IndyCar’s Alex Palou Goes ‘Mushroom Hunting’ As He Nears Another Title

IndyCar’s Alex Palou can win a third-straight NTT INDYCAR Series Championship in Sunday’s Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland. It would be his fourth overall. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

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It’s not a matter of if Alex Palou is going to win a third-straight NTT IndyCar Series Championship, his fourth since 2021, it’s a matter of when.

It could happen as early as Sunday, August 10 in the Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland.

With three races remaining, the Chip Ganassi Racing star from Barcelona, Spain enters the race at Portland International Raceway with a 121-point lead over the only other driver in contention for the championship, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward.

If Palou has a 108-point lead over O’Ward after Sunday’s race, he clinches the championship.

There are a variety of mathematical possibilities for that to happen, but in its simplest form, 108 is the magic number for Palou.

Alex Palou’s Winning Form

Already an eight-time winner in IndyCar this season including the 109^thIndianapolis 500 on May 25, Palou could achieve history if he wins two of the remaining three races. That would be IndyCar’s all-time single-season victory record of 10 set by AJ Foyt in 1964 and equaled by Al Unser in 1970.

One more victory would tie him with Mario Andretti’s nine wins in 1969.

If Palou wins all three, he will close the season as the winningest single-season driver of all-time with 11 wins in 2025.

So, what did Palou do in the Firestone Fast Six qualifications at Portland?

He went “Mushroom Hunting.”

Late in the session that would determine the Verizon P1 Award at Portland, Palou was on a very fast qualifying lap when he lost control of his No. 10 DHL Honda entering Turn 10. Palou tried to regain control, but when the car went through the grass he ended up nose-first in the tire barrier.

The damage to the Chip Ganassi Racing car was minimal, but it ended Palou’s attempt at the pole.

“Happy that we had pace, obviously not happy that I went looking for mushrooms there in Fast Six,” Palou said afterwards. “I tried a little bit too hard. Just lost the car. I don’t know if I impeded anybody. I’m sorry if I did.

“We wanted to fight for pole. It’s good that we’re starting in the top six tomorrow.”

I had a chance to asked him what kind of mushrooms Palou was looking for, and he said, “Portobello.

“But I didn’t find any,” he said.

Alex Palou’s Championship At Stake

Palou, of course, has a chance to find much more than mushrooms if he ends up with a margin of 108 points or more after the Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland on Sunday. He would continue an unbelievable season for the ages in IndyCar and continue the “Era of Alex.”

Christian Lundgaard of Arrow McLaren was the Verizon P1 Award winner as the fastest qualifier, but he will actually start seventh because of a six-grid position penalty for going over his season allotment of Chevrolet engines.

Instead of starting first, Lundgaard will start seventh. That moved Arrow McLaren teammate O’Ward into the pole position, although he is not credited as the pole winner.

It also moves Palou up on the grid from sixth to fifth.

Lundgaard was behind Palou when he made his rare mistake and was asked if he actually did a “double-take” to make sure the near perfect driver had actually made a mistake.

“Well, I did see the yellow flag when I was going into turn 10, I wasn’t really paying attention to who it was, just making sure it wasn’t going to be a red flag,” Lundgaard recalled. “When I came around, I saw he (Palou) was reversing.

“The only thing I was really thinking about was make sure I keep these tires clean for the next lap.”

Palou explained that he did not feel his car getting squirrelly just before the going off course, and said it was a function of locking up the tires.

“The car felt like it accelerated instead of braking,” Palou explained. “It was a small mistake.

“I think we were all very close to having fast time. It was about putting the lap together. I think we saw that in Q1 and Q2, that everybody’s like super close. That’s why I just tried to push a little bit more. I saw that in Q2 they had a little bit more pace than me.

“I just wanted to give everything we had.”

Alex Palou Hopes to ‘Beat The Heat’

The temperature for Sunday’s race is Portland is expected to exceed 95 degrees, which could tax the drivers and make the racing course slippery from the heat.

“As of today, I think we have a great car,” Palou said. “I can’t wait.”

But Palou may tone down the aggressiveness, at least at the start of the race as every driver in the 27-car field tried to get through the difficult Turn 1 portion of the road course without calamity.

“It’s tough,” Palou said. “I think everybody plays it by how we get the start, the position you’re in. I think mostly everybody in the Fast Six is OK by having the first lap like that. But there’s always gaps and people go for it.

“I don’t know how I’m going to take it. Depends on if there’s a gap or not.”

As for O’Ward, Palou’s “Mushroom Hunt” created a very slight opportunity, but the driver from Monterrey, Mexico realizes his shot at a championship is nearly insurmountable.

“I’ll be thinking winning the race,” O’Ward said. “The points will take care of themselves, yeah.”

As for Palou, is he thinking of playing it safe and banking the points, or continuing his season for the ages with another victory?

“I think it depends,” Palou said. “I know that by winning the race I can win both things. That’s obviously the goal.

“I think everybody’s going to try and win the race tomorrow.

“I think we need to see. I’m not going to drive differently just because we have a chance. As long as we finish the year with the championship at home, that’s the goal, right?

“If we can get it tomorrow, great. If we can’t, it’s okay. But I think knowing that by winning the race we can clinch it here, that’s what we’re shooting for.”

Instead of hunting for mushrooms, Alex Palou can find his racing “Pot of Gold” with a fourth career IndyCar Series Championship in just five seasons.