Alex Palou won his fourth NTT IndyCar Series championship in Sunday’s (Aug. 10) BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland. It is his third straight Astor Cup, something not done since Dario Franchitti in 2011, completing one of the most dominant seasons in IndyCar history.
While the second-placed driver in points, Pato O’Ward, had a mathematical chance in keeping the fight going to Milwaukee on Aug. 24, it all fell apart when he lost power on a restart a third of the way through the race. Palou only had to get to the finish, and the title was his.
O’Ward was 10 laps off the pace by the time his car was back in working condition, meaning the title fell to Palou when the field started lap 101 of the 110-lap race.
The Chip Ganassi driver has set the IndyCar world on fire, basically owning it in four of his six years. While previous titles were won with consistency, this one was about wins. His eight race victories are the most by a champion since Sebastien Bourdais won the Champ Car World Series in 2007, and he has a chance to add more with two races left.
From the start of the season until the seventh race, Palou rocketed to the lead in points, establishing a gap that was insurmountable to his competition. When the season turned over to June, he had earned a finishing average of 1.16, with a second at Long Beach his lowest result. That type of effort, by both his team and his driving, isn’t something easily defeated.
In May, he won the Indianapolis 500, becoming the first champion to do that since Franchitti in 2010. Not only was it his first Borg-Warner, but also his inaugural oval win, accomplishing the final checklist item for IndyCar’s diverse track disciplines.
Palou’s performance leveled out after the Month of May, but he still won more races — three — from Detroit through Portland compared to his entire 2024 championship. All his competition could do was hope for some consistent bad luck, but it never struck.
Now the question heading into next year is if he can tie Bourdais by winning his fourth in a row in 2026.
Tom is an IndyCar writer at Frontstretch, joining in March 2023. Besides writing the IndyCar Previews and frequent editions of Inside IndyCar, he will hop on as a fill-in guest on the Open Wheel podcast The Pit Straight. A native Hoosier, he calls Fort Wayne home. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomBlackburn42.