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Fox Sports
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
In His Own Words: Alex Palou On What Each Win Meant In Title Run
NTT INDYCAR SERIES In His Own Words: Alex Palou On What Each Win Meant In Title Run Published Aug. 11, 2025 2:44 p.m. ET share facebook x reddit link PORTLAND, Ore. — Alex Palou's remarkable season has included the most victories by a driver in 18 years. A driver earns at least 51 points for a victory. So in some ways, they all count relatively the same. But what role did his victories (and maybe his non-victories) play into his fourth series title, clinched after 15 races of the 17-race schedule? Palou sat down with me following his championship-clinching run Sunday at Portland International Raceway to give me almost an immediate oral history of the season's major turning points. Win No. 1: St. Pete (Season Opener) Palou: That was one of the most important wins of the year. It was a place that we struggled in the past, and we knew that by pushing really hard there and trying to improve a couple of stuff that we had, we're going to be able to fight for the win. Getting that win there just kind of allowed everybody to believe that we were a little bit better than everybody else, that we were a little bit more prepared than everybody else, and we wanted to take advantage of that and try and get more wins and try to get more good results. Alex Palou opened the season on a winning note at St. Petersburg. Win No. 2: Thermal (Race 2) Palou: When we went from St. Pete to Thermal, that was amazing. We had to fight for both of those races so hard, but it was amazing to get two wins in a row, which I've never had in my entire career at the start of the season. And it felt amazing. ... It felt more like, OK we won the first two, it's looking very good to fight for the championship again. But there's no chance that I would have even thought about getting eight wins in one year. Like zero chance. ADVERTISEMENT Win No. 3: Barber (Race 4) Palou: It was the first weekend of May. We forget about the wins very easy. Not only us, but everybody. You have to because you cannot allow yourself to try and enjoy them. You need to keep on working towards more, because if you don't do it, otherwise somebody else will catch you. Barber, for us, was a good way of starting the month of May, giving everybody a big boost of energy. Because the month of May, it's very tough for everybody, especially mechanics, the engineers. They spend so many days out of home, and it felt amazing to give them that little bit of fuel that they needed to try and go for May. Win No. 4: Indianapolis Grand Prix (Race 5) Palou: It was a very fast race. We knew we had an amazing car there, and honestly, the pace that we had was amazing. It was just so good, we were able to manage a little bit. But, again, it kind of gave us a huge boost for the month of May. It kind of pushed us to work more and try to get the 500. Win No. 5: Indianapolis 500 (Race 6) Palou: The 500 is a completely different race. You spend so much time there and you know it's so hard that even though you won the week before or the two weeks before, it just doesn't feel like you can carry that momentum. It's like everybody starts from zero. The 500, it's always separate. Even if you've won zero or five races before that, you don't care. You just want to go there and you want to win. And that's the way we felt this year. Winning the 500 is super special. It's amazing. It puts yourself in a very cool group of other drivers. But our season is so long, you cannot rely only on one race [to make your season]. What I like is going to every single weekend, fighting for the wins, getting wins, getting good results. So I don't think I would have been happy struggling for six months and only being happy one week. That [first oval win] kind of allowed me to believe that I could win on ovals, that I had everything I needed to win more on other ovals. It kind of allowed me to have even more confidence in myself and the team. It's just like every single race that we did this year, it kind of gave us more confidence. Alex Palou broke through to capture his first Indy 500 victory. Win No. 6: Road America (Race 9) Palou: (In this race, Palou argued with his strategist over what to do). We always have those talks. Even today here at Portland, there was a strategy that was we could have done the other thing and just follow everybody else. But it's fun. It's what keeps this thing interesting. It's what keeps our relationship so good. But Road America, again, was a high boost of confidence of how good we were on road courses this year and another win to add to the amazing, magical season. Win No. 7: Iowa (Race 12) Palou: I needed that. I needed that very badly. I wanted that. I didn't need to. I wanted it. The fact that we won at the 500 felt amazing and that we could take the oval win, but I think it's a very different oval compared to St. Louis, Milwaukee, Iowa. So for me, it was very important to get that Iowa win. I felt super happy to get that win. It counted even more than just one. Alex Palou celebrates in victory lane after Race 2 at Iowa Speedway. Win No. 8: Laguna Seca (Race 14) Palou: It just put us in the position to get the win [of the title] here at Portland. But at the same time, the pace that we showed there was so good, it was so big, and kind of allowed us to believe everything that we've done this year. It gave us more confidence to try and win another race and try and go for 10 wins. Clinching Race: Portland (Race 15, third) Palou: We could have been in a really bad spot with our strategy. We had to overtake a lot of cars on track, and we had to recover [from falling behind by] 20 seconds that both [Will] Power and [Christian] Lundgaard gave us. We recovered that and then we fought for second as hard as I could — twice — and it didn't work. It's still another podium from starting fifth and not having cautions for us. It kind of hurt us a little bit. So to get another podium is amazing. Alex Palou wrapped up the 2025 title in Portland with his eighth win of the season. The Non-Wins Palou: Finishing second in Long Beach [in the third race], it helped us quite a lot. Mid-Ohio, although it could have been another win and I made a mistake, I think that helped me a lot to not get relaxed at all and go down one level of confidence. Although I'm very confident, to know that you make mistakes, and that everybody's there waiting for you to make a mistake. For sure, that's going to make me a lot tougher. It made me tougher, but I'm sure in the long run, it's going to be good. Finally, Are A Record-Tying 10 Wins Possible (winning Milwaukee and Nashville) Palou: By numbers, yes. But it's no. Realistically, no. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. share
Fox Sports
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
What To Know About INDYCAR At Portland: Title Race, Power's Future, Caution Calls
NTT INDYCAR SERIES What To Know About INDYCAR At Portland: Title Race, Power's Future, Caution Calls Published Aug. 8, 2025 5:33 p.m. ET share facebook x reddit link PORTLAND, Ore. — Alex Palou, viewed by many as the 2025 INDYCAR champion-in-waiting, looks back on a year ago at Portland International Raceway knowing he had a solid day in second. He also knows he got his butt kicked. Will Power won that race by an astonishing 9.82 seconds. So it was a good result but one where Power had the better race. At the end, he also had the better tire choice for the 12-turn, 1.964-mile track located just north of downtown Portland and just south of Vancouver, Washington. Can Will Power get the win again at Portland? "He just destroyed us," Palou said. "The pace that he had was crazy. I was right behind him at some point, and I could not do anything to stop him. "It was frustrating, but at the same time, we still finished second, and our car was really, really good there. I was still kind of happy." Palou could leave Sunday from Portland really happy if he clinches his fourth INDYCAR championship. He enters the 110-lap race Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FOX) at 121 points ahead of Pato O'Ward with three races left in the season. He clinches if he leaves Portland with at least a 108-point edge on O'Ward. ADVERTISEMENT "It just feels like a normal weekend," Palou said Friday morning. "It feels very special, obviously, because we know it can be a different one at the end. But at the same time, it's still early on. It's not the last race of the season, where it's the last chance, and one driver is going to win it here. Alex Palou could clinch the title this weekend. "There's good odds of if we do the job that we know that we can do, we can try and win the championship this weekend. But as long as I win it this year, I'll be happy." Here is what to know going into the final road-course race of the season. The final two races are contested on The Milwaukee Mile and Nashville Superspeedway (1.333-mile) ovals. Can Power Repeat? This was Power's third win of the 2024 season, and he hasn't won since. Power said he doesn't feel "desperate" for a win. "I'm not desperate," he said. "Obviously, it would be very nice. But not let's take some huge risks." Thinking back to that race a year ago, Power believes he can find that pace. "It all depends on the situation, but you can run away if we qualify well and we're at the front and put ourselves in that position," Power said. "That is possible. It's going to be a good challenge if you can drop Palou." Power said the team can't assume things will go well because of last year. Will Power during the INDYCAR Series Sukup Race Weekend Race 1 at Iowa Speedway "I love the track," he said. "You can't assume you're going to turn up and be very competitive just because you were last year. You've got to do your homework and be light on your feet to make some changes and so on. "It's another opportunity to execute a good weekend, which we haven't had many of this year." Of course, there are other things on Power's mind, like what he is doing next season. He doesn't need to have a final decision from Penske until the end of August. The season finale at Nashville is Aug. 31, and Power can't talk to other teams until then. "I don't think I'll know until after, at the end of or during the weekend of Nashville," Power said. "I just want to know, to be honest. I would like to know what I'm doing. That would be nice. That's sort of the stress that would be off me is just to know, like, where am I driving and am I driving at all?" Will INDYCAR Hold The Yellow? There was some criticism of INDYCAR for not throwing the caution quickly with Rinus VeeKay stranded by the barrier at Laguna Seca and then Marcus Ericsson stalled on the track at a blind spot at the top of a hill. INDYCAR race director Kyle Novak texted drivers following Laguna Seca about how they view those situations should be handled in the future. VeeKay said he was frustrated losing two laps in the process but that is the way INDYCAR has officiated some of those instances in the past, especially if they come around a pit-stop cycle. "I feel like in the position I was in, it's kind of how they do it," VeeKay said. "It's happened in the past. The one with Marcus was different, though, because I was racing. I was driving, and it's a little bit of a moment of, 'OK there's a car here somewhere, but where's it going to be?' "He was on track. He wasn't off track. It is such a sketchy part of the track. There's a local yellow but you're still racing." Ericsson said in the moment, he was just trying to get the car re-fired. But he obviously had concerns after seeing the precarious position he was in, even if he didn't have contact with another driver and the hybrid engine can be restarted. "If it's a situation like that, I think we should do something different, right?" Ericsson said. "Because I understand why we don't want to throw yellow for someone who's spinning when we have the hybrid restart, but if you're in a bad spot like that, especially the blind spot, we got to be better than that." Veteran driver Alexander Rossi said it is understandable that the series doesn't want to throw a caution during a pit cycle and impact a race. But this was a situation that wouldn't impact a pit cycle and in a blind spot for drivers coming up the hill. He indicated drivers won't know if there is a change in philosophy until a similar situation happens again. "Just mainly that part of the track, that's the issue," Ericsson said. "What they did with Rinus there, I think was perfectly fine because he was so far off the track in a gravel trap and you see the [local] yellow going in there, you see the car up in the gravel, so it's not really like a dangerous situation. "But for me, I think we should have done something different." Is There VeeKay-Kirkwood Beef? Not according to VeeKay, who posted video from Kirkwood's in-car camera to show how he ended up off the track at Laguna. Kirkwood wasn't happy. VeeKay said they had a conversation. At Portland, VeeKay said he didn't post it to show as much dismay on Kirkwood as just to show fans in the Netherlands who might have not watched the race what had happened. "I think we both didn't mean to do that," Kirkwood said. "We were frustrated. My idea was I posted for the fans in the Netherlands that didn't get to see it with the nine-hour time difference. "Kyle wasn't too happy about posting his in-car, which I get. I'm like, 'Hey, sorry. I didn't want to put you on the spot. It was more here is the situation.' Kyle and I talked, no pointing fingers, we're adults." Beware Of Turn 1 The first turn at Portland has provided plenty of drama, especially on the opening lap. FOX Sports analyst James Hinchcliffe was involved in a first-lap wreck in that area in each of his three starts. It has been a little more tame the last couple of years as INDYCAR moved the restart area to coming out of the final turn so the drivers are more spread out after the long frontstretch. And, Finally, Does O'Ward Have A Chance? O'Ward knows the title is pretty much out of reach. All he can do is go out and try to earn max points and then see what Palou does. Does Pato O'Ward have a chance? But O'Ward has no finish better than fourth at Portland and a poor qualifying result translated into a rough weekend a year ago when he qualified 22nd and finished 15th. "Really we just need to focus on us," O'Ward said. "We had a great month in July, but he still outscored us. So at this point in time, I'm really focused on securing my P2 [second place in points]. "But if that means that we keep on cutting down to keeping it alive, that's extra gravy on the mashed potatoes." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. share
Fox Sports
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
How to watch INDYCAR Portland: Schedule, date, time, TV channels, streaming
NTT INDYCAR SERIES How to watch INDYCAR Portland: Schedule, date, time, TV channels, streaming Updated Aug. 8, 2025 10:22 a.m. ET share facebook x reddit link The INDYCAR Series shifts northwest to Portland for the Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway, a fan-favorite on the schedule and one of the fastest, most technical road courses on tour. Keep reading for key details, including race dates, start times, TV channels and streaming options. When is INDYCAR Portland? What time do the races start? The Grand Prix of Portland will start at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 10th, 2025. Where is INDYCAR Portland? The Grand Prix of Portland will take place at Portland International Raceway. The 12-turn, 1.964-mile natural road course is relatively flat but contains several spots for passing opportunities, including a quick chicane at the end of the frontstretch, a hard-braking right-hander (Turn 7) leading onto the sweeping backstretch, and a three-turn complex leading back onto the frontstretch. The race will consist of 110 laps over 216 miles. How can I watch INDYCAR Portland? What channel will it be on? The 2025 INDYCAR Grand Prix of Portland will be broadcast live on FOX. FINAL LAPS: Alex Palou takes checkered flag at Laguna Seca for eighth win of season | INDYCAR on FOX Alex Palou took the checkered flag at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES: Java House Grand Prix of Monterey. ADVERTISEMENT How can I stream INDYCAR Portland? The 2025 INDYCAR Grand Prix of Portland will be available to be streamed live on the and the FOX Sports App . For those without cable, there are live-streaming services that carry FOX, including YouTube TV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV and fuboTV. If you have an antenna in a good reception area, you can also watch INDYCAR on your local FOX station. Check out the Federal Communications Commission TV reception maps to see which stations are available in your area. 2025 INDYCAR Portland Schedule Friday, August 8th NTT INDYCAR Series Practice 1 - 5:30 p.m. ET (FS2) Saturday, August 9th NTT INDYCAR Series Practice 2 - 12 p.m. ET (FS1) NTT INDYCAR Series Qualifications - 2:30 p.m. ET (FS1) NTT INDYCAR Series Final Practice - 8:30 p.m. ET (FS2) Sunday, August 10th share Get more from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Fox Sports
11-07-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
How to watch INDYCAR Iowa: Schedule, date, time, TV channels, streaming
The INDYCAR Series returns to "The Fastest Short Track on the Planet" for the doubleheader weekend, featuring the Synk 275 and Farm to Finish 275 at Iowa Speedway. Keep reading for key details, including race dates, start times, TV channels, and streaming options. When is INDYCAR at Iowa Speedway? What time do the races start? The Synk 275 will start at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 12th, 2025. The Farm to Finish 275 will start at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 13th, 2025. Where is INDYCAR at Iowa Speedway? The races will take place at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. With laps that take under 18 seconds, the track is a .875 mile tri-oval that drives like a superspeedway. The races will each consist of 275 laps over 245.85 miles. How can I watch INDYCAR at Iowa Speedway? What channel will it be on? The 2025 INDYCAR Synk 275 and Farm to Finish 275 will both be broadcast live on FOX. How can I stream INDYCAR at Iowa Speedway? The 2025 INDYCAR Synk 275 and Farm to Finish 275 races will be available to be streamed live on the and the FOX Sports App . For those without cable, there are live-streaming services that carry FOX, including YouTube TV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV and fuboTV. If you have an antenna in a good reception area, you can also watch INDYCAR on your local FOX station. Check out the Federal Communications Commission TV reception maps to see which stations are available in your area. 2025 INDYCAR at Iowa Speedway Schedule Friday, July 11 NTT INDYCAR Series Practice - 3:30 p.m. ET (FS2) Saturday, July 12 NTT INDYCAR Series Qualifications - 12 p.m. ET (FS1) NTT INDYCAR Series Synk 275 - 5 p.m. ET (FOX) Sunday, July 13 recommended Item 1 of 1 Get more from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more in this topic
Fox Sports
03-07-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
More Laps, Less Banking: What To Know About INDYCAR Race At Mid-Ohio
As INDYCAR heads to another road course, it goes to the road course that has been on the circuit's schedule on-and-off since 1980. The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is nestled in the fields just west of Lexington, Ohio (think halfway between Columbus and Akron). It's a 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course and is used for everything from sports cars to open-wheel cars to motorcycles and stock cars. NASCAR's Xfinity Series ran there from 2013-2021 and the trucks raced there from 2022-2023. Here's some info and insights to get fans ready for the race weekend, with INDY NXT race set for a 10:36 a.m. ET green flag on Sunday for 35 laps (or 55 minutes) on FS1 and then the NTT INDYCAR race with a green flag of 1:22 p.m. ET on FOX for 90 laps. Is the race 90 laps this year? Yes. It has been 80 laps the last four years but is going back to 90 laps (the distance of the race from 2013 to 2019) for 2025. The reason? It should mean that every driver will have to make three pit stops during the race, as the fuel window is around 26 to 28 laps. But what if it goes green most of the way? If things worked out perfectly with enough cautions, it could still be a two-stop race. But banking on several laps of caution isn't something to gamble on at Mid-Ohio. Last year, there was just one caution and that was early in the race. The year before, there were six caution flags for 17 laps. But that was an anomaly. In 10 of the 12 races prior to 2024, there were no more than two cautions thrown during a Mid-Ohio race. OK, the big question: How does Alex Palou do there? So you want to know if Palou will win his seventh? He won the 2023 race at Mid-Ohio and arguably should have won last year, as he sat on the pole and seemed in control of the race until a bad pit box where he was slow to launch out of his box allowed Pato O'Ward to snag the lead. O'Ward went on to win the race, and has won just once since that Mid-Ohio race in 2024. Who are the other favorites based on recent Mid-Ohio results? While O'Ward won at Mid-Ohio last year, that was the first year that he had a solid weekend from start to finish. He started second and ultimately won the race. He was also on the pole there in 2022. "I'm excited to head back to Mid-Ohio to defend my win from last year," said O'Ward, coming off a disappointing 17th at Road America. "This is a great race track, and I know we're capable of coming away with another victory here this weekend. "We didn't have the weekend we wanted in Road America, so this is the place to get back on the right footing and fight near the top." Scott McLaughlin has a win (2022) and three consecutive top-five finishes. Scott Dixon has six wins at the track (the most of any driver) with the last coming in 2019. He has top-five finishes in 14 of his 21 starts at the track. In fact, this race will have nine former winners: O'Ward (2024), Palou (2023), McLaughlin (2022), Josef Newgarden (twice, last in 2021), Colton Herta (2020, Race 2), Will Power (2020, Race 1), Dixon (six times, last in 2019), Alexnader Rossi (2018) and Graham Rahal (2015). Kyle Kirkwood isn't on this list, but he has eight wins at Mid-Ohio in various series. And when talking about wins, both the Penske and Ganassi organizations have 12 wins apiece here. Is there a sentimental favorite? Yes. With the Rahal family having its roots in Ohio and Graham Rahal having grown up about an hour from the track, this is Rahal country. Rahal Letterman Lanigan team co-owner, Bobby Rahal, will give the command to start engines. And wouldn't it be cool if Graham Rahal could win it? His last INDYCAR victory came in 2017 and he won at Mid-Ohio in 2015. And maybe not as sentimental but still worth noting, this is also a home race for Meyer Shank Racing, which is based in Pataskala, Ohio, about 55 miles from the track. Is there anything new about the course? Yes. In the esses that start in turn four, the banking was reduced from four to two degrees by removing 520 feet of track surface and excavating up to 18 inches along the outside edge. That meant that section was also repaved (the entire course was repaved in October 2023). The Turn 4 runoff area was also reshaped. "It looks a lot flatter, a lot less banking. It looks a little bit more open, but I think it's about the same for everybody," Graham Rahal said. "We're all going to be finding out together for the first time. "Obviously, the track was just repaved, what, 18 months ago, so now you've got another section that's going to be fresh. I would anticipate it being quite fast. My biggest hope is it doesn't affect the racing there. At the end of the backstraight was a pretty hard-brake zone, and if it's a little bit more open, it might not be so much." Are there any new drivers this week? Nope. It's the same 27 drivers who have entered all year (the Indy 500 had an additional seven). One change to note is that Kyle Moyer, the former strategist for Scott McLaughlin, will mark his first race as strategist for Arrow McLaren driver Nolan Siegel. Moyer was team manager of Penske's INDYCAR program and was dismissed after the attenuator seal issue at Indianapolis. How busy is the next month in INDYCAR? Really, really busy. This race starts a five-race-in-four-week stretch for the series. After Mid-Ohio, the series heads to the 0.875-mile oval Iowa Speedway for a doubleheader weekend with races Saturday and Sunday. It then goes to the street course (the final street course of the year) in Toronto and then to the road course at Laguna Seca. So can anyone catch Palou during this stretch? Mathematics says they can. But in reality? It's going to be tough. Palou, with his six wins this year, has a 93-point lead on Kyle Kirkwood (who has won the other three INDYCAR races this season). Palou has an 111-point lead on Pato O'Ward. No other driver is within 150 points. With eight races left in the season, Kirkwood would need to gain 11 to 12 points a race on Palou to catch him. O'Ward would need to gain 13 to 14 points a race. That's not impossible, but one of them would have to go on a Palou-like stretch over the second half of the season and hope Palou has a few races where he doesn't finish. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. recommended Get more from NTT INDYCAR SERIES Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
