Palou to sample Ganassi Indy NXT car at IMS road course test

Chip Ganassi Racing will deploy Alex Palou, its reigning, five-time IndyCar Series champion to sample one of its Dallara IL15 Indy NXT cars on Friday during the annual Chris Griffis Memorial Test on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

The Ganassi team took an appreciable step back in competitiveness last season with its NXT program as its best performer – NXT veteran Bryce Aron – placed 14th out of 24 drivers on the heels of taking eighth in 2025 with Niels Koolen. Using Palou’s input to assess Ganassi’s IL15 setup and offer suggestions on improvements can only help the four-car NXT team as it looks to solidify its line-up for 2027.

“It’ll be tough. It’s very tough always to go from a car that has more downforce and, like, carbon brakes and stuff to some car that is a bit smaller, less downforce, less power, and it doesn’t have as much performance,” Palou said of trading his Dallara DW12 Indy car for Dallara’s NXT model, which he’s never driven.

“I’m excited to help the team see how that car feels. But at least I know the track, so that will make it easier. And, yeah, excited to see what that car is capable of and helping the team as much as I can.”

Palou will be joined at the test by Alessandro de Tullio, Alexander Koreiba and Frankie Mossman.

“It is an exciting group for us to be taking to the Chris Griffis test,” said Ganassi’s Chris Wheeler. “Our program has grown significantly in the first two years and to have a mixture of veteran pace and young promise, we are looking forward to maximizing their skills on track.”