Today’s question: What was the defining moment of Alex Palou’s 2025 championship season?
Curt Cavin: I’ll defer a couple of the obvious answers to my colleagues in order to highlight two key aspects of Palou’s season. One, he has become the best qualifier in the series, capturing a season-high six NTT P1 Awards in 2025 (photo, above). He hasn’t started a race this season outside the top nine, and that’s a significant benefit to finishing strong in races. Two, he would have three oval wins this year if not for a passing cloud dropping sprinkles on the Milwaukee Mile late in last weekend’s race. He had led 199 of the 234 laps to that point Sunday. Bottom line: Palou has proven he can lead any session and any race at any time, which doesn’t bode well for the competition moving forward.
Eric Smith: Several moments come to mind, but an underrated one is Palou’s victory June 22 at Road America (photo, above). His hot start of six consecutive top-two finishes was a statement in itself. However, the championship race began to tighten after a 25th-place finish in Detroit and an eighth at World Wide Technology Raceway. Kyle Kirkwood won both of those races and suddenly looked like a serious threat to mount a comeback. Was the pendulum starting to swing? Then Palou responded by qualifying second and winning the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, delivering a clear message: His dominance wasn’t fading – he remained the one to beat.
Arni Sribhen: For me, a month should be considered a moment because over 21 days in May, Alex Palou didn’t lose and built a point gap so big over his next closest rival that everyone (except for maybe Palou and his team) was ready to give him the Astor Challenge Cup. First, it was Barber – one of Palou’s best tracks – and he led 81 of 90 laps in a romp (photo, above). Then it was on to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, where he won for the third time in four years. And finally, he conquered an oval, and not just any oval, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. A three-race win streak that spelled title for the 10 car.
Paul Kelly: It must be the hot start that saw Palou win five of the first six races of the season in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda (photo, above). The last time we saw dominance like that early in the season was 2020, when Scott Dixon won the first three races of that pandemic-shortened schedule. The Iceman then held off Josef Newgarden for his sixth championship. The difference between Dixon’s title in 2020 and Palou’s in 2025 is that Newgarden emerged as the only true contender to Dixon, winning an identical four races overall and falling short by just 16 points. No driver in 2025 mounted a consistent challenge to Palou, who leads the standings by 165 points – a staggering gap of three races’ worth of points – entering the season finale. Palou and his eight victories have been more of a steamroller this season than any INDYCAR SERIES driver since Sebastien Bourdais in his eight-win season in 2007, and, let’s face it: His rivals have done a pretty lousy job mounting any kind of regular counterattack. That’s a testament to Palou’s astonishing speed and consistency.