3 reasons why Alex Palou will still cruise to the 2025 IndyCar championship

Alex Palou began his title defense in the 2025 IndyCar championship with 5 wins in the first six races, including the Indy 500 win. However, Kyle Kirkwood has won the last two races at the Detroit GP and the World Wide Technology Raceway, pushing him up to P2 in the championship standings and making him a strong contender for the title.

Kyle Kirkwood is the only driver other than Palou to have won a race in the 2025 season. While Kirkwood won the last two races, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver has finished outside the Top 5. Yet, Alex Palou will still cruise to the 2025 IndyCar championship.

Palou currently sits on 335 points in the championship with Kirkwood P2, just behind the Spaniard on 262 points. Let's have a look at the three reasons why Alex Palou will still win the championship.

Alex Palou's consistency in the #10 Honda

Alex Palou won only a couple of races during the 2024 IndyCar title season (three, including the exhibition race at Thermal), which is fewer than his competitors, such as Scott McLaughlin, Pato O'Ward, and Will Power, who each won three races.

Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix - Source: Getty

However, the Spaniard was consistent with his results and finished 14 races inside the Top 5 out of the 18 races. More or less, the same has been the case this season, where Palou has won 5 races, finished one in P2, retired at Detroit, and P8 at Gateway.

The #10 Chip Ganassi Racing has been reliable this season, with the only retirement coming because of Palou's fault at the race restart in Detroit. If Palou can continue finishing in the Top 5 with the odd win, he will be in for the championship win.

Alex Palou's understanding of the new Firestone tires

One of Palou’s biggest assets is his ability to understand how the tires work and make them last longer than his competitors. While many have struggled with the new alternate compound of the tires introduced by Firestone, the Spaniard has been able to make the alternate last longer.

This gives the CGR driver an advantage over the long runs, where he gets the flexibility of pitting later and being on fresher tires for the remainder of the race. The fresher tires also help during the race restarts, in case there are any.

The Honda Dominance in 2025

All eight races during the IndyCar 2025 season so far have been won by a Honda-powered car, i.e., #27 of Kyle Kirkwood and #10 of Alex Palou. The Honda engines were more drivable during the 2024 season but lacked peak horsepower in comparison to Chevrolet, which was a disadvantage for the Honda-powered cars around ovals.

However, coming into the 2025 season, Honda reworked the engine, which increased the reliability and power output of the engines. Although Palou's key competitor, Kirkwood, also runs a Honda-powered car, the combination of Palou's consistency and tire knowledge should help him come out on top as the champion.

Edited by Riddhiman Sarkar