Analysis: Palou remains unflappable -- but slappable -- in winning 3rd IndyCar title

LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) — Chip Ganassi likes winners — its his catchphrase, in case you didn't know — and his celebrations rarely deviate. At least that's what Alex Palou has learned after winning three IndyCar championships in the last four years for his boss.

It starts with an embrace from Ganassi, one that Palou calls "an aggressive hug.” But the Spaniard then noted that Ganassi also tends to pat him on the cheek, a slight slap of sorts that Palou didn't even know how to describe.

“He has very big and strong hands. That means maybe he’s happy, or that he’s not happy at all,” Palou explained.

And how was Ganassi on Sunday, after Palou held off Will Power to give Chip Ganassi Racing its 16th IndyCar title in 29 years?

“He was happy. I was happy,” Palou said, rubbing his cheek. “I got hurt, but I was happy.”

How did Palou get to the top?

It's such a strange turnaround at Ganassi with Palou, a driver who turned up out of nowhere from a Japanese racing series to drive for Dale Coyne Racing during the pandemic-restricted 2020 season. IndyCar operated in a bit of a bubble at the time — the Indianapolis 500 was held without fans for the first time ever — and there wasn't much opportunity to meet new drivers.

Nor was there much reason for the Ganassi camp to even notice Palou, at least not before his early-season podium finish at Road America behind Ganassi driver Scott Dixon and Power of Team Penske — two of the greatest in IndyCar history.

But when the team really took notice of Palou was in August of that season at empty Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Palou and his tiny Coyne team found themselves pitted near Dixon, who was the runner-up that day because of a speeding penalty after Dixon led 111 laps.

Mike Hull, the managing director who has run Ganassi's team for most of three decades, first noticed Palou on Carb Day and then race day.

“I watched the action in his pit box. Then I watched his action on race day,” Hull said. “I said to Chip at that time, ‘This guy is special.’ For the monkey motion that went on in the pit lane for him (with a small team) on race day, for him to do what he did there, was absolutely extraordinary.”

The team learned a few months later that Felix Rosenqvist was leaving, and in need of a replacement driver, Ganassi and Hull invited Palou to a meeting in downtown Indianapolis.

“We snuck off to a hotel room in the J.W. Marriott and sat down and talked about it together with Chip and we chose him. I think it’s validated,” Hull said.

Oh, it's been validated over and over by a driver who has proven to be unflappable on and off the track.

Palou nearly left Ganassi

After his breakthrough 2021 season with Ganassi, in which Palou won his debut race and two others en route to his first IndyCar championship, he signed a deal with McLaren Racing in May 2022 that gave him a chance to maybe make it to Formula 1.

Ganassi quickly hit the pause button and noted that he held the rights for Palou in 2023, and Palou was not eligible to sign with another team. It got messy fast with civil complaints filed and a mediator ultimately deciding that Palou had to stay with Ganassi for 2023 but could join McLaren in 2024.

And so that was the plan.

Until it wasn't anymore.

Palou had another great year in 2023 with five wins and a second championship. He didn't see a seat opening on McLaren's F1 team for him, and he couldn't justify leaving his current IndyCar team for one that wasn't competing weekly for wins.

So Palou did an about-face a year ago and his attorney informed McLaren he was staying put at Ganassi. McLaren has now filed suit for about $30 million in damages and the two sides are headed to mediation at the end of this year.

But never, not once, did Palou allow his legal mess to derail him on or off the track. His Ganassi teammates basically stopped speaking to him for the second half of the 2022 season and yet he still showed up to every team event, greeted each one with a non-reciprocated “good morning” each day at the track.

He repaired those relationships. Power last weekend at Nashville Superspeedway accused Dixon — who wasn't even speaking to Palou two years ago at a team party in the same city — of running interference on the track to help his teammate win the title.

He ignored all the gossip about his McLaren feud, has never seemed bothered by a potentially financially suffocating lawsuit hanging over him, or the new beef he had with McLaren chief operating officer Zak Brown.

Brown has always been most bothered that Palou never had the guts to call him and tell him directly he was staying at Ganassi. And that's partly why the price tag in McLaren's legal filings continues to increase in what the team hopes to recoup in not having Palou in its IndyCar lineup.

Then back in April, at the Long Beach Grand Prix, the hotel elevator doors opened and Palou found himself staring directly at Brown. The 10-floor ride to the lobby was the only time they've spoken in this messy breakup, with Palou admitting last weekend that he basically gave Brown the freedom in the elevator to voice his displeasure.

Palou's change of mind essentially ruined McLaren's 2024 season. The team reluctantly hired David Malukas to replace Palou, but Malukas broke his wrist in an offseason bike accident and was fired when he missed the first four races of the season.

Three different drivers have been in the car that had been earmarked for Palou this season, and when the season opens next year, Pato O'Ward will be the only driver returning to the three-car lineup.

Hours before the finale, Brown said he wouldn't be upset if Palou won a second consecutive championship.

“No. It kind of stings that we’re not going to win the championship,” Brown said.

Is Palou worth the fight?

Brown knows the talent he lost, just as equally as the Ganassi camp knows that in keeping Palou, the organization added yet another generational talent.

Palou became just the 13th driver in IndyCar history to win at least three championships. He’s just the seventh to win three titles in four years with Dario Franchitti — also for Ganassi — the last to do so from 2009 through 2011.

At 27 years and 5 months, he's only three months older than Sam Hornish Jr. was when Hornish became the youngest three-time winner in 2006.

And, Palou has proven he's exactly where he's supposed to be in his career.

“We’ve been lucky to have some great drivers on the team over the years. You want to make the obvious comparisons, but I don’t know that you can,” Ganassi said. "At his age, to be doing what he’s doing, having the experience that he has, to have a guy like Alex on your team — I mean, three championships in four years ... he’s in pretty rarefied air right now.

“His name has to be among and certainly in the conversation of the great drivers. He’s certainly in the conversation of the greatest.”

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing