Eight is great, but Palou has greater heights in sight

Eight wins in one season for Alex Palou. It’s one more than Scott McLaughlin has earned across five seasons with Team Penske. It’s the same number of victories Alexander Rossi’s captured across the entirety of his 10-year IndyCar career. It’s one win shy of matching the career totals of nine apiece since 2019 for Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward.

All of this, produced by the three-time champion in a span of 14 races spread over a rapid-fire run of 147 days.

Palou went into 2025 tied with Adrian Fernandez and Johnnie Parsons at 11 wins, which placed the Chip Ganassi Racing driver 40th on the all-time IndyCar victory list. In this remarkable year of work, he’s jumped to 25th on the honor roll and passed the likes of Gil de Ferran, Tommy Milton, Tom Sneva, Simon Pagenaud, Juan Montoya, Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan, Jimmy Murphy, Danny Sullivan, and just cleared Ryan Hunter-Reay while moving his career tally to 19 wins after Laguna Seca.

“I don't really know how to explain how I feel about that,” Palou said after hearing the names he’s passed on the list. “I cannot really comprehend everything that's happening, not only this year, but if I look back at ever since I started in IndyCar, my dream was just to be a professional race car driver, and I never thought about records or anything like that.

"It's not that I think about it, but whenever I get asked these questions, it's amazing. Like, to be in the position I am today, it's amazing. I never thought that I would be around those names, and I think obviously this season in particular has been a little bit crazy. Yeah, I almost matched the wins that I had in three years, or in four years actually. I owe everything to my team and everybody that is behind me, like my personal team and my racing team, but it's amazing.”

It will likely take a few more years to get there, but Palou’s not so far away from Emerson Fittipaldi (22), Bobby Rahal (24), Roger Ward (26), Johnny Rutherford (27), and Rick Mears (29). If he’s able to cross into the 30s, Palou will be playing inside the top 10 for all-time wins.

He’s become the fifth driver in IndyCar history to win at least eight races from the first 14, which speaks to the speed of his achievement, and is the 10th driver in history to win at least eight races in a season alongside Tony Bettenhausen in 1951 with eight, A.J. Foyt in 1964 with 10, Mario Andretti in 1966 with eight, Andretti again in 1967 with eight, Andretti once more in 1969 with nine, Al Unser in 1970 with 10, Michael Andretti in 1991 with eight, Al Unser Jr. in 1994 with eight, and Sebastien Bourdais in 2007 with eight.

“It's not that I'm not conscious about what's going on,” Palou added. “It's just that I cannot really believe it, and I'm just riding the wave and enjoying every single second of it and having fun.”