Spaniard Alex Palou Wins Indianapolis 500, Cements Himself Among IndyCar Greats
IndyCar Series champ becomes first Spanish driver to win The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Alex Palou came into the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 with three NTT IndyCar Series championships to his name, but without a win on an oval, or — most importantly — an Indy 500 victory.
On Sunday, he checked both of those items off his to-do list.
The driver of the No. 10 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing started the race on the outside of the second row in sixth, and he braved the first half of the race, which was about as chaotic as they come, with a retirement on the pace laps and another entering the first turn.
But keeping his nose clean when things get crazy is one of Alex Palou's hallmarks, and he was at his best.
This allowed the Spaniard to fight to the front and make his final pit stop just on the edge of the typical fuel window, meaning that he needed to conserve as much fuel as possible to reach the finish.
He spent some time behind Andretti Global's Marcus Ericsson in the No. 28 to conserve traffic, but entering Turn 1 with 15 laps to go, Palou pulled a stunner and snuck to the inside of Ericsson when the Swede left the door open ever so slightly.
From there, he was able to use a pair of backmarkers — Rahala Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Devlin DeFrancesco and rookie Louis Foster — to conserve fuel, drafting them the rest of the way to the finish.
It looked like Ericsson may have had a run here or there, but he was never quite close enough to make a lunge on Palou in the final few laps.
However, this was one of the most chaotic Indianapolis 500s in recent memory, so why wouldn't there be a caution when Palou was within sight of the Yard of Bricks?
Arrow McLaren's Nolan Siegel crashed to bring out a caution, which ended the race, and from there, it was time for Palou to celebrate his fifth win this season out of six races.
Palou is now the first Spanish driver to win the Indianapolis 500. And now that he has tasted the milk at the Brickyard, he is among the best to have ever hopped in an IndyCar.
It was an incredible first win at Indy, and something tells me it may not be his last.