Tag: Alex Palou

IndyCar champ Alex Palou breaks down the lessons he learned from Jimmie Johnson, Scott Dixon about how to win a title

Alex Palou’s teammates have multiple championships on their resumes. And the young IndyCar driver took notes.

Alex Palou knows he didn’t become a first-time IndyCar Series champion by himself.

In addition to his Chip Ganassi Racing teammates who work to make his No. 10 Honda as fast as possible, Palou was guided through only his second IndyCar season by several multi-time champions, like teammates Scott Dixon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Kanaan — plus Dario Franchitti, who’s been working as a mentor-coach in the Ganassi organization.

When listing them all off, Palou joked he had no idea just how many total championships that group has put together. (Altogether, they have 18 championships: Dixon with six, Franchitti has four, Kanaan adds one and Johnson amassed seven in NASCAR.)

“It’s insane,” Palou told For The Win. “The opportunity that I got to learn from all them and to lean on them and to tell them how I feel or what’s my issue — it’s been great.”

And Palou has taken notes, particularly from Dixon and Johnson. He said learning from these past racing champions “100 percent” helped him earn his first title.

The 24-year-old newly crowned champion from Barcelona began competing in open-wheeled racing in the Euroformula Open Championship in 2014 before starting in the Formula 3 Series and competing at the All-Japan Formula 3 championship. But, as he told The Athletic earlier this year, his “biggest target” was making it to IndyCar. And win a title.

His rookie IndyCar season was with Dale Coyne Racing, but he made the jump to Chip Ganassi Racing, the now-14-time IndyCar championship team, for his second season, surrounded by champions.

MORE INDYCAR: New IndyCar champ Alex Palou on his favorite celebratory meal: ‘I’ve had loads of fried chicken’

Palou said while Dixon — who was the defending IndyCar champ — is “relentless” on the track, he’s also poised and calculated. And Palou has tried to learn from Dixon’s approach and composure.

“It was not about learning how to be quick; it’s more about learning how to be consistent, how to manage the races,” Palou explained. “The way he thinks about the races, and the way he tries to put himself in the best position — that’s what I learned.”

Consistency is one way to describe Palou’s second IndyCar season. After finishing 16th in the standings as a rookie in 2020, Palou won the first race of 2021 at Barber Motorsports Park, and then went on to win two more at Road America and Portland International Raceway, plus one pole, eight podiums and 10 top-5 finishes in 16 races.

Even on IndyCar’s biggest stage at the Indianapolis 500 in May, Palou got loose during qualifying and slammed into the outside wall. His team repaired the car, Palou remained composed and he qualified sixth before finishing as the runner-up behind four-time Indy 500 champ Hélio Castroneves.

“[Dixon is] always is able to get 100 percent out of the car, and he always maximizes the opportunity he has,” Palou continued. “So if he has a bad day, instead of making it even worse — trying to go for a crazy overtake or crazy strategy — he just tries to make it just a normal day.”

There’s plenty for Palou to learn from 41-year-old and 21-season veteran Dixon. But in IndyCar, Palou has one more year of experience on Johnson, so he said they leaned on each other.

“It was weird just because sometimes [Johnson] was asking me questions, right?” Palou said. “And I was like, ‘Jimmie, you’re the champion here. I am the guy asking you questions.’ But no, he was working super, super hard this year, and he was getting up to speed. I think next year, he’s gonna turn around lots of faces.”

So what could Palou have learned from Johnson, a 46-year-old IndyCar rookie who faced a steep learning curve in a new racing discipline? A champion’s mindset and an “amazing” worth ethic, he said.

Palou said he learned how Johnson thinks and operates and then tried to mimic it, which sometimes included being woken up at the crack of dawn by the former NASCAR driver.

“If I was a seven-time NASCAR champion now, I wouldn’t be working that hard,” Palou said. “He’s able to text me at five in the morning, thinking about the setup of the car or something about the simulator or or something to improve. So I learned the work ethic.”

Palou added that Johnson also advised him about what to expect through the final weeks of the season. Palou was clearly a championship contender, and in addition to any internal or team pressure, he said Johnson warned him about more weight from the media reciting stats, odds and points scenarios to him.

And Johnson helped him “forget about all that” and focus on the job, Palou said.

“It’s been awesome to being able to ask somebody how to deal with that or how to think about that,” he said.

“It was my first time, and [Johnson] did it for a long, long time. So yeah, I’ve been extremely lucky to get lots of tips from these two guys.”

[mm-video type=video id=01ffqr1kx4bm5rkzpv8f playlist_id=none player_id=01evcfkb10bw5a3nky image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01ffqr1kx4bm5rkzpv8f/01ffqr1kx4bm5rkzpv8f-422b316ef8bc017870c36407639bdee8.jpg]

[vertical-gallery id=1137601]

[listicle id=1113323]

New IndyCar champ Alex Palou on his favorite celebratory meal: ‘I’ve had loads of fried chicken’

IndyCar champion Alex Palou on his title race, his nerves beforehand and a week of fried chicken.

Before the IndyCar Series season finale, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, ended on Sunday in Southern California, Alex Palou was already a first-time champion.

The 24-year-old Chip Ganassi Racing driver didn’t need to win the last race of the season to claim his championship; he just needed an 11th-place finish or better to edge out the two other title contenders, Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward. But late in the race and after O’Ward was knocked out of contention after being rear-ended, Palou clinched his first title on his way to a fourth-place finish.

In just his second IndyCar season, Palou became the first Spaniard to win the championship, and he’s the seventh-youngest champ and the first younger than 25 years old since his now-teammate Scott Dixon won back in 2003.

For The Win spoke with Palou on Wednesday about his championship race, why he’s happy he didn’t know he won before the race ended and his famous celebratory meal, fried chicken.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

IndyCar drivers are discovering Uncrustables, and their delighted reactions are so pure

“The hype is real!” IndyCar’s Alex Palou said after trying Uncrustables.

NASCAR turned IndyCar driver Jimmie Johnson is an avid cyclist, and one time during a charity ride he was doing with IndyCar star Tony Kanaan, Johnson introduced his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate to Uncrustables — the Smucker’s peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with bread that famously lacks the crust.

“I’m starving in the middle of the ride, and Jimmie pulls out of his pocket an Uncrustable snack, which I never knew [of] — which, for people that don’t know — because I’m bloody Brazilian,” Kanaan explained in a video his team published in April. (Johnson and Kanaan are sharing the No. 48 Honda this season.)

“It was a peanut butter and jelly [sandwich] that he actually freezes in the freezer, puts it in his pocket, and during the ride, it unfreezes and you can just eat. And since then, I eat that thing — it’s so many calories, but anyway — every time I open that thing, it reminds me of Jimmie.”

[lawrence-related id=1037301]

Well, Kanaan isn’t the only IndyCar driver discovering an unknown love for Uncrustables. Others are too, and their reactions are delightfully pure.

Take Scott McLaughlin, the 28-year-old Team Penske driver from Australia and New Zealand who’s become a rising star as an IndyCar rookie this year. And as he learns more and more about the U.S., he’s sharing his experiences and reactions with his fans with the hashtag #ScottLearnsAmerica.

McLaughlin’s latest checked-off to-do item was an Uncrustables sandwich, which he said was “unreal”. (Other things on his checklist include going to Walmart, Waffle House, an NFL tailgate and Yellowstone National Park.)

After noticing Kanaan’s and McLaughlin’s reactions to trying Uncrustables for the first time, Alex Palou decided to see what the big deal is.

Palou — Johnson and Kanaan’s 24-year-old Chip Ganassi Racing teammate from Barcelona who’s currently at the top of the IndyCar standings — was similarly “blown away.”

But no matter how much Kanaan, McLaughlin or Palou love Uncrustables, the sandwich’s biggest fan in motor sports has to be NASCAR driver Alex Bowman, Johnson’s former Hendrick Motorsports teammate in the Cup Series.

Bowman absolutely adores Uncrustables, and he eats and talks about them all the time. Hilariously, his crew chief, Greg Ives, once described him as his “uncrustable eating wheel man”.

And after winning his first race of the 2021 NASCAR season in April at Richmond Raceway, his sponsor, Ally Financial, helped him celebrate with boxes on boxes of Uncrustables.

So obviously, Bowman was pretty pumped to see IndyCar drivers jumping on the bandwagon.

Maybe more IndyCar drivers will discover Uncrustables and a new favorite snack.

“You should try it straight out of the freezer,” Johnson said to Kanaan in the Chip Ganassi Racing video. “It’s like a dessert then.”

“OK, here we go,” Kanaan replied, joking that his kids now love Uncrustables too and blaming Johnson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWC7M1ap6jg

[vertical-gallery id=1037107]

[mm-video type=video id=01f741yqe2wxj3tdtx8v playlist_id=01f09p3bf720d8rg02 player_id=01evcfkb10bw5a3nky image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f741yqe2wxj3tdtx8v/01f741yqe2wxj3tdtx8v-1cc14386634bb119fa02213e92dbf118.jpg]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=110333]