Alex Palou said that his career would be incomplete without an Indianapolis 500 victory, but a late pass on Marcus Ericsson allowed him to fulfill his dream by winning the 109th running of the Greatest Spectacle in racing.
The three-time champion entered the race with the greatest start in almost five decades of NTT IndyCar Series racing, driving Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 10 Honda to four wins in five races with a second place in Long Beach as his only blemish. Now, the newly-crowned Indy 500 champion has received all the spoils, fame and responsibilities associated with being one of 76 to grace the Borg-Warner Trophy.
Frontstretch had the opportunity to interview Palou on Wednesday, May 28, after the Spaniard’s historic victory. He revealed how busy his schedule became after his win, the feelings and energy associated with winning the Indy 500 and entering the conversation of best driver in the world between himself, Max Verstappen and Kyle Larson.
Michael Massie, Frontstretch: Is it everything you thought it would be, everything you dreamed of when you dreamed of winning this race?
Alex Palou: Yes, in a way, but it’s a lot more. I expected to have quite a lot of stuff to do and people to recognize it or to be happy about it. It’s been a lot more. It’s been probably 10 times more than what I expected. It’s been amazing — and the feeling and the happiness that I have, to see my team so happy after the win… There were a lot of people in my team who had many tries and did not win while being in the car. So, to see them so happy was super cool.
Massie: What has the last couple of days been like? Describe it for me.
Palou: Very busy. We’re moving. Normally, I would have 10 minutes before the interview and I would try and have everything ready. Now, we just have a lot of time. Honestly, I spent Monday in Indy doing a lot of photos at the Speedway. Then, we went to the banquet. As soon as the banquet was done, we were in New York on Tuesday doing interviews all day. We have the same today, and tomorrow, we’re heading to Detroit. So, it’s been very busy. It’s been nonstop all day, but honestly, it’s been super fun. We just keep talking about Sunday and about how amazing of a start of the season we had so far. So, it’s been a ton of fun.
Massie: I saw they honored you at the Indiana Pacers game right after the race. How was that experience?
Palou: It was cool. I wanted to go because the energy in the city is amazing. I thought the best way to celebrate a little bit more was to go to a Pacers game and just get the energy as well from there and try and bring some luck. I didn’t bring any luck at all. It was not good, but I’m happy we won last night and that everything is back ok. Honestly, the energy there whenever they introduced me — it was amazing. All [of] the stadium went crazy. It was perfect.
Massie: They need you to suit up for them and go out there and play a little bit.
Palou: I don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t think we would do very well.
Massie: It’s been widely publicized. You’re the first Spaniard to win it. What has the reaction in your home country been like?
Palou: It’s been good. It’s been big. It’s been the biggest yet compared to championships and stuff, but it’s been a lot bigger in the U.S. than in Spain. I think it’s growing, and hopefully, one day, it grows even more. It takes time in Spain to get involved.
Massie: Talking about some racing, could this season have been one of the best seasons ever without winning the Indy 500?
Palou: Yes. It’s so tough to win the 500. Still, I think [so], if we would have had a good place finish. Still, it’s not a win and the only thing that matters at Indy is a win, but you can still have a successful season without the Indy 500 win. With the Indy 500 win, you can have this amazing, extraordinary and best season ever, which is what we are looking forward now to try and do.
Massie: Your strategist — Barry Wanser — he won the Robin Miller Award last weekend. So, big weekend for him. What’s the connection been like, and how meaningful was this past weekend for him?
Palou: It’s been amazing. He’s that person who [is] called a strategist, but he does a little bit of everything. He just manages the team as well, but he manages the 10 car a lot. He’s the person who directs everybody what to do with the driver, the engineers, the mechanics. So, he’s kind of like the director of that team. For him to receive the Robert Miller Award was super fun. He had no idea. We did not tell him anything. We prepared a couple of videos for him, and I think also Laurie, his wife, was there as a surprise. So, it was a fun moment.
Massie: Sunday’s race – it was the most watched Indy 500 in 17 years. It’s pretty amazing. What does IndyCar need to do to sustain that momentum, especially if a certain guy there is running away with the championship?
Palou: I think it’s not that hard. The viewership has been amazing, I would say, all year. FOX has been doing an amazing job since the beginning. Even before starting with all the commercials everywhere in [the] Super Bowl, NASCAR races. It’s everywhere. It shows the commitment that they have, and I think we just need to continue delivering a good product. The viewership is going to continue to go up and grow, but also, what I’m most happy about is the attendance that we have at every track, like Barber, Indy road course, Long Beach. I’m not only talking about the 500 but everywhere this year. It’s been booming.
Massie: The 500 crowd was crazy, absolutely crazy.
Palou: It was crazy not only on race day. It was on practice days, Carb Day. It was amazing
Massie: I’ll send you off on this one. Last year, the big debate going on in racing was Kyle Larson, Max Verstappen: the greatest drivers in the world. I think you see where I’m going with this. After this win, I’ve seen a lot of chatter online and whatnot of people saying it’s not them. It’s you. What do you make of anyone who says that about you?
Palou: It’s tough to say honestly. I think it’s very tough to compare drivers from series to series. What I know for sure is that Max is probably one of the best drivers, if not the best driver, that has ever been around, honestly. I had the privilege to share teams with him in go-karts. I did a lot of sim racing with him and his team together, and he’s just very good. He’s very tough. So, he’s the best that I’ve seen. I think he would still be very, very, very tough to beat, but it’s amazing that we’re in that conversation.
I think Kyle, as well, showed that he’s able to come to IndyCar and do a great job. He’s amazing at what he does in NASCAR and all the dirt racing that he does. He’s a guy who can race in different series and can win at any of them. So, it’s good to be in that conversation, but I think it’s impossible to say that for sure one is better than the other. What I can tell you is that, in my opinion, Max is still right there. He’s always raising the bar. We can see now this year with a car that almost nobody can drive, he’s still winning, and it’s pretty impressive what he does.
Massie: He’s not too bad.
Palou: He’s not too bad, yeah.
Wyatt Watson contributed to this report.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.