Alex Palou's IndyCar career has taken off so much that, even after only four-plus years in the series, he was already the winningest active driver without an Indy 500 victory entering the 109th running of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
Palou's 16th career victory was his first oval victory, and it cemented his status as an IndyCar legend. After three championship seasons, which included an Indy 500 runner-up finish in his first year with Chip Ganassi Racing, he finally got to drink the milk and kiss the bricks.
Next up behind Palou on that particular wins list? Andretti Global's Colton Herta.
With nine career IndyCar victories, Herta leads all active non-Indy 500 winners.
And it's the second time Herta has held this distinction.
After Josef Newgarden, then a 26-race winner, finally got his first Indy 500 win in 2023, Herta took the lead in this category with his seven victories. At the time, Palou had just five wins to his name.
Palou had held this unwanted distinction shortly thereafter, since he won the following two races in Detroit and at Road America to tie Herta with his seventh win. Win number eight came in the following race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, as that was Palou's first career three-race win streak.
In fact, he had won four out of five races at that point, with the lone non-win being a fourth place finish in the Indy 500.
The good news for Herta is the fact that every single one of the three most recent Indy 500s has been won by the driver who had been the winningest active non-Indy 500 winner before winning it for the first time.
Marcus Ericsson, who won in 2022, is the most recent Indy 500 winner who earned his first Indy 500 win from a position other than first on the wins list among active non-Indy 500 winners.
Of course, Newgarden did win it twice in a row, so Newgarden or Palou could technically keep this streak alive in 2026, even though they would no longer be new winners.
But as I'm sure Herta would prefer, he could join them himself.
Behind Herta are Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward and Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin with seven wins. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Graham Rahal has six. Nobody else has more than three.
Herta and Indianapolis Motor Speedway have not gone hand-in-hand over the years, as his top Indy 500 finish in seven starts is only eighth place in 2020.
The 110th running of the Indy 500 is set to be shown live on Fox from Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 24, 2026.