WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Alex Palou is closing in on a fifth IndyCar championship 鈥� he could even clinch it this weekend in the nation’s capital.
So far he’s shown no signs of slowing down.
Palou won his seventh pole of the season Saturday, topping qualifying for . The 29-year-old from Barcelona leads the standings by 133 points with four races remaining. If that lead reaches 163 at the end of Sunday’s race, he’d clinch the series title.
鈥淚鈥檓 really thinking about the race more than the championship,鈥� he said. 鈥淥bviously getting both at the same time would be incredible.鈥�
Kyle Kirkwood had the fastest qualifying lap of 56.7729 seconds, but that was in the first round. Once qualifying was cut down to the final group of six, Palou鈥檚 time of 56.8993 beat Kirkwood by over a half-second.
Already with titles in 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025, Palou has been dominant this year as well. He has six victories 鈥� nobody else has more than two. Nobody else has more than two poles, either.
If there’s any consolation for the rest of the field, only two of Palou’s half-dozen victories this season have come from the pole 鈥� and Sunday’s 147-lap, 250-mile race offers plenty of time for drivers to make up ground.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be chaotic. It鈥檚 a street course. It鈥檚 new. It鈥檚 250 miles. There鈥檚 huge bumps. Huge, huge. It鈥檚 going to be tough. It鈥檚 going to be chaos,鈥� Palou said. 鈥淧eople seem to love it. It seems like the more chaos we have, people just love it.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to bring some more chaos. Hopefully I鈥檓 not involved. Hopefully I can make it a bit boring.鈥�
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