INDIANAPOLIS – Alex Palou’s goal is not to win consecutive Indianapolis 500s. It’s to win the 110th Indianapolis 500.
If he reaches that goal May 24, then yes, the 29-year-old Spaniard will have gone back-to-back and accomplished something only six drivers had done previously.
“We always have that pressure to win,” Palou was saying during the lead-up at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “That’s why they pay us. They pay us to win. Not to win once and that’s it. They pay us to do it continuously.
“I’m hungrier than ever just because I know what comes with it once you win the Indy 500 and what it means.”
If the sport were predictable, the engraver already would have begun working on a second likeness of Palou for the Borg-Warner Trophy. He and his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda crew have been that strong.
Together since the start of 2021, they’ve won four championships, including the past three, and 22 races – nearly one of every four run – including three of the first six in 2026.
But if the sport were predictable, Palou’s teammate Scott Dixon would have more than one Indy, too.
And if it were fair, 2016 winner Alexander Rossi wouldn’t be on crutches and Scott McLaughlin wouldn’t constantly be reliving the heartbreak of his inexplicable crash on the pace laps last year.
So for all the good goals are and as often as the 500 plays out as expected, the defending race winner must be content in the knowledge that he’s put himself in as good a position as he can be.
“I know we have everything,” said Palou, who will start from the pole. “We have a really, really fast car. Hopefully we can have a good race and get there to the end.”
Two drivers in the field have won back-to-back 500s, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Meyer Shank’s Helio Castroneves.
Castroneves, the oldest and most experienced driver in this field, won his first two Indy starts in 2001 and ’02 with Penske and then finished second to teammate Gil de Ferran the following May.
After that ’03 race Castroneves offered up a quote that took on a life of its own. At the Indianapolis 500, he said, the track picks the winner.
“I had flawless speed, driving with one hand, the other on the side like a Sunday drive,” Castroneves recounted with a smile.
“Because of a scenario that happened with a back marker, I ended up losing that opportunity. I couldn’t pass him back again. Yellow keeps coming, keeps coming. My car was still fast, but not enough time.
“I realized that you can have the fastest equipment, everything. … The year before, ended up being a lap down and took a gamble and won the race. It’s true. To this day, that’s what I feel exactly what it is.”
Castroneves has been picked four times in 24 starts.
Contrast his record with that of Dixon, who made his Indy debut in that ’03 race and has gone on to lead a record 677 laps. That’s more than twice as many as Castroneves and nearly 600 more than Newgarden.
Dixon also has won six season championships and ranks second on the all-time Indy-car wins list. But only one of his 59 wins came in the 500 in 2018.
“I guess the simple answer is this place doesn’t owe me anything,” Dixon, 45, said of how he squares the numbers. “I think I’m very fortunate to get one.
“Throughout the years you’ll see [when] the races finish a lot of the time the people fighting for the win are not who you thought. Last year was a big shift. There were probably three, four, five really big cars that were really dominant at the start and weren’t there at the end.
“Again, I think what I keep saying is that you can have the perfect race and still it will just give you a shot at trying to win here.”
Newgarden, who went back-to-back in 2023-24, won’t argue with that philosophy.
“None of us know what’s going to happen, but we’ve got to be prepared to ebb and flow with the race as it transpires and give ourselves an opportunity,” he said. “I think that’s what the Indianapolis 500 is always about. It’s about giving yourself a chance.”
Plenty of drivers have a chance.
Rossi is hobbled after crashing May 18, a day after being edged by Palou for the pole but has been cleared to drive. David Malukas starts on the outside of the front row in the fastest of the Penske entries. Pato O’Ward has finished second and third the past two years and will start on the second row.
Marcus Ericsson won in 2022 and took the checkered flag second last year before his car failed post-race inspection. McLaughlin was a popular pick a year ago.
The list goes on. Still, recent history inevitably focuses the attention back on Palou and his quest to repeat.
“At the end of the day, he’s not impossible to beat,” McLaughlin said. “He’s solid. The team is at the peak of their power. They’ve got pace, strategy, they’ve got confidence. … The hardest part is being able to stay there. He’s been able to do that for a very long time, which is kudos to him.
“No mistakes. Put some pressure on them, see what we can do.”
Then after 200 laps, we’ll know more about 2027. Either Palou will be chasing a third straight or someone else will have a chance to repeat.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Repeating at the Indy 500 is difficult, but so is beating Alex Palou
Reporting by Dave Kallmann, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
