Given how busy the schedule is for the Indy 500 winner in the days after the race, there is something that has historically become known as the "Indy 500 hangover" when it comes to the post-Indy 500 portion of the IndyCar schedule for the newly crowned champion of the world's biggest race.
No Indy 500 winner has won the following weekend since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000, and even that happened with a caveat. Montoya won the following weekend's CART race at the Milwaukee Mile.
You have to go back to 1997 to find the last time a driver won the Indy 500 and then won the following IndyCar race, with Arie Luyendyk winning the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" and then the race at Texas Motor Speedway, which took place more than a week and a half later.
This "hangover" has become even more pronounced in recent years, and it stands to reason, given the level of commitment (and lack of sleep) that come with becoming an Indy 500 champion in the days that follow, plus the fact that there is no longer an off week between the Indy 500 and the next race.
From 2011 to 2022, the Indy 500 winners combined to win a total of three races post-Indy 500. Ryan Hunter-Reay won one more race in 2014, Will Power won one more in 2018, and Simon Pagenaud won one more in 2019.
Josef Newgarden did his best to end this trend in 2023 and 2024, winning twice at Iowa Speedway after winning the 2023 Indy 500 and winning at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway after winning last year's Indy 500. Even with those wins included, however, that's still only six post-Indy 500 wins for the Indy 500 winner over the last 14 seasons combined.
Additionally, no driver has won the Indy 500 and the championship in the same season since Dario Franchitti in 2010.
Alex Palou is looking to end all of these droughts in 2025, and he is looking forward to the challenge.
"I'm excited for that," Palou told Beyond the Flag. "It’s like a great challenge, right? It’s a challenge that comes from a really good moment, which is winning the 500, being busy by doing media and talking about the amazing work that everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing and the No. 10 car have done all season, but you don't have time to prepare for your race as you normally do.
"I cannot be at the simulator, cannot be doing the engineering meetings I as normally do, so I won't be as prepared as normally, but it's because of a good reason, so that makes for a good challenge of like, are we able to make the best and the same performance without the best preparation? And yeah, I guess that time will tell in a week from now."
Of course, Palou, who is seeking to become the first driver to win three titles in a row since Franchitti from 2009 to 2011, already has a 112-point lead in the championship standings with five wins and a runner-up finish through the season's first six races. The driver in second place, Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward, has not beaten Palou in any race yet this year.
No driver has won six races in a season since Will Power in 2011, and Palou is just one win away with just 11 races remaining on the 17-race calendar. IndyCar has not had a six-win champion since Scott Dixon in 2008.
But in addition to doing his best to avoid this seemingly annual "hangover", Palou is embracing everything that comes with the Indy 500-winning celebration.
"I think there's no underrated stuff, like normally people talk about everything," he stated. "Once you get out of the car, you hear the fans, you do the victory lap, you go to victory lane, you drink the milk and so on.
"There’s so much stuff and so many traditions that you do that are amazing and everybody talks about it, but I think there are no words to describe the level of excitement that you have at that moment, the level of happiness.
"You cannot imagine how happy I was when I got out of the car and I heard the crowd for the first time after three hours that I was in the car, just cheering for us and being happy about my win. Just making noise, I felt like I was the center of the world, and then seeing my team running toward me, those moments people talk about, but it's very hard to describe the level of joy that I had."
But perhaps equally as emotional is the pre-race build-up to the biggest single-day sporting event on the planet, and Palou also spoke to us about the Indy 500 pageantry and what makes this race so special.
"The flyover is amazing," he said. "When you're there like five, 10 minutes before you strap into the car and you get to celebrate Memorial Day, and you see how amazing of a job they do at the speedway and in IndyCar. And everybody, also the fans, they go from making noise and cheering to complete silence in like one second.
"And it’s crazy to be able to be there on the grid and to see that. It gives you energy, it gets you emotional, and then you're like ‘okay, it's ready to go’, like as soon as they start singing ‘Back Home Again in Indiana’, you need to be getting ready in the car and sitting in the car, getting strapped in. Those moments are amazing."
The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, a race won by Palou in 2023, is set to be shown live on Fox from the streets of Detroit, Michigan beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, June 1. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the action!