In His Words: Alex Palou Explains How He Won 2025 Indy 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Speedway, Ind.) — Alex Palou has relished hearing “2025 Indianapolis 500 champion” all year. But how did he accomplish the career feat one year ago, winning the race from the sixth starting spot thanks to a pass on Marcus Ericsson on Lap 187 and holding on to the lead over the final 14 laps. He relived his 2025 victory with me last week, explaining what he was thinking not just during the 500, but also in the days and weeks leading up to the race: On his car in practice leading up to race PALOU: “I don’t think it was our best 500 car. In traffic, we were struggling a little bit. I know that heading into the race, we were confident, but not like, ‘Oh yeah, we have a car that can move really fast up front.’ So we struggled quite a lot in practice. Even in the race. I think there was cars like Josef [Newgarden] for example. You look back and he was just moving from last — he made it up to top-eight or top-six. We could not do that. I feel there’s been years in the past where we had that car, and we were able to do it. But last year, we struggled a little bit more.” On the specific troubles he face during practice PALOU: “Just traffic runs. I remember a couple things that we really loved about the car that we’ve already tried this year, something that kind of allowed me to be more comfortable following cars, fourth, fifth in line.” On going by seat of pants vs. engineering PALOU: “We do a lot more than you think. Sometimes we just go back to basics. At the end of the day, places like this, at the speedway, it’s more like what my body feels than what the ideal scenario or what the ideal simulation says. The car is really good. But at the end of the day, if you don’t feel comfortable, you cannot extract 100 percent from the car. So that’s No. 1.” And then being fastest on the first day of qualifying PALOU: “Saturday felt really weird for us last year because suddenly we were P1, and we did not expect it at all, and it didn’t feel like we knew why it was so fast. So then we went into Sunday, and suddenly we lost our advantage a little bit. The conditions changed a lot. It was super windy, and it made it that our car suddenly wasn’t as fast, so we couldn’t be as fast with the car that we had. We still made it to Fast Six, but I think we qualified sixth. Obviously, if you’re P1 on Saturday, you expect more. But we didn’t feel, “Oh yeah, we got this.” It was more like, how are we so fast yesterday? And how are we going to be as fast on Sunday? “This place is like this sometimes, There might be you draw a number [in the qualifying order] that is perfect conditions, and you get a little bit of tailwind, more than everybody else, and you can suddenly carry two-tenths of a mile an hour more — and then suddenly it’s a big difference. You have to have fast car, don’t get me wrong. My car was super fast, otherwise you don’t get to the Fast Six. But I don’t think it was the best car. I’ve been on the pole here, and my car was like a complete rocket ship in any conditions. Last year, we needed the perfect amount of wind, perfect temperature to kind of be good.” Then on race day, it starts to rain just before the start PALOU: “Yeah, I handled it OK — just because everybody was in the same situation. If I’m the only one sitting in the car strapped in 40 minutes or 30 minutes more than everybody else, I would handle it pretty bad. But as I saw that everybody was in the same situation, I was like, ‘Well, hopefully I do better than some other people.’ But I struggle a lot with having to pee. You hydrate yourself so much expecting to sweat right away, and then suddenly you’re there for 40 minutes, and the only thing you can think about is I need to pee and I need to be here for at least two and a half hours. But I did not pee [in my suit]. I did not.” On if he saw Scott McLaughlin crash on the pace laps PALOU: “I see the car crashed, but I don’t see what happened. Like, obviously, I just see a car that is in the grass, but I don’t know what happens.” Then there’s another crash on the opening lap PALOU: “Yes, at the beginning, you’re like, ‘What’s going on?’ But you just focus on your things. You know it’s a 500. You know that crazy stuff happens all the time, and you know that it’s going to be a long, long race. So you need to be patient.” When he knew he had a race-winning car PALOU: “I would say last stint, honestly. We were struggling a little bit at the start of the race and kind of made our way through. It’s not like we had to overtake a bunch of cars, but we were like, sixth, seventh, fifth, but we’re struggling to be there. It was not super easy for us, but we kind of made the car a little bit better. Some cars had a couple of issues like [Ryan] Hunter-Reay, and then we suddenly pitted for the last stint, and we’re a second behind … and Marcus Ericsson came out in front.” Going from struggles to the lead amid lapped traffic PALOU: “[We struggled with] just overall speed, just trying to be as fast as they were, and saving fuel as they were. You know you’re not going to find speed, but you just need to try and play your cards. I don’t think we had the fastest car, but we probably had the best car, being fourth, and that’s how we were able to overtake Marcus [Ericsson].” And then … PALOU: “You’re in the lead, and you are like, ‘OK, now it’s game on.’ It’s like let’s see if I can stay up front, because you don’t know if Marcus suddenly is going to react and he’s going to overtake you back, and then you’re just trying to be there, waiting and praying that there’s not going to be a yellow so you can still have the [lapped] traffic cars up front. Otherwise, I was not going to win that race.” On needing those lapped cars between him and the other cars on the lead lap PALOU: “Yeah. I say I was not going to win that race. Maybe I’m maybe wrong. It was going to be a lot tougher for me to win the race.” And then taking the white flag as the leader PALOU: “I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, just four more corners.’  But I’m not thinking that it’s done. He [Ericsson] actually got very close, I think, the lap before. And actually the last lap exiting of [Turn] 2. And it was not because I relaxed, it was just because he made a last try, and I was just already 100 percent but just struggling with overall grip. So I don’t remember exactly what I thought, but I remember I was not excited yet. I was like, ‘Man, please.’ I’ve been leading already two laps to go in this race with Helio [Castroneves], and then he overtakes you. And there’s a big difference between finishing first and second. So you don’t allow yourself to even think that you can win.” On his loud screams after the win PALOU: “I have no more voice already two minutes after I’m screaming. I know that I lost the voice already in the car. But I was so happy. I just could not wait to stop the car and celebrate with everybody. It’s super cool to celebrate alone. But the best thing is when you can celebrate with your people, with your team, with your family. And you can see on the screen that they are celebrating together, and you’re like, ‘Man, I want to be part of it.’ I’m just here alone in the car. Super cool, don’t get me wrong. But I just want to be with the crew guys.” After you get out of your car, you throw your gloves on the ground and run to your crew PALOU: “That is not what I had in mind. You have perfect ideas in your head whenever you go to bed of how would you celebrate if you win. But then the reality is that you cannot plan anything. You just go with it. But I was just so happy, and I just wanted to run to my mechanics that I just started throwing stuff.” Your dad was in that group. PALOU: “He’s out there jumping as well. I just saw the group. I just saw the group of yellow shirts, people running towards me.”