INDIANAPOLIS — When it seems Alex Palou is knocked down, all he does is get back up, and what looked to be a terrible beginning to an Indianapolis 500 defense flipped completely upside down in the final 10 minutes of Tuesday’s (May 12) opening practice session.
The Spaniard opened the day at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, only clocking in the 219 mph range and sitting 32nd of the 33 cars in his primary speedway car for the 110th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
“I think there’s something wrong,” Palou radioed to his team. “My right rear.”
The performance was well out of order for the near-perfect reputation the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda team maintains in the NTT IndyCar Series, thanks to the right front issue
A massive change was needed to make Palou happy.
Enter Strategist Barry Wanser.
Wanser, who has served as Palou’s strategist since the three-time champion joined the team in 2021, assessed the situation with the unstable No. 10 and dove into the core of the DHL Honda.
“This is the first debut of the speedway car,” Wanser told Frontstretch. We did a couple of runs by ourselves to shake down the car, worked through a bit of a test plan, and then during a run with traffic [and] higher speeds, he just didn’t like the feel of the car. It felt different than it should.”
For what seemed like an eternity, Palou’s No. 10 was worked on in Gasoline Alley and didn’t see the track until the second half of Happy Hour.
“It’s the safe thing to do on day one, come back to the garage,” Wanser said. “We looked it over and made sure it was mechanically sound, and went back out.
“The engineer made an aero change and a couple of different changes to the car, another set of Firestones.”
Bear in mind, the fast lap was set in the early stages of the race by Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong, who clocked in at 225.895 mph.
With the No. 10 getting such a late go at setting a hot lap, no one expected to see a quicker time on the board.
But remember, Palou is nigh on inevitable.
He zipped through the field and set the fastest time of first practice with a 225.937 mph.
To Wanser, this is just another day in the life of working with Palou; perfection is the norm, and nothing is shocking at this point.
“His experience obviously contributes to the overall success of the team,” Wanser said. “It shows even with his experience to recognize, ‘Hey, the car doesn’t feel right,’ and come on in. That’s big around here. If you try to give it one more corner, sometimes, you end up with a crashed car.”
Wanser pointed out that Palou isn’t alone in building up the success of the No. 10 team, as everyone from those in the shop and the guys servicing the car on pit road has their hand in being the most dominant IndyCar team in the paddock week in and week out.
“The team’s performing well,” Wanser said, “Engineering’s performing well. The guys in the pits are doing a great job. Everybody at the shop with all the subassembly, the body fits — everything the team does ties together to give the car the performance Alex needs to perform at the highest level.
What helps with the ease of going into an Indy 500 defense is once again entering the Month of May as the points leader, albeit by only 37 points to an even more dangerous Kyle Kirkwood. However, despite not winning a wacky Sonsio Grand Prix on the IMS road course, the attitude remains the same as it was for Wanser and the No. 10 team in 2025.
“It’s been an amazing ride so far,” Wanser said, “It’s like a dream season again, right? To be leading the point again heading into Indy — you’re always trying to build momentum for that — we have that.”
With eyes on them as the defending champions, Wanser knows that all eyes are on his and Palou’s program and that they are the team to beat, reinforced by the strong lap logged in non-ideal conditions.
“It feels great,” Wanser said. “Obviously, it’s a lot of confidence, but all it does is [that] it proves to us that we know if we get everything right and it’s our day, we can win the race. That’s our goal this year.
“Do the obvious things right, qualify well, race up front, hopefully have no problems, and be up front as a contender.”
The keys to the Indianapolis 500 still seem firmly in the possession of Palou and the No. 10 team, and if anyone can pry them out of their hands, it will take more than perfection to make it happen.
Wyatt Watson has followed motorsports closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretch as a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt is one of Frontstretch's primary IndyCar correspondents, providing exclusive video content on site. He hosts Frontstretch's Through the Gears podcast and occasionally The Pit Straight.You can find Wyatt's written work in columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monsteras well as exclusive IndyCar features. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media team, posting unique and engaging content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on X @WyattWRacing