Alex Palou's winning bet at Thermal

For nearly a quarter of a century, the Scott Dixon/Mike Hull duo terrorized the rest of the peloton.IndyCar. It's quite simple, not a single race could be run without mentioning the car #9 Chip Ganassi Racing among the favorites. Even without pure pace, it was still possible that the two wizards could pull off another trick. The 2020s will likely be marked by another Ganassi duo, Álex Palou/Barry Wanser. Once again this Sunday, as the Catalan qualified third behind Arrow McLaren seemingly untouchable, it was the driver of the No. 10 who raised his arms in Victory Lane.

To do so, it took all the cunning that Álex Palou has demonstrated over the past five years in IndyCar. Starting on soft tires, like the two Arrow McLarens of Pato O'Ward and Christian Lundgaard, the Spaniard was already planning for the end of the race. Indeed, by starting on used tires, he ensured that he would have to use a set of new tires at the end of the event. Christian Lundgaard switched to new tires in the second stint. With Pato O'Ward contesting the rest of the race on hard tires, the yellow and red car had to stay within firing range of the two papaya Dallara-Chevrolets. And count on the phenomenal grip provided by these "new bullets" on the Thermal tarmac, heated to 47°C. Eighteen seconds is what he managed to claw back from the leader in the last fifteen laps. His eight-second deficit turned into a ten-second lead by the finish.

“In this team, we don’t take anything for granted. The mechanics are constantly working to provide me with better cars and all the tools I need to fight at the front and win races. The strategy was perfect. We took a gamble and started on used tires. We didn’t know if they would last five, ten, or fifteen laps. And we managed to pull it off.”, indicated the winner of the day, logically leader of the championship after his two victories. However, if the strategy was decided even before the qualifications, the winners of the day had to make a modification during the event: “We knew from qualifying that we were going to do that, that's why I didn't use many tires in Q3, and only did one lap on them. I took care of my front tires in the race, but suddenly I had no more grip on the rear. The idea was to do another stint on worn soft tires, but we swapped them for new hard ones, so as not to take any risks.

Knife fight

Before successfully tackling Pato O'Ward, Alex Palou had to overcome Christian Lundgaard. While this was easy during the first stint, where the Spaniard was able to conserve his worn tires better than the Dane, it proved much more difficult towards the end of the race. Despite the advantage of the soft tires over the hard ones, Palou had to make several attempts. The two drivers put on a superb battle.

What an INCREDIBLE battle for P2 between Alex Palou and Christian Lundgaard. #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/k3KQ9Ozrkg

— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) March 23, 2025

“In the first stint, I passed him quite easily. But he made the undercut and I was still behind during our stint on hard tires. He was able to exit the corners very well, so he was difficult to pass. My rear tires were overheating in the turbulence, so I had to be patient. Once I had the tire advantage, it was much easier. The battle was still very nice and fun.”

Suspense until the end

Barry Wanser, the mastermind behind Alex Palou's success, also explained when he knew the strategy he had devised was the right one. And as is often the case in IndyCar, it took until the final pit stops to be sure: "It was only at the last stop, when we saw them put on the hard tires, that we knew we were going to come back. We knew we were going to pass a set of softs. We also had to pass Lundgaard, and the battle was superb. We are here to entertain and I think it was very entertaining! We knew we were going to catch O'Ward if we passed Lundgaard quickly. The longer it took, the more difficult it was going to be afterward. The tires could have failed, but they did and we won.

Can Palou emulate his teammate Scott Dixon in 2020 and win the first three races of the season? Join us in Long Beach on April 13 to find out…

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