Palou clinches fourth consecutive, fifth overall IndyCar title in Milwaukee

He entered Milwaukee as "Quattro," IndyCar’s reigning four-time champion with a remarkable streak of three titles in a row, and left The Mile Sunday night as "Cinco," the newest five-time champ with a streak that now extends to four consecutive crowns and five in a span of six years.

His elevation as a five-timer broke a tie with Sebastien Bourdais, the last IndyCar driver to take four titles in a row from 2004-2007, and his Chip Ganassi Racing coach Dario Franchitti, who took his 2007 Andretti title and stacked three straight championships in a row for Ganassi from 2009-2011, as well as the G.O.A.T., Mario Andretti, whose four triumphs spanned 1965-1984.

With six wins and eight poles from 17 races, the 2026 season will be remembered as yet another runaway performance by the Spaniard, who has twice as many victories and four times as many poles as his closest rival. And his favorite race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca next Sunday could add to his peerless tally.

“When I look at this guy next to me here, five championships in six years, the team has 18 now, I passed my pal Roger [Penske],” said Palou’s team owner Chip Ganassi. “But the fact of the matter is, I wouldn't be here without him. If it wasn't for Roger setting the bar, there wouldn't be a bar to exceed or to shoot for.

“These have been said before, but we're in the midst of a generational thing here, a generational driver. Four-in-a-row has been done before, but five out of six hasn't been done before. That's something that's kind of unprecedented. We're in the midst of that right now. It's not over.”

Despite all of his immense success, Palou struggles to process the good fortunes that have been visited upon him since joining the team during the offseason in 2020.

“I never thought I would be, first of all, an IndyCar driver,” Palou said. “Never thought I could make it. Never thought that I would have the chance to be a professional race car driver. That was my dream. When I had the opportunity to be an IndyCar driver, that was already a huge achievement for me. I was living the dream.

“I remember also then Chip giving me that chance to drive for a championship-winning team at that moment. They just won in 2020 with Scott. That was mind-blowing. Since then I feel like I've been on this incredible cloud where everything has been so good for me. I have Chip and everybody at CGR, they've been giving me all the tools. I have the people around me, they take so much care of me, and they make me look so good on track. It's just super fun.

“I don't know how long this is going to last. One year, 10 years, 15, five years. I don't know how long are we going to be able to be up top. But I'm enjoying every single day with this team, with this car.”