Alex Palou calls IndyCar at Barber win ‘most likely my finest race’ of all time

Will anybody have the ability to cease Alex Palou in IndyCar this yr? It would not look potential in the intervening time after the driving force of the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing automobile scored a convincing victory within the Youngsters’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park, ending 16 seconds forward of the runner-up Arrow McLaren No. 7 pushed by Christian Lundgaard.

Palou started constructing on his gorgeous efficiency after profitable the pole place on Saturday, and drove an ideal caution-free race on Sunday en path to his 14th IndyCar Sequence win, and his third in 4 races in 2025 — a season by which his worst consequence continues to be a second-place end in final month’s spherical at Lengthy Seashore.

“It is most likely my finest race or my finest weekend in IndyCar, not solely in IndyCar. Once I say IndyCar, (I imply) it might be like my profession”, Palou stated through the post-race press convention.

“Getting the pole when it was every little thing so tight, getting it on the final second, after which immediately the truth that we needed to run used tires which are used from qualifying, they aren’t in good situation. They’re higher than primaries, however I feel all people that was on the Quick Six was in a small drawback than all people else To nonetheless have the ability to hold a superb efficiency, then additionally to do it on the blacks, on the primaries, was nice. Yeah, truthfully I felt it was most likely certainly one of my finest races”, he added.

Whereas he talked about proper after the checkered flag that the race felt “a bit lonely,” Palou emphasised the challenges he confronted throughout his Sunday afternoon drive and why it was nonetheless very troublesome to perform his feat at a observe as demanding as Barber.

“It was extra bodily than the rest. Like, we all the time know that Barber might be one of many extra bodily tracks that we have now. Most likely, yeah, I would say it is probably the most bodily demanding for the drivers. Particularly immediately, as a result of we had no cautions, we needed to go as quick as we might. We did not actually have a lot tire deg, so that you needed to push,” he defined.

“Bodily it was powerful. But additionally the focus, it is all the time troublesome, proper? It is a lengthy race. It is powerful. You push as arduous as you’ll be able to, however the automobile would not prefer it in direction of the top of the tire life.”

Because it stands, Palou left Barber with a 60-point cushion over Lundgaard and appears unstoppable, however he is not taking his wonderful second within the IndyCar Sequence as a right.

“I do not suppose I am in a traditional place. I am conscious that I am very fortunate to be within the place I am in immediately, to be surrounded by an important workforce, to have the ability to compete for wins each single weekend. Yeah, I do not understand how lengthy that is going to final, however hopefully it will be a very long time.

The 2025 IndyCar season continues subsequent weekend with the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway street course, a spot the place Palou already has two wins, together with final time from pole, and he has no plans to cease.

“Yeah, truthfully Indy street course we have been actually, actually sturdy there prior to now. Hopefully we are able to keep our efficiency there. It is all the time powerful there. I would say it is the hardest place as a result of for some cause all people has a superb automobile there. It’s important to work so arduous to get into the quick 12. The margins are nearly nothing, like half a second, 1/tenth of a second. The identical to get the pole or to remain in entrance. It is powerful. Hopefully we are able to proceed with the shape we have now had thus far this yr.