Christian Rasmussen oddly silences Alex Palou critics by ending this goofy narrative

If you had a nickel for every time, over the years, somebody mentioned Alex Palou "thinking championship", implying he'd rather run fourth and collect points than actually take risks and go for wins, you'd probably have a couple dollars by now.

There were those who questioned whether or not he'd be willing to actually go for the winning move in the Indy 500, given his highly respected, yet probably overexaggerated, calm, cool, collected, calculated, and measured approach.

Sure, the move came with 14 laps remaining in this year's race, and the two lapped cars in front of him and Marcus Ericsson made for one of the least aesthetically pleasing Indy 500 finishes of this era.

But given how hard it is to pass with the current aero configuration, plus the added hybrid, while running in line, unless you're running second, Palou's winning move might have been one of this generation's most underrated.

Needing to save more fuel than Ericsson, who had driven his way back from 24th after moving from ninth to second early on, he still made the move from fourth in line.

Pretty aggressive for a driver who supposedly isn't aggressive.

But Palou, who has demonstrated his aggression on more than one occasion this year, most times to his advantage, took it to a new level on Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile, while trying to defend the lead from Christian Rasmussen, who had come into the pits for new tires during the prior caution for sprinkles on the race track.

Palou, aiming for his third oval win at four tracks this year, dove to the inside on the back straightaway to keep Rasmussen to the outside, and he pinned him up there through turns three and four and then down the front straightaway into turn one.

He gave him plenty of room throughout the lap and never did anything remotely unfair, but he demonstrated a level of aggression that fans have long been told he doesn't have.

It was pure top-tier race craft, and while it didn't go his way as far as holding onto the lead on older tires, it was what we should have all expected from the best in the business, even with the championship already sewn up by about a thousand points.

Even better was the fact that he did it against the driver whom many currently view as the series' single-most aggressive driver, period.

Let's not forget that he's not supposed to be good on ovals either, yet with two wins, a second, a fifth, and an eighth, he is the oval points leader heading into the season finale at Nashville Superspeedway this coming weekend.

But the bottom line is that any further questions about how aggressive Palou is willing to be have already been answered, and on multiple occasions, they have been answered in resounding fashion. There's a reason he likes to associate himself with the gorilla.

“I think [the gorilla] is an amazing animal and they can be aggressive when they have to, they can be really calm when they don’t need to,” Palou told Beyond the Flag in early 2023. “That’s why!”

Calm out of the car, calm in the car when everything is under control, and a willingness to express an ape-like aggression in the car when it comes time for an all-out brawl. What is there not to like?

Fifteen wins, including an Indy 500 victory, and three championships later, all won by either leading the series in wins outright or being tied for the lead, it's safe to say he's backed up his words with actions. Just ask Rasmussen.