When it comes to the Indy 500, the Indy 500 is what drivers are focused on; not the IndyCar championship.
So it's understandable that lost in the excitement of Alex Palou securing his first IndyCar oval win with a victory in the 109th running of the Indy 500 on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the fact that Palou's dominant start to the 2025 IndyCar season continued.
The win was Palou's third in a row, and it was his fifth in the season's first six races. The only race he didn't win was the Grand Prix of Long Beach, which he still finished in second place. Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood is still the only driver to finish ahead of the Chip Ganassi Racing driver at any point this season.
Palou has already eclipsed 300 points this year. No other driver is over 200.
Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward, who quietly finished Sunday's race in fourth place, is now in second place in the championship standings, having jumped ahead of Kirkwood and teammate Christian Lundgaard. He had been just three points behind Kirkwood and two behind Lundgaard.
Palou has a 115-point lead over O'Ward: 306 to 191. Kirkwood is third with 180, followed by Lundgaard with 177.
IndyCar race wins are worth 50 points each, effectively 51 since all drivers who lead a lap score a point. The polesitter scores an additional point, and the driver who leads the most lap scores two additional points. So no more than 54 points can be scored by any driver in an IndyCar race.
This means that Palou can take off the next two races on the streets of Detroit and at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and still be guaranteed the points lead heading into the race at Road America, which isn't scheduled to take place until Sunday, June 22 – four weeks from now.
Palou is aiming to become the first driver to win three straight IndyCar championships since Dario Franchitti, who also drove Chip Ganassi's No. 10 Honda, won three in a row from 2009 to 2011. He is also aiming to become the first driver to win the Indy 500 and a championship in the same year since Franchitti won both in 2010.
The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix is set to be shown live on Fox from the streets of Detroit, Michigan beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET next Sunday, June 1. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!