Will anyone be able to stop Alex Palou in IndyCar this year? It doesn't look possible at the moment after the driver of the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing car scored a resounding victory in the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park, finishing 16 seconds ahead of the runner-up Arrow McLaren No. 7 driven by Christian Lundgaard.
Palou began building on his stunning performance after winning the pole position on Saturday, and drove a perfect caution-free race on Sunday en route to his 14th IndyCar Series win, and his third in four races in 2025 — a season in which his worst result is still a second-place finish in last month's round at Long Beach.
"It's probably my best race or my best weekend in IndyCar, not only in IndyCar. When I say IndyCar, (I mean) it would be like my career", Palou said during the post-race press conference.
"Getting the pole when it was everything so tight, getting it at the last moment, and then today the fact that we had to run used tires that are used from qualifying, they are not in good condition. They are better than primaries, but I think everybody that was on the Fast Six was in a small disadvantage than everybody else To still be able to keep a good performance, then also to do it on the blacks, on the primaries, was great. Yeah, honestly I felt it was probably one of my best races", he added.
While he mentioned right after the checkered flag that the race felt "a bit lonely," Palou emphasized the challenges he faced during his Sunday afternoon drive and why it was still very difficult to accomplish his feat at a track as demanding as Barber.
"It was more physical than anything else. Like, we always know that Barber is probably one of the more physical tracks that we have. Probably, yeah, I'd say it's the most physically demanding for the drivers. Especially today, because we had no cautions, we had to go as fast as we could. We didn't really have much tire deg, so you had to push," he explained.
"Physically it was tough. But also the concentration, it's always difficult, right? It's a long race. It's tough. You push as hard as you can, but the car doesn't like it towards the end of the tire life."
As it stands, Palou left Barber with a 60-point cushion over Lundgaard and looks unstoppable, but he's not taking his amazing moment in the IndyCar Series for granted.
"I don't think I'm in a normal position. I'm aware that I'm very lucky to be in the position I'm in today, to be surrounded by a great team, to be able to compete for wins every single weekend. Yeah, I don't know how long that's going to last, but hopefully it's going to be a long time.
The 2025 IndyCar season continues next weekend with the Sonsio Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, a place where Palou already has two wins, including last time from pole, and he has no plans to stop.
"Yeah, honestly Indy road course we've been really, really strong there in the past. Hopefully we can maintain our performance there. It's always tough there. I'd say it's the toughest place because for some reason everybody has a good car there. You have to work so hard to get into the fast 12. The margins are almost nothing, like half a second, 1/10th of a second. The same to get the pole or to stay in front. It's tough. Hopefully we can continue with the form we have had so far this year.
