Alex Palou is chasing racing immortality in businesslike fashion

At 28, there's not much that Alex Palou hasn't accomplished in IndyCar competition. 

In just 96 career starts, he has 19 wins. He won the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 25. He's won eight of the 15 races contested, so far, in 2025, and on Sunday at Portland International Raceway, he locked up his third consecutive IndyCar championship and his fourth in five seasons with a third-place finish. 

At 28, Palou is chasing racing immortality, and doing so in a businesslike fashion that should terrify his competitors. 

Even once he knew he had the championship locked up on Sunday after Pato O'Ward suffered a mechanical issue, Palou wasn't thinking about his post-race beverage selection. Instead, he was pushing as hard as he could to chase down Christian Lundgaard for second place. 

"I didn't want to go home without trying," Palou said. 

You wouldn't think that a battle for the runner-up spot would mean much to a driver in Palou's position with the title already clinched. But the shine of the Astor Cup can't outshine the thrill of simply racing — and more importantly, winning. 

"I love working with my team, my mechanics, my engineers, everybody that is involved in racing to go through race weekends and try and be better than everybody else," Palou said. "We keep on trying to improve, whether it's the car, driving, whatever we can, try and just be a little bit better than we were before.

That's what drives us. It's not really the championships and numbers. Obviously that's a big part and we love that. It's kind of a reward that you get. But what we love is coming to every single weekend at the track and competing."

Palou locking up the championship two races earlier takes pressure off the No. 10 team at Milwaukee and Nashville. But there is one achievement Palou can still snag, even if the big prize is sewed up. Should he win the final two races, he'd tie the likes of A.J. Foyt and Al Unser Sr. for the most wins in an IndyCar season with 10. 

"We got here by running the races a particular way. We didn't change up today. We're not going to change up at Milwaukee or Nashville either," said team owner Chip Ganassi. 

It's easy to think about Palou's future; one where he could eventually tie or surpass the great Foyt in championships. But for a racer in Palou and a team like Chip Ganassi Racing, their future only consists of the race weekends in Milwaukee and Nashville. 

"There will be plenty of off-seasons and years ahead to talk about championships and records," Ganassi said. 

For two weeks, at least, Palou, Ganassi and the No. 10 team can allow themselves to bask in the glory of a fourth IndyCar championship and the promise of a future that could land him a spot in history as one of the greatest race drivers of all-time. 

Quotes provided by IndyCar Media unless otherwise noted.