and ending up with a win.”
But Dixon wasn’t the only threat facing Palou, according to Wanser.
“Really the threat at the end of the race was (Felix) Rosenqvist because he pitted five laps after us on the alternates and he was coming hard. He still had to get around (Alexander) Rossi. Rossi didn't make it, so he pitted, so he really never closed in on you (Palou).
“But with the amount of fuel, he was able to save more than what we needed, and we were able to give him a much better number there for the last few laps. But Felix was the threat at the end.”
Photo by James Black/Penske Entertainment
While Rosenqvist was closing on Palou at the finish, he didn’t haven enough to catch him.
“My Meyer Shank Racing Sirius XM Honda was just on rails. There was a lot of strategies going on. We did two black stints in the beginning and we held on pretty good, and especially in the restarts, it seemed like the blacks were pretty good, and they faded a bit when you got up to speed. But we capitalized on all those yellows, and I think that was to our advantage.
“Then at the end of the race we didn't have to save any fuel and we had two new reds, and we were just doing qually laps every lap, and that's kind of when we ended where we ended. So it was really good, and super proud of all the guys.
“It's a hot day out there. It was tough for everyone, pit crew, engineering, and computers and all that kind of stuff. Everything is running hot. Happy we made it to the finish.”
Photo by James Black
Third-place finisher Santino Ferrucci just barely made it to the finish, stopping in turn one, out of fuel. In true Wisconsin fashion, fans in the area offered the A.J. Foyt Racing driver a beer to help cool off on a day that saw temperatures soar into the mid-nineties and a heat index of over 100-degrees.
“They offered, and I had asked for Spotted Cow since we're here, but they gave me, I believe it was a Miller,” said Ferrucci. “I've been learning my shotgunning skills from the Chili Bowl, so if I did okay I'm happy with that. Giving my dirt racing guy some credit.”
While Ferrucci was shotgunning a Miller Lite, Palou was singing the Red Solo Cup song by Toby Keith on the team radio on his way to the winner’s circle, something he had planned - just in case.
Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
“Yeah, I would say that it was the plan. I did very good. I think the radio maybe with the -- the interference on the radio maybe didn't sound very good, but in my head it sounded amazing.”
“It's like anybody else singing in the car by yourself,” interjected Wanser.
“Yes. It was good. It was fun,” replied Palou, who said it took him longer than expected to learn the lyrics.
“A little bit longer than you would expect. I think also because there's back-to-back lyrics that they are very confusing. When it says like, I love you red Solo Cup. So then in my head -- it was tough. I actually looked at it this morning, the last YouTube video, I looked at it. It was the lyrics of the song just in case we were winning.”
The win was Palou’s third at Road America and the 17th of his career, putting him in the top 30 all time. Palou also expanded his lead over Kyle Kirkwood to 93-points at the midway point of the season, with eight races remaining on the 17-race schedule.
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.