IndyCar's top driver is generating an odd level of disrespect

Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou is aiming to become the first back-to-back IndyCar champion since Dario Franchitti, who also drove the No. 10 Honda for Chip Ganassi's team, won three in a row from 2009 to 2011.

Palou owns a 48-point lead in the championship standings after nine of the 17 races on the 2024 calendar just one year after becoming the first driver to lock up the title a full race early since Dan Wheldon did it in 2005. If you include Champ Car, it still hadn't been done since Sebastien Bourdais in 2007.

But with the final eight races on the 2024 schedule consisting of six oval races, there have been questions about whether or not the 27-year-old Spaniard is capable of holding onto his lead this time around, given the fact that he is still seeking his first oval win. By comparison, he has 11 career road and street course victories, all since joining Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021.

Does Palou need to prove himself on ovals?

Last year, Palou became the first driver in IndyCar history to become a two-time champion without an oval win to his name, and it happened just two years after he became only the third driver to win a championship without an oval win since the Indy Racing League was started back in 1996,

Scott Sharp was co-champion with Buzz Calkins in 1996, when the schedule consisted exclusively of oval races. Sharp didn't win any of those three races, but to be fair, he had also never won a road or street course race. So Palou might as well be considered the second.

Then in 2016, Simon Pagenaud won the championship, and he did not win an oval race until 2017. He would go on to win the 2019 Indy 500 and the 2019 oval title.

Sure, at some point, Palou is probably going to have to win an oval race, but let's not pretend that he's inept on tracks with strictly left turns.

Palou already elite on ovals

In the 15 oval races that have been contested since Palou joined Chip Ganassi Racing, he has just one finish outside of the top nine, that being a 13th place finish at Iowa Speedway in 2022. He does have one other DNF, with that coming at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in 2021 when he was inadvertently taken out by Rinus VeeKay.

The other 13 top nine finishes include six top five finishes and three podium finishes, and his average finish, even including the two aforementioned poor results, comes out to 7.13.

Considering the fact that consistency is where Palou thrives, it's hard to argue that he hasn't had success on ovals. Let's not forget that, had all eight of his road and street course wins during his championship-winning seasons in 2021 and 2023 been flipped to runner-up finishes and the runners-up been credited with wins, he still would have won both titles.

Compare his oval numbers to Josef Newgarden, a two-time series champion and a two-time oval champion, during that stretch. Newgarden has nine wins during that stretch, and his average finish is just a tick better than Palou's at 6.07. In fact, Palou's was actually better last year (5.0 vs. 5.8), when Newgarden clinched his second oval title a full race early.

And we'd be remiss not to mention that there's another driver who, like Palou, has competed for a top-tier team since 2021 and also hasn't won on an oval. Yet Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin is still considered one of the top threats whenever the series visits an oval track. His average finish during that stretch is 8.73.

As for why Palou isn't, it ironically comes down to his road and street course dominance. The fact that he has 11 wins in those races and none in oval races gives some the illusion that he is not a top-tier all-around driver, which could not be further from the truth.

Though another signature big points haul would certainly be nice for the championship leader either way, a first career oval win would go a long way when it comes to quieting those doubters.

Can he pull it off this weekend at Iowa Speedway, which is scheduled to host the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. ET and the Hy-Vee One Step 250 on Sunday afternoon at 12:00 p.m. ET? NBC is set to provide live coverage of both, so start a free trial of FuboTV now!