Alex Palou looks to improve from a third-place at Long Beach to another win at Barber (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish).
Reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou will return to the site of his maiden win at Barber Motorsports Park this weekend.
Last April, Palou debuted with Chip Ganassi Racing after having some flashes of brilliance at Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh the year before. Palou not only had an amazing showing in Alabama, but it also began his road to the championship after leading 56 of 90 laps en route to his first of three wins.
Palou’s triumph made him one of only three drivers to win an Indy car race in their Ganassi debut, joining an elite company. Champions Michael Andretti (Queensland 1994) and the late Dan Wheldon (Homestead 2006) previously accomplished such feat.
Unlike those two, Palou hoisted the Astor Cup at season’s end. Andretti finished 4th in the 1994 CART championship and Wheldon lost the 2006 INDYCAR title to Sam Hornish, Jr. via tiebreaker.
Fast forward to 2022, Palou currently sits third in points after three rounds. He’s fresh off a third-place outing at Long Beach and compared to his first two seasons, Palou is off to his best overall start.
“It was a fun weekend. First weekend with the Ganassi team, first weekend of the season last year, and it was great. Obviously, getting that win,” Palou said.
“Cannot wait to go back there. It’s our first road course race of the season now, which feels strange. Like we’ve done already three races and haven’t done any road courses yet.
“It’s more like, let’s say, my comfortable zone where I feel more that I know what I’m doing more than ovals and street courses… Hopefully we can have a good weekend, as well, with the American Legion car. First time of the year that they are with us, and hopefully the car looks good on track.”
Confidence is bright as day for Palou (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish).
In large part of his win last April, The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama will see less pressure from Palou. Testing at the 2.3-mile road course last month with ideal weather conditions also helped relieve pressure. But, the weather will be a concern on race day as the forecast shows potential rain and thunderstorms.
Speed-wise, Andretti Autosport may have the edge in Palou’s eyes, but hope improvements can be made throughout the weekend.
“We know we have a good base there, and I know I can be fast there. It just takes a bit of pressure,” said Palou. “I feel comfortable. I was also lucky that we were able to test a month ago there.
“There [were] more cars we could compare. We were lacking a bit of speed there compared to the Andretti group, but hopefully, we had enough time to try and improve our performance so when we get there this weekend we can be fast.
“I’m looking forward to Barber, one of my favorite places. I saw that the tickets are sold out for Saturday and Sunday, so it’s going to be awesome.”
As Palou described last month at Long Beach, May should be a strong month for the No. 10 Ganassi camp. But the grand mystery is can they go toe-to-toe with Team Penske, who’ve won all three races this season with Josef Newgarden winning the latter two.
Palou trails Newgarden by 15 points and hopes he’ll hit his stride in May. Whether it’s Sunday at Barber or the 106th Indianapolis 500, things are looking good.
“I think it’s been great for us. It’s not like it’s been easy. Like we struggled a little bit in St. Petersburg with speed but we made it work for the race,” Palou said. “We got speed every session and we were able to finish in second place, which I thought was the maximum we could achieve there.
“Texas we had really good cars. We had four drivers in the top seven for the team, so it was good. I was just struggling a bit more than normal, but it was still okay.
“And Long Beach, we were close there with Josef. I think we had a good car. We had speed at Long Beach, it just didn’t play out well for me. I tried an overtake that was not the smartest, and then at the end, the yellow caught us and put (Romain) Grosjean with red tires and more overtake than us and he just got us.
“I think so far so good. We started fighting for races, which is what you want. You cannot always win like the Penske guys have been doing so far this start of the season.
“We’ll try and stop these guys at Barber. It’s not going to be easy. They were strong there last year, as well. But we need to focus on us, and I think we’re doing a good job.
“The win is going to come whenever. It’s not like it needs to come now at Barber. As long as we keep on improving and being ourselves and being consistent and having fight, we’ll be alright.”
The fight continues for the defending INDYCAR champion (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish).
Credit where credit is due, Palou acknowledged Team Penske’s winning ways, but also noted Andretti Autosport as another team to keep an eye on. While the organization hasn’t had consistency, it still cannot be slept on.
“They’ve done an amazing job. They were also there last year. They were fast,” Palou said. I think Newgarden started like P5 last year at Barber, but he had the spin and the crash and then they had some issues. So they were there; they just had a bit of bad luck, which sometimes happens in racing. You expect them to be there.
“I think obviously they were super strong at Texas. I don’t think we had the pace they had at St. Pete, as well. At Long Beach I think we catch them. Like we were right there. I didn’t win the race because of the car or our speed; I think it was more of the strategy and that overtake that didn’t play out. They just were better overall that day. They’ve done a good job.
“We will try and stop them, but there’s a lot of drivers on different teams. We have to stop the Andretti [cars] as well. They are super fast, and with Romain there, I think they are — obviously they have one more driver that’s right there and they have more info and they have really good cars. They had already last year. It’s going to be tough always. We’ll try and make it happen.”
Coverage of Sunday’s race in Birmingham, Alabama begins at 1:00 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
