Alex Palou came into Sunday afternoon’s Grand Prix of Long Beach knowing that if he finished 12th or better, he would be taking home his first career IndyCar championship.
Like many times this season, Palou executed.
Palou, a 24-year old native of Spain, earned three wins during the 2021 season in route to becoming the series champion for the first time in his young career.
Before crossing the seas to race in IndyCar, Palou drove in F3, F2 and also the Super GT Series.
He’d then begin his IndyCar career with Dale Coyne Racing, where he podiumed in just his third start in an IndyCar Honda.
When Felix Rosenqvist departed from Chip Ganassi Racing in the offseason, Palou was tabbed by Chip as the new driver to take the reigns of the No. 10.
‘Chip likes winners’ and Palou delivered there.
Palou was on his game at the start of the 2021 season. He won the series opener at Barber Motorsports Park, and then rode a three-race top 10 streak into the Indianapolis 500.
There, he likely made his season worth the money. Palou finished second in the biggest race of the year, getting double points for his performance and taking a commanding lead.
Over the course of the year, Palou finished in the top 5 a series leading nine times. Of those 10 top 5 finishes, eight of them ended with Palou on the podium.
Palou took home two more wins after the season opener at both Road America as well as Portland.
On Sunday, after Pato O’Ward was taken out early, Palou was tasked with just running his race, and he delivered to beat both O’Ward and Josef Newgarden in the standings.
Congratulations to Alex Palou on winning the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series championship.
IndyCar Results
Championship Sunday
Streets of Long Beach
1. Colton Herta
2. Josef Newgarden
3. Scott Dixon
4. Alex Palou
5. Simon Pagenaud
6. Alexander Rossi
7. Jack Harvey
8. Sebastien Bourdais
9. Takuma Sato
10. Will Power
11. Scott McLaughlin
12. Ed Jones
13. Felix Rosenqvist
14. James Hinchcliffe
15. Max Chilton
16. Graham Rahal
17. Jimmie Johnson
18. Charlie Kimball
19. Dalton Kellett
20. Helio Castroneves
21. Conor Daly
22. Oliver Askew
23. Ryan Hunter-Reay
24. Romain Grosjean
25. Rinus VeeKay
26. Callum Illott
27. Pato O’Ward
28. Marcus Ericsson
