Perhaps it’s time to start celebrating Alex Palou’s dominance of this NTT INDYCAR SERIES era.

Palou enters the upcoming doubleheader at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – the Sonsio Grand Prix is Saturday, the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is May 25 – as the winner of three of the first four races this season. He is 60 points clear of his nearest competitor for what he hopes will be his third consecutive series championship and fourth title in five years.

SEE: Event Details

The last INDYCAR SERIES driver to open a season this well was Sebastien Bourdais in 2006. Bourdais won the first four races of that Champ Car World Series season en route to capturing his third of four consecutive series championships. Another comparable start was Simon Pagenaud’s first five races of the 2016 season, when he finished second in the first two before winning the next three. More recently, Scott Dixon won the first three races of the 2020 season before finishing 12th in the fourth race. He, too, went on to win the title.

In just a little more than five seasons, Palou already has 14 race wins. Consider the drivers just above him on the all-time list among race winners: Alex Zanardi, Juan Pablo Montoya and Pagenaud each won 15 races in their careers, and Dan Wheldon won 16. Among the drivers with 17 career wins are Danny Sullivan and Tony Kanaan.

Palou’s next win could come in either of these IMS races. He has won the last two Sonsio Grands Prix, and his average finish in the past four “500s” is 5.0. He has led 119 laps and won the pole in 2023 for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

Meantime, the competition will try to keep the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda at bay.

CGR is More than Palou

Chip Ganassi Racing has won the past three races on the IMS road course, including Palou each of the past two in this event in May. Dixon won the August 2023 race and has three other runner-up finishes on this 14-turn, 2.439-mile circuit.

Dixon finished 12th in last weekend’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst at Barber Motorsports Park, and he likely would have fared better if not for going off course in qualifying, which relegated him to a 26th-place starting position. Both IMS tracks have been good for the driver of the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. He won the “500” in 2008 and has two career road course wins, with three second-place finishes. Dixon has been the pole sitter for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” five times (his total is second only to Rick Mears’ six).

CGR’s third driver is Kyffin Simpson (No. 8 Journie Rewards Chip Ganassi Racing Honda). The second-year series driver from the Cayman Islands has delivered career-best performances in the past two events. He finished 10th in last month’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and qualified 10th in last weekend’s race.

Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian, which shares a technical relationship with CGR, is led by Felix Rosenqvist, who won the pole for a July 2022 race on the IMS road course. The driver of the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda is sixth in the current standings. Teammate Marcus Armstrong (No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda) finished fifth in last year’s Sonsio Grand Prix.

Team Penske Excels at Indy

Roger Penske’s organization has won a record 20 Indianapolis 500s, and it has excelled on the IMS road course, as well, with a series-high eight race wins and seven poles.

Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet) has had the most success, scoring five wins and six poles. Both totals lead all drivers on the IMS road course.

Josef Newgarden (No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet) won an IMS road course race in October 2020 and should have a pep in his May return to IMS after winning the past two “500s.”

Team Penske will be looking for something of a rebirth in this Sonsio Grand Prix. It hasn’t won on the IMS road course since Power’s August 2021 victory, and its three drivers are unusually deep in the standings. Scott McLaughlin ranks fifth in the No. 3 Sonsio Vehicle Protection Chevrolet while Power is ninth and Newgarden is 11th.

All three drivers finished in the top 10 of last weekend’s race at Barber Motorsports Park, with McLaughlin third, Power fifth and Newgarden 10th.

Lundgaard Shining with Arrow McLaren

Christian Lundgaard’s first four races in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet have produced four top-eight finishes, with top-three finishes in each of the past three races. He finished second to Palou in last weekend’s race at Barber Motorsports Park.

Lundgaard is second in the season standings, 60 points behind Palou. Those two started on the front row for last year’s Sonsio Grand Prix, and they led a majority of the 85-lap race. Palou led 39 laps, Lundgaard 35.

It’s worth noting that Lundgaard’s teammates – past and present – have enjoyed strong runs on this circuit in recent years. Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet) finished second and third in the two races in 2023. Lundgaard finished second in a July 2022 race and won the pole in May 2023, both with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Graham Rahal finished second in the August 2023 race from the pole. Rahal will drive the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda in this weekend’s event.

VeeKay Gives Dale Coyne Racing Strong Runs

Rinus VeeKay delivered one of the standout performances last week at Barber Motorsports Park, finishing a season-best fourth despite a late-race pit stop bobble when the right front tire changer had issues applying the wheel nut.

VeeKay posted Dale Coyne Racing’s best finish since David Malukas finished third in the 2023 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at World Wide Technology Raceway. The team also posted a pair of second-place finishes on the IMS road course in 2021 with Romain Grosjean at the wheel. Grosjean won the pole for that year’s May race.

VeeKay, who was the last driver named to this year’s 27-car field, finished ninth in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding. The driver of the No. 18 askROI Honda will be eager to race Saturday as he won this event in May 2021, his first and only series race win to date. He also won the pole for a race here in October 2020, finishing third.

VeeKay is 12th in the standings.

Andretti Global Strong Here, Too

Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi delivered IMS road course wins for Andretti Global in 2022, and the team already has a race win this season (Kyle Kirkwood won last month’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach). Rossi now drives Ed Carpenter Racing’s No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet.

All three Andretti Global cars – driven by Herta, Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson – showed speed at Barber Motorsports Park, but they didn’t achieve their desired results in the race. However, Herta is riding three consecutive top-seven finishes in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda, and Kirkwood has finished fifth, eighth, first and 11th in the races this season in the No. 27 PreFab Honda. Kirkwood is third in the season standings, nine points behind Lundgaard. Ericsson drives the No. 28 Fresh Connect Central Honda.

Honda-powered drivers have won all four races this season (three by Palou, one by Kirkwood).

One thing new for this event is that all competitors must use both types of Firestone Firehawk tires – the harder primaries and the softer alternates – twice each in the race.

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

Weekend Broadcast Schedule (All Times Eastern)

Friday:

9:30 a.m.: Practice 1 (FS2, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network)

1 p.m.: Practice 2 (FS2, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network)

4:30 p.m: NTT P1 Award Qualifying (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network)

Saturday:

11:30 a.m.: Warmup (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network)

4:30 p.m.: 85-lap Sonsio Grand Prix (FOX, FOX Sports App, INDYCAR Radio Network)