Alex Palou keeping himself humble despite fifth straight pole

Even after a fifth straight pole put him in a great position to win Sunday's XPEL Grand Prix at Road America and extend his lead in the NTT IndyCar Series standings, Alex Palou remained measured. 

Palou earned his 18th career pole Saturday at Road America and will lead the field to the green flag in the 10th race of the 2026 IndyCar season (2 p.m. ET, FOX) to begin the second half of the campaign. He holds a 49-point lead over second-place Kyle Kirkwood in the standings. 

Through the first nine races of 2026, Palou has four wins, six top fives and seven top 10s. He's on track to match his superb 2025 season, in which he won nine times and had 13 top 10s in 17 races. 

Alex Palou staying focused

"In terms of speed, maybe," Palou said Saturday when asked if 2026 has been better than 2025. "In terms of execution, no. I think last year we were able to execute almost perfectly. I'm improving in places I was not as good last year. On the other side, I feel like sometimes I do mistakes I would not have done last year.

"It's the good thing and bad thing about sports: you cannot relax every single second; you need to keep on working on everything, otherwise everybody is going to catch up."

But nobody has caught up to Palou quite yet. David Malukas, who qualified second on Saturday, was nearly three-tenths back of the four-time champion in qualifying. 

"Best of the best right now," Malukas said of Palou. 

A victory for Palou on Sunday would be his fourth at Road America in the last six events at the Wisconsin road course and the 24th of his legendary career. 

Quotes provided by IndyCar Media.