It not only marked the 28-year-old Spaniard’s third consecutive victory in the event, but he became the first driver since Sebastien Bourdais in 2006 to win four of the opening five races of a season in the IndyCar Series.
“I cannot describe the amazing season we’ve had so far,” Palou said.
“I owe everything to the team, Chip Ganassi Racing, my teammates, everybody who is working behind the scenes to make me look so fast on track.
“It’s amazing. It’s unbelievable.”
This outing wasn’t without some drama, as a late caution on lap 70 of 85 set up a 13-lap sprint to the finish.
Despite a hungry Pato O’Ward bearing down the rear wing of Palou’s #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, the pace laps were the closest the Arrow McLaren pilot would get.
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Palou rolled off with a strong restart and cruised to a 5.4840 second victory. Team Penske’s Will Power finished third to round out the podium.
It’s a fight to the finish 👀
The field is back to green with 13 laps to go at @IMS!
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— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 10, 2025
“It was just a solid day,” said Power, after his first podium of the season.
“Didn’t pass anyone on track. It was the same as Barber. Didn’t pass a single car.
“Just spent the whole day sort of like in a good pit stop strategy and speed and sort of overcut there at the end. Got us a couple of positions.
“Yeah, it was a very uneventful day. It was eventful in the car catching and driving hard the whole day, but as far as chopping through the field or anything…
“When you start seventh, obviously it’s not like you’re able to pass a lot of people.”
The Kiwi duo of Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon ended up fourth and fifth respectively.
Among the all-time greats 🤝 pic.twitter.com/KX6OokAQ43
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 11, 2025
The latest outing was a bit more challenging for Palou, who actually lost the lead on the opening lap of the race after front-row mate Graham Rahal pulled off a stout move on the outside of Turn 1 and carried the momentum to push ahead by the exit of Turn 2.
Rahal kept control of the race until lap 58 when a stalking Palou, running the less preferred primary tyres of Rahal’s alternates, finally fought back to regain the lead. And Palou wouldn’t relent for the remainder of the race.
Meanwhile, Rahal’s hopes of ending a winless streak of 128 races faded as he struggled with grip late and finished sixth despite leading a race-high 46 laps.
One of the more unique features of the weekend that drivers and teams were forced to adjust to was utilising both tyre compounds twice.
For his part, Dixon expressed during a post-race interview with IndyCar Radio Network that “I think it’s a stupid rule.”
Meanwhile, O’Ward and Power shared a different perspective in the post-race press conference.
“In terms of strategy it was nice to [not] be in a boring fuel save, ‘follow the leader’ type situation,” O’Ward said. “It was nice to be able to push and undercut, overcut.
“I think the tyre rule, at least from our side, that was pretty eventful, I would say. I would be keen to see that in Detroit because of the green tyre [alternate on street circuits].”
Power added, “Oh, yeah, that would be cool.” To which O’Ward continued, “It would be great if we would have done that at St. Pete and Long Beach, to be honest.”
Through the opening five rounds of 17 into the IndyCar Series season, Palou holds a 97-point lead – nearly two full races worth of points – over Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood (248-151).
The next round of the season is the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 25, with qualifying set for May 17-18.
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