The odds entering the 2024 IndyCar season were never favourable for Alex Palou. For starters, the attrition of what is arguably the most competitive racing category in the world meant no driver had won the championship twice in succession in over a decade.
If that weren’t enough, six of the final eight rounds all took place on ovals – a track discipline that had yet to yield a trip to Victory Lane for him. And then, too, was the unknown of the unprecedented mid-season debut of IndyCar’s hybrid engine.
No matter, the Spaniard was his usual unflappable self. Although the performance wasn’t quite on par with his stout 2023 title run of five wins and a finish no lower than eighth, the precision Palou continued to demonstrate on a weekly basis with Chip Ganassi Racing was almost surgical. He stormed to three wins – including the $1 Million Challenge, a non-points round at The Thermal Club – plus four additional podiums and three poles en route to hoisting the Astor Cup Trophy for the second consecutive season, and third time over the past four years.
The occasional beatdown Palou has been known for never truly came this past campaign. The first of his two points-paying victories came at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course layout, where he recovered from a bad start from pole with sensational in-lap and out-lap strategy to vault into the lead on the penultimate round of pitstops before marching on to a 6.6106-second victory.
He took his other points-paying win of the year at Laguna Seca, where he led early but was left to pull off a wondrous pass in the Corkscrew on Colton Herta – reminiscent of a similar move Alex Zanardi put on Herta’s father, Bryan, nearly 30 years ago. It wasn’t all as straightforward, though, since Palou was forced to fend off rivals on a late restart in the chaotic, caution-filled affair before crossing the finish line 1.9780s ahead of Herta.
Palou’s daunting level of consistency took a hit, his streak of 23 consecutive top 10 finishes in points-paying races coming to an end with a mediocre 16th on the streets of Detroit in early June. That blemish was followed by three more mediocre results outside the top 10.
These included an uncharacteristically self-inflicted mistake that led to Palou crashing his Honda-powered Dallara out of the opening race of the double-header weekend at Iowa Speedway. Per usual, though, he was unfazed and rebounded to combat the woeful outings with 13 top fives through the 17 points-paying rounds, matching his mark from a year ago.
There were, of course, moments of anxiety near the closing stages. In the penultimate race of the year, the second act of Milwaukee’s double-header, Palou stopped on the inside of the track during pace laps just moments before the green flag.
He was eventually put on the hook and towed back to the paddock, where his team went to work and found the culprit was a battery issue. Upon fixing it, he returned 29 laps down but gained valuable points as the attrition-filled contest elevated him eight positions.
"He’s in pretty rarefied air right now, as they say. His name has to be among and certainly in the conversation of the great drivers"
Chip Ganassi
In turn, he went into the season finale at Nashville Superspeedway with a 33-point lead over Will Power, the only other driver who remained in contention for the title once the race started. And Palou was left starting 24th while Power’s late attempt was from fourth on the grid.
But any last-gasp heroics by Power quickly vanished when a faulty seatbelt forced him to pit his Chevrolet-engined Team Penske machine. In the end, Power’s problem relegated him to 24th and gave Palou, who finished 11th, a clear path to the title.
“We’ve been lucky to have some great drivers on the team over the years,” says team owner Chip Ganassi, who also ran Dario Franchitti, the previous back-to-back champion in 2009-11. “You want to make the obvious comparisons, but I don’t know that you can.
“At his age to be doing what he’s doing, having the experience that he has, especially with the series the way it is now with some ovals, these guys aren’t exactly ovalmeisters that are excelling in the series today. There are better oval racers out there. I’m sure he’ll tell you that. So it’s an interesting series now.
“To have a guy like Alex on your team. I mean, three championships in four years… He’s in pretty rarefied air right now, as they say. His name has to be among and certainly in the conversation of the great drivers.”
Although Power was the only other driver in title contention in Nashville, his seatbelt troubles opened the door for Herta to take centre stage with a thrilling maiden oval win that ascended the Andretti Global driver to a career-best second in the overall standings. The outing served as an exclamation point for Herta, who came into his own and rebounded in style after finishing an underwhelming 10th in the championship in each of the previous two years.
The California native’s other win came on the streets of Toronto, holding off team-mate Kyle Kirkwood and Chip Ganassi Racing’s six-time champion Scott Dixon to break a 41-race winless drought that dated back to May 2022. He led the third-most laps of the year (305) and matched champion Palou with six podiums, while also scoring a career-best 11 top-fives.
When it comes to drivers wondering what could have been, though, that onus likely falls to Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin. The ex-Supercars legend took a significant step forward and captured his first oval victory in the opening race of the Iowa double-header, and then validated his talents even further by bagging another in the nightcap of Milwaukee’s two-race weekend.
His 637 laps led during the season were a series-high, with team-mate Power the next closest with 366. McLaughlin also set the mark with a series-leading seven podiums in points-paying rounds. But that number could have been even higher if not for his role in Team Penske’s push-to-pass scandal in St Petersburg, which wiped away his third-place result, along with team-mate Josef Newgarden’s win.
The decision regarding the penalties, which also included Power being docked 10 points, came 45 days after the race and led into the third round of the championship at Barber Motorsports Park. Amid the turmoil, McLaughlin responded by blocking out the noise, claiming one of his five poles of the year en route to an authoritative victory. McLaughlin’s three wins tied him with Power and Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren for most in the series in 2024.
If the podium result in St Petersburg was upheld for McLaughlin with how the rest of the season transpired, he would have drawn level with Palou at season’s end with 540 points, but claimed the championship via tiebreaker by virtue of having more wins. In the end, though, he finished third in the title race and was the benchmark among the Penske trio for the second straight year.
Despite missing out on a proper chance to fight for the crown in the final race, Power’s resurgence was welcomed after enduring a winless 2023. The 43-year-old Aussie ended a drought that went back to Detroit 2022 by leading a Penske 1-2-3 sweep of the podium at Road America.
Power also stormed to two more victories at Iowa and Portland, bumping his tally up to 44 in his illustrious career. Uniquely, though, the all-time pole record holder in the series failed to seize a top spot in qualifying for the first time since 2008.
There was no shortage of drama surrounding O’Ward. The young Mexican was credited with the victory in St Petersburg once Newgarden was disqualified. The two were then tangled in an instant classic just three months later in the Indianapolis 500.
While Dixon finished a lowly sixth in the championship, he displayed flashes of his brilliance throughout, especially with a masterclass in fuel-saving on the streets of Long Beach
O’Ward pulled off a last-lap pass on Newgarden to take the lead, only to lose the race in heartbreaking fashion as Newgarden responded with a courageous outside pass into Turn 3 moments later to claim back-to-back victories in ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’. That emotional loss for O’Ward ignited a fire for the second half of the season, which included claiming the first win of IndyCar’s hybrid era at Mid-Ohio after outduelling Palou.
Then came the race where ‘Pato who?’ was born when he took a commanding victory in the opening race at Milwaukee less than 24 hours after Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles shared controversial comments regarding his popularity, notably as it related to IndyCar getting beaten to the punch by NASCAR to get a race in Mexico. But a mixed bag of results left nothing more to play for than fifth in the title race.
While Dixon finished a lowly sixth in the championship, he displayed flashes of his brilliance throughout, especially with a masterclass in fuel-saving on the streets of Long Beach. The Kiwi snatched a second victory by dodging the divebomb carnage in Detroit, which put his win total at 58 (second all-time).
For Newgarden, the two-time series champion’s year could only be defined by Indy 500 glory and a complementary win in St Louis after a controversial restart. Too many mistakes and miscues proved to be the Tennessee native’s downfall and he tumbled to eighth in the championship, directly behind Andretti Global’s consistent but winless Kyle Kirkwood.
There were eight different winners from four different teams once the dust settled on the season. Even with the parity, Palou’s resilience and fortitude proved too much for anyone to overcome. Unlike his titles in 2021 and 2023, this one stands apart in being his first earned since becoming a father.
Palou put it simply by saying: “I wouldn’t change anything that I’m living at the moment.”
Race by race
St Petersburg
1. Pato O’Ward
2. Will Power
3. Colton Herta
A dominant drive by Newgarden – he leads 92 laps to the top step of the podium. Then it is wiped away 45 days later after data reveals he and Team Penske team-mate McLaughlin – who finished third – illegally used overtake on restarts. Both are disqualified, promoting O’Ward to the win.
Long Beach
1. Scott Dixon
2. Colton Herta
3. Alex Palou
Dixon uses the only caution to switch to an alternate strategy, which vaults him into the lead but forces him into fuel conservation. Despite late hounding by Herta, who is on the opposite strategy and able to maximise his pace, the six-time series champion holds him off in a defensive masterclass.
Barber
1. Scott McLaughlin
2. Will Power
3. Linus Lundqvist
In the wake of Penske’s overtake scandal that blows up earlier in the week, McLaughlin blocks out the noise and storms to victory. He leads a 1-2 for the team after fending off Power on a late restart with two laps to go. Rookie Lundqvist captures the maiden podium of his career.
Indianapolis GP
1. Alex Palou
2. Will Power
3. Christian Lundgaard
Polesitter Palou recovers after falling behind early, using his in and out-lap prowess to secure the lead during the penultimate round of pitstops. Power is a distant second at 6s back, with Lundgaard finishing third. Palou takes over the championship lead as a result.
Indy 500
1. Josef Newgarden
2. Pato O’Ward
3. Scott Dixon
An instant classic features two lead changes on the last lap as O’Ward passes Newgarden in the approach to Turn 1, and the two-time series champion responds with a brave outside pass of his own into Turn 3 to secure the lead and become a back-to-back Indy 500 winner.
Detroit
1. Scott Dixon
2. Marcus Ericsson
3. Marcus Armstrong
Dixon captures the 58th victory of his career after once again depending on his fuel strategy mastery, aided by an afternoon of carnage that features eight cautions consuming 47 of 100 laps. Ericsson’s late charge runs out of time but he collects his first podium in Andretti colours.
Road America
1. Will Power
2. Josef Newgarden
3. Scott McLaughlin
Power ends a two-year winless drought after overcutting his team-mates during pitstops en route to leading a Team Penske sweep of the podium. It is the 42nd victory of Power’s career, which puts him into a tie with Michael Andretti for fourth on the all-time wins list.
Laguna Seca
1. Alex Palou
2. Colton Herta
3. Alexander Rossi
Palou perfects a flat-out strategy to grab the lead from Herta with a stout pass in the Corkscrew. Despite a late restart with four laps to go, the reigning series champion is able to steadily break away and score his second win of the season, with Herta nearly 2s back.
Mid-Ohio
1. Pato O’Ward
2. Alex Palou
3. Scott McLaughlin
The debut of IndyCar’s hybrid unit doesn’t present many passing opportunities throughout the field, but a battle between O’Ward and Palou is plenty enthralling. Palou momentarily stalls exiting the pits, which allows O’Ward the chance to make a run at the exit into Turn 1 and never look back.
Iowa 1
1. Scott McLaughlin
2. Pato O’Ward
3. Josef Newgarden
McLaughlin dominates to take his first oval win, while Palou makes an uncharacteristic mistake and crashes out after 175 of 250 laps. The lack of passing opportunities due to the repaved corners is evident – O’Ward can only follow McLaughlin to seize second, with Newgarden third.
Iowa 2
1. Will Power
2. Alex Palou
3. Scott McLaughlin
Power takes advantage of a lucky early caution to catapult from a 22nd-place start into the race lead, where he is able to hold firm ahead of Palou for the 43rd win of his career. Robb goes airborne in a horrific crash on the final lap after clipping a fuel-starved Rossi.
Toronto
1. Colton Herta
2. Kyle Kirkwood
3. Scott Dixon
Herta ends a 41-race winless streak by leading 81 of 85 laps from pole, while also giving Andretti a 1-2 result with Kirkwood in tow. In a massive accident, Ferrucci climbs a stationary O’Ward in Turn 2 and gets airborne into the catch fence before landing upside down on the track.
St Louis
1. Josef Newgarden
2. Scott McLaughlin
3. Linus Lundqvist
Newgarden’s trickery is on display after lagging on the penultimate restart with less than 10 laps to go, sparking a multi-car crash that collects Power, who shows his displeasure by flipping off his Penske team-mate. At the final restart, Newgarden makes a clean getaway to lead a Penske 1-2 from McLaughlin.
Portland
1. Will Power
2. Alex Palou
3. Josef Newgarden
Power passes polesitter Ferrucci at the start into Turn 1 and remains untouchable, leading 101 of 110 laps and delivering a beatdown by nearly 10s over Palou, and more than 23s on Newgarden. Dixon crashes on the opening lap after being forced off track by Kirkwood.
Milwaukee 1
1. Pato O’Ward
2. Will Power
3. Conor Daly
Less than 24 hours after Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles questions O’Ward’s popularity in the sport as to why IndyCar isn’t racing in Mexico, the young Mexican surges to an emphatic victory at the historic one-mile oval. He leads 133 of 250 laps en route to fending off a hungry Power.
Milwaukee 2
1. Scott McLaughlin
2. Scott Dixon
3. Colton Herta
Battery issues plague Palou in the warm-up laps and threaten his hold on the crown. Power leads early on but fails to take advantage of Palou’s issues, spinning mid-race. McLaughlin holds on amid a late charge by Dixon, collecting his second oval win and seventh overall victory of his career.
Nashville
1. Colton Herta
2. Pato O’Ward
3. Josef Newgarden
Palou steadily climbs up the field from 24th to finish 11th and claim his third championship, while rival Power falls behind with a faulty seatbelt. Herta hounds O’Ward as the two navigate through lapped traffic, pulling off the winning pass with five laps to go en route to his first oval win.
