Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou has a chance to do in the 2025 IndyCar season what only three drivers in American open-wheel history have ever done: win a third consecutive championship.
It hasn't been done since Dario Franchitti, who also drove the No. 10 Honda for Chip Ganassi's team, won three titles in a row from 2009 to 2011.
Palou has largely won his championships due to his impeccable consistency and his ability to get the most out of mediocre days. But he has been dominant at times as well. When he won his first title in 2021, he was tied for the series lead in wins, and when he won it in 2023, he led the series in victories outright, in addition to posting no lower than an eighth place finish.
Last year, he only won twice, but his consistency over the entire 17-race schedule was enough to give him a relatively comfortable margin, even if he didn't clinch a full race early like he did the prior year.
Who has the best chance to stop an Alex Palou IndyCar three-peat? Here are the top five.
All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
1. Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske (+340)
All other things being equal, Scott McLaughlin wins the 2024 championship on a tiebreaker had the push-to-pass scandal not been uncovered.
After going a full calendar year without a win, he bounced back with three victories last season and somewhat surprisingly emerged as the series' top oval driver. He can win anywhere and still has room to improve.
2. Josef Newgarden, Team Penske (+500)
I'm sure Josef Newgarden would prefer his own Indy 500 three-peat, even if his worst championship results as a Team Penske driver have come during his back-to-back Indy 500-winning seasons.
But since joining Team Penske in 2017, he has 28 wins, 10 more than anybody else, and he actually has two more wins than Palou since Palou joined Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021. He is still a title threat, even if he hasn't won one since 2019.
3. Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing (+550)
Scott Dixon has never gone five straight seasons without an IndyCar championship, and the only way for him to change that is by tying A.J. Foyt's record with a seventh title in 2025.
Palou has gotten the better of Dixon in three of their four years as teammates, and Dixon hasn't won a title since Palou's rookie year with Dale Coyne Racing. But even though he had a "down" season in 2024, you can never count him out.
4. Pato O'Ward, Arrow McLaren (+800)
Arrow McLaren needed a resurgence in 2024 after a disappointing winless 2023 campaign, and Pato O'Ward delivered, tying for the series lead in victories with three. The consistency, however, was still lacking, and the team still aren't quite on Team Penske's and Chip Ganassi Racing's level.
But McLaren's coinciding Formula 1 resurgence, capped off with an unlikely 2024 constructor title, shows us that Zak Brown means business. Let's hope for no more mid-season lineup changes and other unnecessary distractions, plus added stability with Tony Kanaan as the new team principal.
T-5. Colton Herta, Andretti Global, and Will Power, Team Penske (+850)
And to cap off our list of "five" drivers, we have drivers five and six; of course.
Colton Herta finished in second place in last year's championship standings, which was somewhat surprising given some of the missed opportunities he and the No. 26 team endured during the year, but getting that first oval win at Nashville Superspeedway has to be considered a massive momentum builder.
As for Will Power, he was actually Palou's top challenger for most of the year, and he is the only driver not named Palou to win a title in the last four years. He is also suddenly driving to keep his IndyCar career alive beyond this year, with many under the impression that the No. 12 Chevrolet has David Malukas' name already penciled in for 2026.
Full odds can be found here.
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