Alex Palou has won three straight IndyCar championships and four of the most recent five, and two of his three straight titles have been wrapped up even before the season finale went green.
In 2023, he became the first driver to clinch a championship before the season finale since Sebastien Bourdais won the Champ Car title with a race to go in 2007, and this year, he became the first driver to clinch a title with more than one race to go since Cristiano da Matta won the CART championship with three races left in 2002.
Palou won the 2023 championship by 78 points over Scott Dixon, and he won the 2025 championship by 196 points over Pato O'Ward.
Palou's closest title rival is now out of IndyCar
Of course, Palou's championship triumphs in 2021 and 2024 weren't exactly close either; it would have taken a lot to go against him and a lot to go in favor of his rivals in the season finale for him to lose out. In fact, the drivers who entered the season finale sitting in second place in both years did not finish P2.
In 2021, Josef Newgarden finished 38 points behind him, and in 2024, it was Colton Herta who was closest, finishing 31 points behind, despite having already been mathematically eliminated before the season finale.
But now Herta, the closest driver to Palou in the standings at any point during his run of dominance, is no longer in IndyCar.
Herta has made the long-awaited move to the Cadillac Formula 1 team as a test driver, and he is expected to compete full-time in Formula 2 as well, as he aims to score enough points to earn an FIA Super Licence. This would give him the ability to take advantage of any potential F1 opportunities with Cadillac down the road.
Will Power, who parted ways with Team Penske after 17 seasons following the 2025 season, is set to replace Herta behind the wheel of the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda in 2026. Power was the only driver mathematically left in championship contention (other than Palou) entering the 2024 finale, though he fell to fourth in the standings, behind Herta and teammate Scott McLaughlin, during that race.
Power remains IndyCar's most recent champion not named Palou (2022), and he also remains IndyCar's most recent points leader not named Palou (Saturday, June 22, 2024), with Palou having gone wire-to-wire in 2025. No driver had done that and won the Indy 500 in the same year since Johnny Rutherford in 1980.
Power has won at least one race in 16 of the 17 most recent seasons, but Herta's departure clearly reduces the number of IndyCar drivers who, on a good day, are absolutely capable of matching Palou's pace, as he showed on more than one occasion in 2024 – and in 2021, for that matter, when he matched Palou for the series lead with three victories.
The 2026 IndyCar season is scheduled to get underway on Sunday, March 1 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. Power is a two-time St. Petersburg winner (2010 and 2014), while Herta won in 2021 and Palou won in 2025. Palou became the first eventual champion to win at St. Petersburg since Newgarden in 2019. All races on the 2026 schedule are set to be shown live on Fox.