Alex Palou still “surprised” by historic IndyCar pole…

There is dominant, and then there is historical.

Alex Palou is rapidly pushing his career into the latter category.

The reigning and four-time IndyCar Series champion added yet another milestone to his legendary resume on Saturday, capturing the pole position for Sunday’s XPEL Grand Prix at Road America.

Driving the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) Honda, the 29-year-old Spaniard clocked a blistering flying lap of 1m, 43.6615s around the scenic 4.014-mile, 14-turn natural terrain road course.

The feat marks Palou’s 18th career pole and his sixth of the 2026 season. More remarkably, it is his fifth consecutive pole position—a qualifying streak that hasn't been achieved in IndyCar since fellow CGR legend Alex Zanardi, who took the last four poles at the end of the 1996 season and opened with two consecutive to start 1997. Danny Sullivan was the last driver to claim five straight within a season, doing so 38 years ago in 1988.

Yes, that's @AlexPalou's first pole at @roadamerica ✅ pic.twitter.com/zKA1ZB9Gzm
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 20, 2026

Despite making history look routine from the outside, Palou admitted that securing the top spot on the grid was a rollercoaster of an afternoon.

"Yeah, it was so tough," Palou said after qualifying. "Q1 [group running] I felt great. Q2 [Round of 12] I struggled a ton. Yesterday I felt great, but this morning I struggled, as well. I knew it was going to be very tough to piece it together. My lap, it felt good. There's always room to improve... It's always surprising. It's always so fun and so tough to get it right. I think everything is so tight that, yeah, still surprises."

Palou has already matched last year’s pole tally, which ended up being a historic campaign with eight wins and 13 podiums in 17 races. He currently sits atop the standings as the points leader once again, courtesy of four wins and an additional runner-up through the opening nine rounds.

Does Palou believe he is in the midst of a better run of form than 2025?

"In terms of speed, maybe. In terms of execution, no," Palou admitted. "I think last year we were able to execute almost perfectly."

Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing (Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Lumen via Getty Images)

While the qualifying speeds are breaking records, Palou refuses to let complacency set in. He noted that while he is becoming a more complete driver, and remains relentless at maximizing his abilities.

"I'm improving in places I was not as good last year," Palou said. "On the other side, I feel like sometimes I do mistakes I would not have done last year. It's the good thing and bad thing about sports: you cannot relax every single second; you need to keep on working on everything, otherwise everybody is going to catch up."