Alex Palou claims fifth IndyCar title in record time: “It just feels like we started yesterday”

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Alex Palou claims fifth IndyCar title in record time: “It just feels like we started yesterday”

Joey Barnes

Mon, August 31, 2026 at 1:08 AM UTC ·

4 min read

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Five championships in six years. Four consecutive titles. The youngest five-time champion in American open-wheel history. Yet as 29-year-old Alex Palou sat in the post-race press conference at The Milwaukee Mile having just clinched the 2026 IndyCar Series championship with a race to spare, the Spaniard admitted the scale of what he has achieved has not fully registered with him.

"I can't. It's very tough, man. It's tough to put into words," Palou said when asked to contextualize his fifth title aboard the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

"Everything that I owe to this team, to these two men sitting next to me (race strategist Barry Wanser and team owner Chip Ganassi), that they give me the opportunity to be not only a race winner, then a champion, now a five-time champion. It's been incredible. It just feels like we started yesterday. We're just getting closer and closer. We're having more fun and more fun each day. It's been an absolute joy of a year."

That sense of how quickly it has happened contrasts with the records Palou has claimed since joining Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021. By wrapping up the title before next weekend's season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Palou achieved in six seasons what took open-wheel legends decades to accomplish:

Fastest to five:Palou's five championships across six years (2021–2026) represent the shortest span from a driver's first to fifth title in history – shattering the marks set by A.J. Foyt (eight seasons) and teammate Scott Dixon (16 seasons). Youngest to five:At 29, Palou is the youngest five-time champion in series history, besting Foyt (32) and Dixon (38). "I'm going to turn 30, so yeah. It's going to be a big number," Palou joked. Four straight:He becomes the first four-consecutive-year champion since reunification in 2008, and the only driver to pull off a four-peat since Sébastien Bourdais (2004–2007). Third all-time: Palou now sits third on the all-time titles list, trailing only Foyt (7) and Dixon (6).

Palou's stat line for 2026 – six wins, eight poles, seven podiums, 12 top-fives, and 673 laps led across 17 races – also propelled Chip Ganassi Racing into first place as IndyCar's all-time winningest team. This 18th series championship for CGR broke a tie with Team Penske, meaning Ganassi has won the championship in 13 of the 19 seasons since reunification, a 68.4% championship win rate.

"When I look at this guy next to me here, five championships in six years, the team has 18 now, I passed my pal Roger," said Ganassi. "But the fact of the matter is, I wouldn't be here without him. If it wasn't for Roger (Penske) setting the bar, there wouldn't be a bar to exceed or to shoot for. I want to thank him for doing what he's done for IndyCar racing for so many years... I know he's not going to sit idly by being in second place now in championships."

Ganassi pointed to organizational stability as the engine behind Palou's unprecedented run.

"What has allowed him to do that? The people around him, the team, the partners we've had," Ganassi said. "A lot of people still have fingerprints on this championship today. They're still here. They're still part of this."

Chip Ganassi, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing

Wanser highlighted that culture of shared leadership: "Chip is for sure with us on the #10 car. He might not be sitting there, but Chip and I did the strategy on the #10 car for 16 years together. He mentored me to be able to be in the position I am now. He's always with us."

With Palou not yet 30 and already standing alongside motorsport legends, Ganassi was asked if his star driver could eventually reach eight championships before his career ends.

"Absolutely. I mean, you'd be crazy not to believe that, yeah," Ganassi said. "I wouldn't want to bet against that, I know that. I don't know what the odds are in Vegas of that, but I wouldn't want to bet against it."