Closing in on the INDYCAR Championship at Portland with Alex Palou. Also, Scott Dixon, Kyle Kirkwood, Josef Newgarden and Graham Rahal

Roger Penske:
This is Roger Penske, and you're listening to Pit Pass Indy, sponsored by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin: IndyCar fans, it's time to start your engines. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, a production of Evergreen Podcast. I'm your host, Bruce Martin, a journalist who regularly covers the NTT IndyCar Series. Our goal at Pit Pass Indy is to give racing fans an insider's view of the exciting world of the NTT IndyCar Series in a fast-paced podcast featuring interviews with the biggest names in the sport. I bring nearly 40 years of experience covering IndyCar and NASCAR, working for such media brands as NBCSports.com, SI.com, ESPN SportsTicker, Sports Illustrated, AutoWeek, and SpeedSport. So let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental as we continue our fifth season of giving IndyCar fans an inside look at the most exciting form of racing on the planet, the NTT IndyCar Series. And a big thanks to Penske Truck Rental for helping bring you the inside stories of IndyCar from the paddock to the racetrack to the highways and streets of America. As the NTT IndyCar Series heads to Portland for this weekend's BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland presented by Ask ROI, look out for Alex Pillow as the Chip Ganassi racing driver is closing in on his third straight IndyCar Series championship, his fourth overall since joining IndyCar in 2020. Palou enters the weekend with a 121 point lead over Padua Ward in the championship with three races remaining. If Palou leaves Portland with a lead of 108 points or more, he clinches the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series Championship. We'll hear from Palou later in the show. But first, let's hear from several drivers entering this weekend's race at Portland International Raceway, starting with Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global, who joins me for this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview. IndyCar's version of Goldfinger has joined us. You're sponsored by J.M. Bullion. I know the analogy, Goldfinger, probably flies over your head. It was a James Bond movie made in 1964. You weren't even around then. But anyway, a gold bullion company. Silver bullion, too. Do they pay you with a brick of gold?

Kyle Kirkwood: They don't, no. But it's a good partnership. They've been on board now for over a year. 2024, 8500, they came on with Marco and now it's turned into a great partnership between us and the team and love having them on board. And this will be our second weekend with them as a primary, or at least a parent company, right? So they're affiliated. So, yeah, excited to get going with them.

Bruce Martin: How frustrating was it after the Iowa crash to start seeing the championship start to slip away? The margin just increased.

Kyle Kirkwood: Brutal, if I'm being honest. Yeah. Probably one of the worst weekends I've had in motorsports. And not for a good reason either. So that was a disappointing one, right? It took us out of the championship fight, in theory, I guess you can say. But even with that, we crashed twice. We had tire failures hinder us all weekend long. And I didn't do my job, and we just missed something with whatever happened. So yeah, it was a tough weekend. I guess we can't dwell on it too long. We have to go into Toronto.

Bruce Martin: Yes, but looking ahead, it's going to be Portland, then Milwaukee, then Nashville. Andretti Global defending winning a race team at Nashville. Do well at Milwaukee. Portland's been a decent track for Andretti Global. So do you just start the idea. Let's chalk up as many wins as we can get.

Kyle Kirkwood: It's all we can do now. Right. Like all we can do is just go out and win races. And we're not in a position to really fight for a championship, although it is mathematically possible still. And the only way to keep it mathematically possible is if we win from every every race here on out. So that's what we'll have to do starting this weekend. But you're right, we do have some good races coming up. Here was a good race for us last year. We led the entire first stint, ended up finishing fifth, kind of weird strategies we're playing out. Milwaukee was my best of tracks. But we had a decent finish there and Colton had a really good finish, right? And similar to Portland, Colton had a really good finish there last year. And then going back to Nashville, we know that's going to be one of our best circuits on the calendar.

Bruce Martin: And finally, how important in creating a championship mentality is it to maybe have a year like this where you won races but maybe not win the championship so that you know what it takes and what you can improve on to put it all together for a championship.

Kyle Kirkwood: We all know what it takes. It takes winning races. So that's what you got to do in the championship now. It's no longer an average finish of fourth or fifth. It's win everything or go home without a championship trophy. It's giving me a taste of that. We've had some success, right? Three wins, but it's not as good as one guy's doing, so we know what we gotta do next year.

Bruce Martin: Well, that certainly simplifies the formula. Kyle Kirkwood. Oh, last question, though. Moderate. Did you see any dolphins? Did you see any seals? Did you see any walrus?

Kyle Kirkwood: I went to the aquarium. I have not gone anywhere else to see actual wild creatures. So, um, no. All you had to do was walk down to the wharf.

Bruce Martin: They're all sitting there.

Kyle Kirkwood: Yeah, I know. I know they're there. They're barking. They're barking. Yeah, they're there. I know they are. I'm sure I'll go see them at some point, but I went to the aquarium, saw the tunas, saw the mahi, saw the penguins, things like that, so.

Bruce Martin: Kyle Kirkwood is definitely a man of the water, definitely a man of the ocean, whether it be the Atlantic or the Pacific. Good luck the rest of the season, and thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy.

Kyle Kirkwood: Thank you, Bruce.

Bruce Martin: Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing has six NTT IndyCar Series championships but won't be adding to that total in 2025 as Alex Palou and Pato Award are the only drivers left to contention for the title this season. Dixon enters the Portland race third in points, 198 behind Palou, his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, but still has a chance at finishing second in the standings if he can make up ground on award at the final three races of 2025. Here is my exclusive interview with Scott Dixon for Pit Pass Indy. Our old buddy Scott Dixon has joined us. Scott, you've been in many championship battles. There's an old saying where drivers talk about trying to get into their rivals' heads. Is anybody capable of getting inside of Alex Pillow's head in a championship battle? He seems pretty locked down.

Scott Dixon: I think it's different from year to year, you know. And, you know, scenarios can change things out of your control. But, yeah, you know, I don't think, honestly, I don't think Alex has got too much to worry about, to be honest. I don't think there's much of a championship fight this year, which, and it may end up like, you know, the situation in, what was it, a couple of years ago, where Alex came into the last race clear champion and then second place was even tied up with us you know there was just real no race so I think as a competitor and as a fan you don't like to see that but you got to congratulate them on a tremendous year.

Bruce Martin: How much would you like to be able to give Chip a 1-2 sweep of the top two positions in the points?

Scott Dixon: Yeah, we'd definitely be trying. I think, honestly, Toronto was a bit of a rough one for us, especially with the championship gap to Pato. It's still not out of contention, that's for sure. You know, we can see these swings happen pretty quickly. You know, I think for him winning the last two out of three races, you know, he's going to be thinking that, you know, they can close the gap to, you know, first place. But yeah, the goal for us right now, I think, you know, first place is not in contention. But for us, the race is for second or third right now.

Bruce Martin: You're as racy now as you were in your late 20s, but you had the experience. So how much better package do you believe you are at the moment?

Scott Dixon: I don't know. I've always said that, you know, sometimes going in as a rookie is a better situation because there are no ones. So, you know, going in there with an open mind and not knowing what to expect sometimes is kind of a fresh perspective on it. So I think it's good and bad, you know, but obviously, you know, when you have bad weekends and recovery wise, I think, you know, having been through those scenarios before definitely helps.

Bruce Martin: Rick mayors told me he paid you the ultimate compliment a couple of weeks ago when I talked to him at Iowa he said What he likes about you is how you continually pick up your game, and he says you know how I see he picks up his game In practice, you might slide off course, or you might spin out. He goes, that shows me he's elevating his game to keep up with the younger drivers. Do you feel that way?

Scott Dixon: Yeah, you definitely got to keep trying. I think the formula is definitely very different from when I first started. And some people's natural driving style, I think, equates to it a little bit easier. And I think that's true right now. Alex is very smooth. Inputs are quite good. low energy, and it definitely is a good spot for him right now, but it's something that I kind of have to relearn. So, yeah, I love, you know, that's the hard part of motor racing, and one part that I, you know, love the most is continuing to learn the sport.

Bruce Martin: Well, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, good luck here in the last four races of the season. Thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy.

Scott Dixon: Thanks, man. Cheers.

Bruce Martin: We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

Josef Newgarden: Hey, everyone, this is two-time Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden, and you're listening to Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin: Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. Team Penske's Josef Newgarden is having a season he would like to forget. Instead of challenging for the championship, he is 15th in the standings, 358 points behind Pillow. But there is always a chance for Newgarden to score a victory in the final three races in 2025. Let's spend a few minutes with Josef Newgarden with this Pit Pass Indy interview. And now let's spend two minutes with Josef Newgarden of Team Penske. Joseph, we're at Monterey, but coming up will be Portland, Milwaukee, Nashville. Out of those three races, I'm going to go ahead and say you're going to win one of them. So do I get a prize?

Josef Newgarden: I would take one at this point, Bruce. That sounds like a good deal, if I could lock that in.

Bruce Martin: Is there anybody more interested in seeing a season end than you? Because it seems like the only luck you've had this year is bad luck.

Josef Newgarden: I don't know that I'm looking forward to the season ending, but I'm always looking forward to the next race. And we're here at Laguna, or WeatherTech race, whatever you want to call it, and motivated and excited to be here with the team.

Bruce Martin: How big of a challenge has it been in not focusing on the negative and trying to stay mentally positive?

Josef Newgarden: Well, we're always looking forward. You know, that's what our team does, and that's where we are now. That's what keeps us going, is we look forward to the next event, next challenge, and to control what we can control.

Bruce Martin: In the long term, how do you think Jonathan Duguid is going to lead the team? He's a long time guy with a lot of success. Do you feel he was the perfect guy to take that position?

Josef Newgarden: I've got a lot of confidence in Jonathan and certainly our entire team. We have great depth all the way across the board amongst everybody. And I think Jonathan is a great leader and has been through so many different positions within a team and really understands the whole scope of the job. And it will be a challenge for him. It's a lot of workload, but I think he is going to be a great leader for the organization in getting us up the road.

Bruce Martin: And in down times, how much comfort has your wife Ashley and son Coda been to be able to go back and become a father and not worry about racing?

Josef Newgarden: Yeah, all is good in the home front. All is good.

Bruce Martin: Well, Joseph Dugard, in one of these days, all will be good in the IndyCar front again also. But good luck the rest of the year, and thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Josef Newgarden: Yep, you got it. Thanks.

Bruce Martin: Veteran driver Graham Rayall hopes to achieve success at Portland as August is upon us. But he is also excited for the end of August when his Ohio State Buckeyes kick off the 2025 college football season against the Texas Longhorns. Here is my interview with Rayall for Pit Pass Indy.

Bruce Martin: Graham Rahal, season is winding down.

Bruce Martin: After Monterey it's going to be three races left in the season beginning with Portland. Rahal has had good runs at Portland before. How excited are you about that track?

Graham Rahal: Yeah, I mean, you know, at the end of the year obviously you've got here Laguna and then you've got Portland are two places that, you know, we would expect to be very strong. I mean, we're looking forward to those two. I think, you know, we obviously need to get a lot better in Milwaukee and Nashville as well to finish this thing off on a positive note. But, you know, here in Portland are two places we've been very good.

Bruce Martin: This series competed at Monterey. Your dad used to have some really competitive cars and drivers at Monterey. As a kid, do you remember all those Monterey races? Were you at the ones where Brian Hurd or Zanardi passed him?

Graham Rahal: Pappas, when he won, I was. Brian, yes. The Zanardi thing, honestly, I don't remember so well in the moment as you do now, because it's replayed constantly. But obviously, most of the years Dad won, I wasn't alive yet. This place has always just had a great buzz. And, you know, when I was a kid, obviously, Dad was so well-known here in the whole region that, you know, going to Pebble Beach or going to do a lot of things, you know, Dad's name was synonymous around here. So, like, people, you know, it was always just a great place to come and visit and family, friends that lived out here and stuff like that. So it's always great to be here.

Bruce Martin: You've always had a very good 35,000-foot view of IndyCar. Last weekend, in some ways, I describe it as IndyCar competing against itself with a NASCAR race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway being run virtually at the same time on two different TV stations. So in a lot of ways, you almost feel like IMS, IndyCar, was competing against themselves?

Graham Rahal: I don't know. You know, I mean, obviously, the series have got to run independently. Obviously, it's not great to have IndyCar and NASCAR run head to head, no matter if it's on Fox or any channel. It's a difficult thing. It's not what we want to see. But look, I think there's a lot of bigger issues than that. You know, I mean, look, I don't think NASCAR's ratings have been good this year. You know, IndyCar's ratings are, we'd like to see more one million plus numbers than what we've seen. not good to see each other, but I think what I'm getting at is globally there are bigger problems to be focusing on, I think.

Bruce Martin: How disappointed are you to see that IndyCar ratings have gone from that 1 million a race down to 800,000, 700,000? Yeah, I mean, it's not what we want to see.

Graham Rahal: The reality is we're not seeing the big dips that we've used to be getting, like $300,000, $400,000. We're still better than that. But the promotion of the series has got to get a lot better. And that starts with the series, period. That starts with Penske Entertainment. We, as a series, need to market ourselves better, period. But until that changes, I don't know how much of a boost you're really going to see. And we don't need to be complacent and content with what we're getting either. We need to strive all the time, not just to be better, but to find a way to double or triple what we're seeing continuously. So that's something we've got to look at.

Bruce Martin: And with the potential and the likelihood that Alex Pelo could have the title wrapped up, two, maybe even three races to go in the season, how difficult does that make to try to make a big deal at Nashville when the title's been well over?

Graham Rahal: Yeah, I don't know, man. I'm not so sure that it's as big of a deal as people think. Obviously, we want the championship to go to the very end. Hell, I'm not even in the championship hunt, so at this point, I could care less.

Bruce Martin: And finally, Will Power is on the market. Where do you think he'll end up, or do you think this is a grand negotiating play?

Graham Rahal: Yeah, I mean, I think that's the question is, is he really on the market or is he not? You know, I have a lot of respect and time for Willie. I love Will, and I think he'd be a great asset for a team like us. But the reality is, you know, I'm not even so sure he's actually Is he available or is he not? You know, I mean, you hear both sides, so we'll see what happens.

Bruce Martin: And also, Ohio State football is right around the corner. Three more weekends, Bruce. I know you're excited about that.

Graham Rahal: Three more weekends. So who's going to win the Texas game? Ohio State, Texas. Of course. Gee, what a shock you'd pick Ohio State. Go Bucs.

Bruce Martin: Hey, Graham Rahal, good luck the rest of the season. Thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy.

Graham Rahal: Thank you, sir.

Bruce Martin: We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break. This is Will Power of Team Penske, and you're listening to Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin: Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. On Monday, August 4th, Alex Pillow was on the IndyCar Zoom call as he prepares for the possibility of clinching his third straight NTT IndyCar Series Championship this weekend at Portland. Pit Pass Indy was part of that Zoom call and brings you some of the key items that Pillow discussed. Here is Pillow talking about his approach entering the weekend.

Alex Palou: I'm excited. I'm very excited.

Alex Palou: I mean, I think there's lots of reasons to be excited. But first of all, it's a place that I love, that we've done really well in the past, as you just mentioned. And yeah, it just feels like with such a magical season, we can still finish even better. So, yeah, I'm excited to go there and see how our car feels. It's been feeling amazing this year, everywhere we've been, especially road courses. So, yeah, I'm excited to go there.

Bruce Martin: Palau was asked if he would like to be updated throughout the race on where things stand in the championship, or if he would prefer to not be told.

Alex Palou: I think it depends a little bit. I think I've been in different scenarios where in 2021 we were battling against Joseph and Pato and you We were still on the best scenario where I think if we finished in the top 8 or something, we were going to win the championship no matter what. But I wanted to be a little bit updated just to know where everybody was standing. But then, for example, last year at Nashville with Will, because he had that issue with the belts, he was kind of like, I kind of already knew that we're looking good, although it was not done, especially at the novel that you can gain two laps and like two yellows. But yeah, I normally don't like it. I think if you need to be thinking about that, you're probably not in the best position. If you're up front, you don't really care because you probably need to win and that's it, and that's the best you can do. If you're at the back, it's like, well, maybe it's not your day to win it. Hopefully, we're not in this position this year. Hopefully, we can focus on ourselves and trying to just win the race. Obviously, I know that if we win the race at Pola, we can seal the championship there. Yeah, let's say that we're not going to be just going for a, I don't know, a top 10, right behind, just to clinch the championship there.

Bruce Martin: With eight wins already this season, Palou is just two victories from tying the all-time IndyCar record for most wins in a season, set by A.J. Foyt in 1964 and Al Unser in 1970. One more victory would be the most wins in a season since Mario Andretti won nine races in 1969. Palou is rapidly climbing the ranks against IndyCar legends.

Alex Palou: Yeah, I mean, I don't really know how to answer that or how to explain how I feel about that. Like for me, I feel like somebody has took me from my place and then just put me here and it's like, what is going on? I don't know if that makes sense, but I just don't feel or I cannot really comprehend everything that's happening, not only this year, like if I look back at ever since I started in IndyCar, my My dream was just to be a professional race car driver, and I never thought about records or anything like that. And it's not that I think about it, but whenever I get asked these questions, it's amazing. To be in the position I am today, it's amazing. never thought that I would be around those names and I think obviously this season particularly has been a little bit crazy. I almost match the wins that I had in four years, actually. It's amazing to be there. I cannot really comprehend. I owe everything to my team and everybody that is behind me, like my personal team and my racing team. It's amazing. I'm enjoying a lot. I'm enjoying every single moment. It's not that I'm not about what's going on. It's just that I cannot really believe it. And I'm just riding the wave and enjoying every single second of it and having fun.

Bruce Martin: With so much success in 2025, has Polo noticed a difference from his fellow drivers?

Alex Palou: No, I mean, joking wise, yes, everybody like on the driver autographs and all that stuff or messages. But no, I think. Yeah, I have not seen that. I don't know that they treat me different or they don't talk to me or that they are grumpy or whatever. Like, I think everybody, obviously, I know they don't like it. I know that nobody is happy about it. Only us, only the Ten Current CGR. But yeah, it is what it is. It's competition. We're just trying to do the best we can and it's been working for us. Yeah, it's amazing to hear that as well at the same time. I think it's really crazy. Again, I think before heading into this year, we had 11 wins, which I thought it was a ton and it was a lot. But yeah, to have eight in one year, it's just crazy. It's one of those years that have you so much on stats. Like, yes, it's

Bruce Martin: One of the key strengths of Polo's outstanding run is the years of experience on the number 10 team at Chip Ganassi Racing. Polo explains.

Alex Palou: Yeah, for sure. One of the most important keys. I think that just helps on how the car works and how the car executes. When I say car, I mean it's the group in general. When it comes to strategies or the pace that we have sometimes, that's because of all the experience as well that there's behind. And there's the same big people, let's say, in the car. But I mean, it's a lot of work. Like Ricky got a big knee surgery and he has like, I don't know how many medals on the knee. So he's like, he's trying hard. Everybody knows that Barry had an issue like two years ago in the throat and he, we We try to do something to try and have him. So we're trying hard to keep everybody the same, the same people at the tanker because he's working really well and we have great people with Julian as well and everybody that is around there, it's awesome. So yeah, I would say that 25, 30% of the reasons why we've been so good, it's probably the consistency on the team side.

Bruce Martin: Last week, Fox purchased a one-third stake in Penske Entertainment, owners of IndyCar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the Indianapolis 500. Palou was asked his thoughts on Fox increasing its involvement to an ownership stake in IndyCar.

Alex Palou: Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, I don't know exactly what this is going to do for our sport, my personal opinion, and I don't really know much about what's going to change if it's going to change anything. But having somebody as big as Fox and with the small time that they spend with IndyCar and how much love they showed us and how much work and investment that they put in the series. Like even before we started the season, it was crazy, it was unbelievable. So I think having a partner like this that can, they don't need to look for the media like or not the media like they don't need to look for how to reach more people they can reach more people so having somebody in your team that already is capable of doing that and it's only it's only to find ways to do it appropriately and that makes sense for the business on the IndyCar side and their side, I think it's going to be huge. So, I think this is all we need. It's going to take obviously some time, but I think everybody will agree that everything that Fox has done for us with all the promoting like I'm sure you've seen it like you go to any fuel station and it's not hard to see one of the IndyCar ads from Fox there pop up so and also like being on all major sports on TV like every almost every weekend it's it's great so yeah i cannot wait to see what they're gonna do i i'm i'm i'm really happy to see that and and i have full full trust that uh and full confidence that they're gonna do good for our sport qualifying up front is very important in any indycar race is it more so at portland Yeah, I mean I had a little bit of everything. I started up front I think all the races that we had in Portland and I've been lucky at all of them except the one that I started on pole that I went from pole to like 20 something in only one turn. So I think it just depends on how it goes. So you always want to start as upfront as possible. If you can start on pull, you need to start on pull, and so on, so on. I think it just gives you more chances, although they are never 100%, but they give you more chances to be able to survive lap one, and especially turn one. So I think it's never easy for anybody, but yeah, hopefully it's going to be a good qualifying for us, and hopefully we get more chances of surviving.

Bruce Martin: What is Pelosi's mindset on the possibility of clinching the championship with two races left in the 2025 season?

Alex Palou: Yeah, mindset is always to obviously win the championship, win races. So if we have the chance to win it, we're going to try and do everything we can. But at the same time, the goal is to win the championship this year, like not to go crazy and be like, oh, we need to do it at Portland. I'll be super happy if we get it at the end of the year in Nashville. I'll be so happy. But obviously if it comes earlier, because we've done a great job and we can still do a good job at Portland and otherwise Milwaukee, I would be super excited.

Bruce Martin: And what does Palou think of the prospect of ending it early?

Alex Palou: Yes, of course, 100%. And I mean, everybody here is saying like we've already won, although we have a lot of points, we still need to win it. Like if somebody else is mathematically alive, it's still alive. So we just don't want anybody to be mathematically alive for the points.

Bruce Martin: Once the championship is clinched, can Pelos start thinking about tying the IndyCar record for 10 victories in a season?

Alex Palou: No, I mean it's obviously I'm aware and I know that the chance is still there although it's very low just because of the we would need to win three or at least two to match it. That's a lot. Although it's been a really good year, I think it's pretty tough to do that. I know that the best way to try and get there is to win Portland and get one more and then just be one closer. That's what I'm going to try and do, try and win Portland and then see if we can win another race. Yeah, I don't really think about it. I think the although I would love it. I cannot really change it. The only way I can change it is by just focusing on Poland and taking step by step like we've been doing all year.

Bruce Martin: Palo has become a generational talent and is well on his way to establishing himself as an IndyCar legend. He can inspire other drivers coming up through the ranks. Here are his thoughts on being an inspiration.

Alex Palou: Yeah, just motivated to work for it and try and have a living about it. That would be amazing. Like that would make my day and not my day, make my life. Like that's just to see that you can inspire some people would be amazing. So yeah, hopefully I can inspire somebody.

Bruce Martin: Who were Palau's heroes when he was growing up?

Alex Palou: A little bit. I've always had my dad because he was my mechanic. When I was a kid, I thought that he was the best driver in the world because he was able to teach me so well. He was not driving, but he would tell me, hey, you need to brake here. I would do it and it would be better. In my mind, he was the best. The amount that I spent with him also made it more of a hero. But the only driver that I had when I was a kid and that I looked up and I was like, wow, this driver is amazing was Michael Schumacher when he was in the Ferrari era where he was winning so much. Just seeing that red car and himself being able to win so much and dominate and the way that he was bringing the team. Yeah, I just really liked it as a kid.

Bruce Martin: What advice would Palou give to his younger self when he joined IndyCar in 2020?

Alex Palou: It's tough. I think it's all about experience and it's all about small bits. There's not one thing that one day you wake up or you go to bed and you're like, wow, I'm so glad I learned that. doesn't exist, at least I've never experienced anything like that. It's all about small bits, like learning something small every day and being able to understand how the car works or what you need yourself from the car to be a little bit better or how you prepare your races a little bit. I think it just a lot of small steps that I would not have time. So the only thing, obviously, I would try and avoid having any bumps with the team and with contracts. But I think that's part of me. That's part of who I am today as well, probably mentally. So yeah, I would just tell him to enjoy and uh work hard because it's hard like you go through uh sometimes that are really good like this one and i know that there's gonna be some bad uh and tough moments in the future so you just need to continue uh working hard and uh yeah never giving up back to portland what does polo need to do to master the road course again this season I think a little bit of everything. As we mentioned earlier, I don't think that we had the ultimate speed that other cars had, and especially Will. So I know that there could be some other cars that are as fast as him or faster. So we need to do some work on speed. hopefully we can get some stuff from other tracks like Laguna that's been working for us this year and try and put it there and see if it works but yeah I think speed obviously it's it's a big point without speed at Portland there's really low chances of winning but then I am a little bit concerned, in a good way, concerned about Tire Deck in a way that it's going to make a big impact during the race and it's going to be key to make sure you treat the tires right and that you choose the right strategy to start with the tire that you want and end with a tire that gives you more chances to fight for the win. Yeah, I think there's different stuff to try and win as always, but it's going to be interesting. I think it's going to be one of those tracks where you need speed, but you can also do quite a lot of stuff with strategy.

Bruce Martin: Here are Polo's thoughts on his past Portland success.

Alex Palou: I don't know. It's tough. I think it just, every time I've been there, I just felt really comfortable. I felt like the car has been responding the way I need it. And also the way it flows, it just really matches my style, I guess. It's really narrow. And although it's a road course, it just bite you like a street course. As soon as you go off, unless it's turn one, you normally end up in the wall. So it's one of those tracks that you need to drive it 99%. You cannot drive it 100% all the time, because otherwise you go off pretty easily. And I think, obviously, having good cars there helps. It helps you feel better. It helps you perform better. And yeah, a combination of both just makes us perform really well.

Bruce Martin: Does racing at Portland bring a unique energy to IndyCar's only race in the Pacific Northwest?

Alex Palou: Yeah, I love it. I think the atmosphere there, it's been amazing all years that I've been there. It just seems like we have really hardcore fans, which are amazing that they've been following the series for a long time. And although a lot of them are locals, they also come to some of the races. And it's super exciting to see. So yeah, I'm excited to go there. I think we normally have a really big crowd and hopefully this year it's even better and we can bring even more new people to enjoy the series. But yeah, it's always exciting.

Bruce Martin: And finally, Palau has been able to share all of this season's success with his young daughter, Lucia, who was born December 4th, 2023. Although she was at some of the races in 2024, Lucia is now old enough to enjoy the experience and success with her father.

Alex Palou: It's made my life just a lot more special, but especially racing, like just, um, being able to go to a race and then go back to the bus and seeing her, like whenever it's a good day, you can celebrate even better because you're happy not only about your success, but what it's bringing to the family as well and how cool it is for her to be alive when we're having so much success. And whenever you have one of those really shitty days it's also good to go there and just see that she doesn't care she's still playing and she just wants to see you and she wants to hug you and you're like all right that's it it was just a race let's just move on so whatever has been happening in my life it's always been so much better with her and um and it's been making this year A lot better, obviously, having her and having so many pictures of her with us in Victoria. Yeah, it's been cool.

Bruce Martin: We'll be right back to PitPass Indy after this short break.

Scott McLaughlin: Hi, I'm Scott McLaughlin, driver of the number three team Penske Chevy, and you're listening to PitPass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin: And that puts a checkered flag on this edition of Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental. We want to thank our guest, Alex Palou, as he closes in on the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series Championship, as well as fellow IndyCar drivers Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global, Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing, Josef Newgarden of Team Penske, and Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for joining us on today's episode of Pit Pass Indy. Along with loyal listeners like you, our guests help make Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental, your path to victory lane in IndyCar. On the highways, the raceways, and every pit stop in between, Penske Truck Rental keeps you moving forward. Gain ground with Penske. For more IndyCar coverage, follow me at X, previously known as Twitter, at BruceMartin, one word, uppercase B, uppercase M, underscore 500. This has been a production of Evergreen Podcast. A special thanks to our production team. Executive producers are Bridget Coyne and Gerardo Orlando. Recordings and edits were done by me, Bruce Martin, and final mixing was done by Sean Rule Hoffman and Nathan Corson. Learn more at evergreenpodcast.com. Until next time, be sure to keep it out of the wall.