The Team Behind Four-Time IndyCar Series Champion Alex Palou’s Success At Chip Ganassi Racing

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Bruce Martin:

IndyCar fans, it's time to start your engines.

Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, a production of Evergreen Podcasts. 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 SPEED SPORT. So, let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy.

Welcome to Pit Pass Indy as we begin our sixth season of giving IndyCar fans an inside look at the most exciting form of racing on the planet; the NTT IndyCar Series. And from all of us at Pit Pass Indy, we wish our listeners a very Happy New Year as we speed into 2026.

The holidays are over and the off season is coming to a close as the racing season gets closer to taking the green flag. After taking a break for a few months for the off-season, Pit Pass Indy returns for another exciting season.

Some of IndyCar's top names will compete in the 64th annual Rolex 24 Daytona Sports Car race at Daytona International Speedway, which begins on January 24th and ends 24 hours later. After that event kicks off, the international racing season, IndyCar will hold its annual content days in Indianapolis as the drivers convene to prepare for the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season.

Pit Pass Indy will be there to interview drivers and IndyCar Series officials in preparation for the new season.

In February, IndyCar teams will participate in the annual spring training preseason open test. This year, it will be a return to Phoenix Raceway for two days of track action in preparation for the March 7th Good Ranchers 250. It will be IndyCar's first race on the Mile Oval since 2018.

IndyCar will join NASCAR for a doubleheader weekend at Phoenix in 2026. After the IndyCar race at Phoenix, the newly rebranded NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series will stage its race under the lights. That series was previously known as the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The NASCAR Cup Series will compete at Phoenix the following day on March 8th.

The 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season begins with the popular Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 1st and another IndyCar NASCAR doubleheader weekend. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will make its debut on the streets of St. Petersburg on Saturday, February 28th.

IndyCar has a new independent officiating body that will officiate all NTT IndyCar Series races beginning in 2026. Pit Pass Indy will examine that in future episodes. But we kick off 2026 with a familiar subject.

It's four-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing, who had a season for the ages in 2025 when he won eight of the 17 races on the schedule, including the 109th Indianapolis 500 and claimed his third straight IndyCar Series championship.

The season opening episode of Pit Pass Indy features the team behind Alex Palou's success at Chip Ganassi Racing. Palou has immense talent as a generational star at IndyCar, but it takes a team effort to win races and championships.

Our guests today include four key members of Chip Ganassi Racing, including Crew Chief, Ricky Davis; Technical Director, Julian Robertson; Team Manager and Race Strategist, Barry Wanser, and Performance Engineer, Brian Weller.

Pit Pass Indy conducted exclusive interviews with each of these four at Chip Ganassi Racing during the off-season for a deep dive on the team's incredible success with Palou in IndyCar. Let's kick off the 2026 season with this exclusive interview with Chip Ganassi Racing Crew Chief, Ricky Davis for Pit Pass Indy.

There's a lot of reason for Alex Palou's success as a four-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, and one of them is our guest right now, it's Chip Ganassi Racing Crew Chief, Ricky Davis. Ricky, I guess winning championships never gets old because you do it a lot here at Chip Ganassi Racing.

Ricky Davis:

No, it never gets old. It's quite an honor to be associated with this whole team and to be able to achieve what we've achieved in the last five years.

Bruce Martin:

But when you think of the secret of your success, obviously you don't want to tell what the real secret is, but it just seems that everybody on the team works together perfectly. And all your years in racing, how often have you seen that happen?

Ricky Davis:

Well, I was lucky enough to be part of it just as a crew member when we had Alex Zanardi and Jimmy Vasser, those teams there, and if you look at their history was quite good, and it was the same kind of chemistry. Everybody enjoys, everybody gets along, and there's no egos or attitudes about anything. And lucky enough to have that now, even more so across the teams and across everybody that works in the shop.

Bruce Martin:

But we haven't seen a season like this. I'm going to go back to Al Unser Jr. in 1994. Now, I know that Sebastien Bourdais in Champ Car had a season like this in 2007, but that was two different series at that time. This is all unified IndyCar series racing since 2008, and you probably remember what it was like back when Al Unser Jr. and Team Penske were on their roll in 1994. Is this similar to what that season was?

Ricky Davis:

I guess if you look at statistically, yeah, it is. And not being a part of that team, I couldn't tell you exactly how they did it. But yeah, it's the strength of the team is what amazes me the most.

Bruce Martin:

A good word to describe Alex is genuine. He seems to be a genuine guy. And how often have you run across race drivers who are that genuine? You have a huge role model on the team in Scott Dixon, a six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion and the Indianapolis 500 winner. He's pretty genuine but there just seems to be something about Alex that here he is a superstar of racing, but you wouldn't know it from talking to him.

Ricky Davis:

Absolutely not. He's the exact same guy that I met in the shop his first year here, the first time I met him. He's the same guy that every day to him is the best day of his life, and every day to him is Christmas and especially anytime he gets to get in a race car. And he shares that happiness and that joy across the team.

Like he comes in every morning, whether if he comes to the shop or at the track, every day at the track, he comes by and says hello to each guy, shakes their hands, gives them a hug, whatever. And shares a joke or a comment or a smile, and just absolutely loves what he does and the people on his team.

Bruce Martin:

What about his feel and understanding for the race car? How would you describe that compared to some of the other great drivers that you've worked with?

Ricky Davis:

Amazing. It parallels them, if not in a few areas oversteps what they were able to achieve. His feel and confidence, and I think it's the emotion part of it also that he's able to keep himself chilled and keep his mind even during a race on what he has to do and what he knows he needs to do, while he's passing somebody. And he tells you that everything's good and I'm fine, or wants to know other information about what's happened, and it's clears me how clear his mind really is.

Bruce Martin:

And feedback is very important to letting you guys know what the car is doing in case you need to make changes on a pit stop. How good is his feedback?

Ricky Davis:

Phenomenal. It's very precise and down to the last little ingredient that he would need. And he weeds out what's good and doesn't talk about what's good, but he talks about what he needs to the car but to not hurt what he already likes but to help him, whether it be the front or the back or mechanical or arrow.

Bruce Martin:

When did you have an idea that the 2025 season was going to be as great as it was?

Ricky Davis:

I had no idea it would be this great. You always go into a season hopeful that you can win a couple races, maybe three or four races, and you always want to win the 500. But I didn't have any clue that I would ever see what I've been a part of, let alone be a part of it.

Bruce Martin:

I got a sneaky suspicion when he won the season opener that if he gets off to a fast start, he's just going to go wire to wire and that's exactly what he did. How important was that first victory of the season?

Ricky Davis:

Oh, it was an amazing feat to open up and be that strong right off the trailer, and to keep it rolling through all the races that he won in a row, and then be able to click off some more after that. That first race definitely set the tone for our team and knowing what we are possible to achieve.

Bruce Martin:

And because of that, he kept winning and he kept winning, and it was March and he's winning. And then April comes, and he keeps winning in April, and then we get to Indianapolis and he pretty much swept the month of May.

He didn't win the poll; that's about the only thing he didn’t accomplish. But it was a really strong feeling after winning the Indianapolis 500. By then, I think his lead was over a full race worth of points.

Then in a couple of more races, he had a two race lead on everybody, and at that point, how do you keep from not wanting to play defense?

Ricky Davis:

Well, yeah, you always want to be on offense. You only need to protect your lead when you realize it during a race. Like last year at Nashville, we knew we had to do whatever … we weren't that good and we had some issues, and we had to protect ourselves and just try to gain as many spots as we could. That's the only time you really play defense.

For us this year, although going into Detroit for example, we knew we had a big points lead, but I had to keep emphasizing to the guys that anything can happen. It can turn at any moment, and we have to be able to keep our heads up should it turn.

And sure enough, Detroit, it was the first race we didn't finish. We had our worst finish of the season, and we had to keep our composure and just go about what we need to go about and not worry about anything.

Bruce Martin:

Scott Dixon told me the other day that you think about the races you lost more than the victories that you have. So, having said that, how much do you ever reflect back to Mid-Ohio and to Milwaukee Mile?

Mid-Ohio, he's on his way to victory, but when he gets into turn 9, turn 10, he just lost it enough that Scott was able to pounce and pass him for the win. At Milwaukee with the decision to keep track position on 20 lap older tires when some of the other cars ducked into the pits, got fresh rubber, Christian Rasmussen ended up winning the race. It's human nature, but I mean, do you ever sit back and reflect and think, “Man, that's two that got away?”

Ricky Davis:

Well, you kind of do, but not really. Take Nashville or Milwaukee for example, we knew we had more to lose than to gain if we were to come in for tires. We knew at that point, we're a sitting duck. Doing the leader at a point like that, your guess is as good as anybody else's. So, we did the right thing and we'll all stand behind what we did.

And Mid-Ohio, the guy makes one little mistake. We've made bigger mistakes in the pits that have cost him more spots than what he lost there. And it helped having your teammate win so it lessens the blow, but still, it's a good result. It’s what you hope for every week.

Bruce Martin:

The difference with Milwaukee was there were a number of cars that pitted for new tires late in the race, but only one made it work and that was Christian Rasmussen. The other drivers, they gained a couple of positions, but they didn't get up to the front of the field.

So, really it was a tremendous battle between a young, aggressive driver in Christian Rasmussen and the greatest driver that we've seen in IndyCar in quite some time, Alex Palou. So, how do you assess the way that race ended?

Ricky Davis:

Oh, I assess that that's great for them and I'm very excited and happy for that team, that it's a well-deserved and earned win. They showed how good they were. My surprise was that it wasn't Rossi that was up there, but you watch Rasmussen's last few laps and he was going to win it. That's all that was on his mind.

And he drove a hell of a race those last few laps and watch him going through traffic and hit car control, and it stepped out a few times and it didn't slow him down one bit, and I applaud him for that. I love that.

Bruce Martin:

A couple of years ago you had a driver on this team that was a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, and he had tremendous roles like Alex Palou is having now. Alex at the end of his 2021 championship said he learned how to be a champion just by talking to Jimmie Johnson.

And Jimmie would tell him how to address your job outside of the car, what to do when you're not behind the wheel, because IndyCar racing was new to Jimmie. But he knew all the other ingredients that go in to being a champion. What we see with Alex now is a Jimmie Johnson like championship roll.

So, when you think back to that, how much do you see that dynamic really sunk into a young Alex Palou at that time?

Ricky Davis:

And that goes back to saying how amazing he is with the mental capacity that he has. He'll learn something from whatever, whether it be good or bad, and know if he should keep doing it or not doing it. And the words that Jimmie spoke to him have sunk in and he's carrying that forward, and he'll never forget it.

Bruce Martin:

And just those years that Jimmie was on the team, how much did that really elevate the effort of Chip Ganassi Racing? Not that you needed elevation, you already had Scott Dixon, but Alex was just starting his tremendous championship run, and even though Jimmie struggled in IndyCar, he still had a way of displaying a lot of what it takes to be a success.

Ricky Davis:

Yeah, he did. It brought a kind of a sense of calm because when you have somebody as talented as he is and with the compliments that he had, even though it was stock car racing, you listen to what he has to say. And he had some words with me and we spoke about things, and it taught me a lot too about what I need to do and how I need to do things, and I carry that forward today too.

Bruce Martin:

So, as far as Ricky Davis, this is championship number what for you?

Ricky Davis:

It's number seven as a chief mechanic. I've been a part of all 17 of the championships here.

Bruce Martin:

And when you went to work for Chip Ganassi Racing in your wildest imaginations, did you think one day this team's going to at least tie Penske racing, Team Penske with most IndyCar championships?

Ricky Davis:

To be honest with you, Bruce, when I started here, I was just hoping I could keep a job for a couple of years and ended up being here 30 years. But my thought process was, yeah, I want to be a part of a team, I want to help a team win and make a winning team, and to be able to carry that forward for as long as I have, nothing surprises me.

Watching him from the beginning to when I first got in and the talent that he brought in and the way Chip approaches his racing that we want to win. And it's not at all cost, but it's we'll do what we need to do to win. I'll give you everything you need to do to win, and it's up to us to use the tools that he gives us to the best of our ability and give the drivers everything they need to be able to achieve and accomplish what they have.

Bruce Martin:

Julian Robertson is the engineer and Barry Wanser calls the race strategy, so how involved are you during the race in terms of the communication of what to do, what we might do, when to pit, when to maybe do an overcut or an undercut?

Ricky Davis:

I am not involved that deeply with it, but there are a few times that I'll give them my opinion or agree or disagree with what they're saying just as another voice, if you will. Barry is very smart at what he does, and Julian is very tuned into what we need to do, and I think (well, I'm going to say that I do) kind of help steer them both in the right way if they're separated, divided in their decisions.

Bruce Martin:

So, you being in charge of the car; when engineering gives you the data sheet, the race setup, then how do you take that from what they give you and apply it to the car?

Ricky Davis:

Well, we just need to make sure that we have whatever the changes are, the correct pieces on, and the numbers as close to humanly possible as to get them. And just to make sure that when we go through our race prep that we are looking at everything and preparing ourselves the best we can for the race.

Bruce Martin:

Because at IndyCar the settings are so precise, we've seen cars come in during a pit stop and they might do a turn wing or they might adjust the front wing or the rear wing. How do you know that that's going to improve the car?

Ricky Davis:

Well, it's all based off of how Julian feels about it and what Alex calls for. There's times where some of us will make an adjustment only on one side of a wing. Knowing that, say the left front, he needs more left front wing than he would right front wing to dial the car in as close as you possibly can, it's the fine tuning of it, and then there's the aspect of that …

Alex will wave off on the wing adjustment because he knows that extra couple of tenths of a second it takes to do it, he could come out in front of somebody who didn't do it and he will handle the car the way it is. And it's worked out for us every race, especially every race this year that we've had to do that.

Bruce Martin:

But to a non-mechanic, how do you know when you just got to turn it just a little bit or you have to turn it a lot?

Ricky Davis:

Well, that's Julian's decision and that's the percentage of downforce that he wants, and knowing how much downforce a turn adds or a half a turn or even a quarter turn.

Bruce Martin:

So, how are you going to celebrate this championship? Like I said, it's the third straight for Alex Palou, fourth in the last five years for Alex, it seems like the future is bright as long as he decides that this is what he wants to do. So, just how do you celebrate this championship, and how do you keep that hunger so that you go out again in 2026 and try to do it all over?

Ricky Davis:

Well, I'm going to celebrate this championship probably a little bit quietly. It's a very special championship for me because my mother who was 92-years-old when she passed away, it was the first year since I've been doing this that she ever told me, “For sure, you're going to win it all this year. You're going to win the 500, win it all.” Unfortunately, she didn't live long enough to see it, so I think I'm going to have maybe a little toast in my mind with her and then just enjoy it.

To keep the hunger alive is what I'm going to tell the guys is, and it's the truth. We climbed the top of a mountain, Bruce, but if you look up, you're at the bottom of the next mountain. So, we have to continue to climb, and that's what my theory is going forward to next year, that we're never going to be perfect, but doesn't mean we have to stop trying.

Bruce Martin:

Well, that's certainly the ultimate challenge in racing is to try to achieve perfection, and we all know perfection can probably never really be achieved, but what it takes to get there is probably the enjoyment of racing.

Ricky Davis:

Oh, it's a passion. It's all I've ever thought I would do from the time I was eight-years-old, and it's a continued passion, and I still have that fire and that drive. It's a little bit harder, a little bit more of a challenge now physically with my age, but it's something that I can never give up on.

Bruce Martin:

Well, Ricky Davis, you've been a great asset to me with Pit Pass Indy and any other question I have whenever I chat with you at the track or see you on Pit Lane, but go out and celebrate this championship. As you said, it's a special one for you.

Congratulations once again on Alex Palou's fourth IndyCar Series title, enjoy the off-season and good luck in 2026, and thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy.

Ricky Davis:

My pleasure Bruce, and thanks for having me here. And I want to thank all the fans and anybody that's reading this or anybody that watches our sport; we appreciate all the fans and without you guys, we wouldn't have a job.

Bruce Martin:

Thank you.

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

Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. Julian Robertson is the technical director at Chip Ganassi Racing and has been with the team since 1993. He was the engineer of the team's first victory when Michael Andretti won the season opening race way back in 1994.

Robertson gives us an inside view from the engineering stand in this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview.

As we talk about the men behind Alex Palou's tremendous success as a four-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, one of them is a key ingredient, it's race engineer, Julian Robertson who's been a long-time member of Chip Ganassi Racing.

I believe you've been around close to the very beginning, but all 17 IndyCar Series championships, you've been able to help celebrate. So, how special is this one now that Alex Palou has won three in a row and four out of the last five seasons?

Julian Robertson:

Well, they're always special because they're always hard to get, takes a lot of work. It's not straightforward. This year, okay, we've won it with a couple races to go, that's great, but it's not like the amount of work you put in is any different. You put in the same amount of work every time, and even the last couple races, yes, we won the championship, but we're still trying to win those races, so.

Bruce Martin:

Well, certainly, he was trying to win the race at Milwaukee and it was an ultimate strategy decision because he's leading the race, five seconds of rain turns that race upside down because if there's not the five seconds of rain, if there's no yellow flag, then some of the teams that are desperate to try to win or fierce to try to win don't have the decision to put on fresh tires and track position would've taken Alex probably all the way into Victory Lane.

But the race turned upside down and Ricky Davis just said it was the right decision because you can't give up track position at that stage of the race, but as an engineer, have you sat back and reflected?

Julian Robertson:

It's a tough call because particularly when you're leading and you don't know for sure what everybody else is going to do. You know a whole bunch are going to stop, but you don’t know how many are going to stop. Certainly, anyone near the middle and the back is probably going to stop for new tires.

And you saw the lead three cars stay out and we could have done with a few more doing that, and then what was it, O’Ward was the leader of the on fresh tires crew about seven cars back, so-

Bruce Martin:

But it didn't work for him.

Julian Robertson:

It didn't work for him; it only seemed to work for Rasmussen. So, yeah, it's a tough call when you're up the front to give away a whole load of track position because they're also watching what the leader does, and some people, if we'd have pitted a few more would've stayed out if you see what I mean, and then they put you … so, it is a tough call, you don’t know what's going to happen.

Bruce Martin:

Race drivers always say they want to be the leader; they want to start up front; they want to finish up front. But that was a situation where it's like you said, what the leader did, everybody else was going to try to do differently except for the couple of drivers that were behind him.

The other thing that should be pointed out about Rasmussen's decision for fresh tires was he was the only one that made it work. The other drivers gained a couple of positions but they weren't in the battle at the end like Christian was, so a lot of credit's got to go to him for his fierce-

Julian Robertson:

Yeah, credit to him for making it through the pack.

Bruce Martin:

And also, his fierce determination and aggressive driving style. That was quite a show at the end of that race.

Scott Dixon always says you think about the ones that got away more than you do the victories. So, how often do you reflect back to just one little bobble at turn 9, turn 10 at Mid-Ohio and how the race, five seconds rain kept you guys from getting the checkered flag at Milwaukee? As an engineer, do you ever sit back and it broke your chin, and -

Julian Robertson:

A while but there's so many of those, particularly as I've done it so many years, you've seen so many of those, that's just part of racing, you can't dwell too much. You make notes about it and think about it, and it'll influence what we do next time if you see what I mean.

Bruce Martin:

They always talk about the value of driver feedback. What makes Alex's feedback superior to other drivers?

Julian Robertson:

I think the thing he is good at is making sure he lets us know what the car needs to change or what needs to change to make him faster, and we totally concentrate on that. I know that's easy to say and every engineer and engineering group should be concentrating on that, but he's pretty good at buttoning it down to, “Okay, this is where we're lacking, we can ignore the other areas for a while.”

And again, we are pretty good at doing that on our side as well, so we just try and concentrate on what we need to improve and not work on the stuff that we don't right now, and just stay focused. And he's super focused, like looking at data, thinking about the car and all that kind of thing, he's extremely good at that as well.

So, he's also looking at how he's driving, we're looking at how the car's behaving, we're melding the two together.

Bruce Martin:

How detailed is his feedback?

Julian Robertson:

Oh, pretty detailed as I would expect any normal driver to give detail. You want a driver who gives you what you need to know, not what you don't need to know. Yes, some drivers can tell you a whole load of stuff about every second of the lap, but you've got to distill it down to what do we need to go faster and he's quite good at that.

Bruce Martin:

So, you don't need a congressional record, you need the cliff notes version?

Julian Robertson:

Yes. The congressional record is back in the truck or if there's a five-minute yellow, okay you go into all that stuff. But when you're in practice, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, what you need to concentrate on now and what do we need to fix right now, so you're actually making progress during the session.

Bruce Martin:

So, you've worked with a lot of great drivers, a lot of drivers who are legends, a lot of drivers who have tremendous accomplishments, a lot of drivers who are going to have their own chapters in the history of IndyCar racing. What makes Alex different?

Julian Robertson:

He's extremely good and he evolves continuously. Like our short oval performance this year, 50% of it is us changing the car and 50% of it is him changing him, if you see what I mean. You need the two to go together.

Like the driver evolves, the car evolves, that's how we make progress. If one or the other doesn't evolve, then you stay stationary. But I think we're pretty good at identifying where our weak points are and just working on that all the time to try and make gains.

Bruce Martin:

To see the dramatic improvement he's made on the short ovals, it was just two years ago at Iowa, he went in there and said, “Hey, I was hoping that I could finish eighth, and I was able to achieve eighth place, so I accomplished my goal.”

Well, two years later he's winning at Iowa. So, just to see the level of improvement that he took, understood the weak link of his racing arsenal and was able to fortify it. How impressed were you that he made that type of dramatic improvement?

Julian Robertson:

Well, extremely impressed because only certain drivers kind of do that. You know, many stay at the same level for a whole number of years, and gradually, he's kind of made some dramatic jumps on ovals, and between us making the car fit what he needs, and him recognizing what he needs to do, we've made some dramatic improvements, so-

Bruce Martin:

Speaking of dramatic improvements, I'll ask other drivers and other teams in the IndyCar Series paddock, how do you raise your level of competition to not only meet where Alex Palou's at now, but to try to beat him?

Their answer was pretty much all the same, that's the million-dollar question. So, if you're a rival driver, how frustrated do you think they feel every time he rolls off with the success that he's had because you keep thinking, well at some point, he's going to cool off; he hasn't.

Julian Robertson:

Yeah, not yet. Doesn't always go great, we're going to have some bad times for sure in the future or whatever. Yeah, this year has been remarkably good, but you can see even in our number of years together, you have ups and downs or whatever, it doesn't always go your way. So, at the moment, it's kind of going our way. But rolling into Nashville, Nashville's going to be tough for us or whatever. We know that going in.

Bruce Martin:

Well, Alex always said at the beginning of the year, he thought a perfect season would be three or four victories. In 2026, if he gets three or four victories there's going to be a lot of people asking him, “So, what happened?” So, that seems to be the human nature of competition.

Julian Robertson:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've just got to keep our heads down, keep working and all that kind of stuff.

Bruce Martin:

How important was his fast start by winning the very first race out of the box at St. Petersburg this year?

Julian Robertson:

That always kind of helps. You know, if you can, you want to get as many points on the board as you can early, and then start putting pressure on all the other people if you see what I mean. The way we view it, we just treat one race at a time, and just try and win each one as it comes. That's all you can do. But if you can put pressure on other people, it kind of helps. Although early in the season no one's feeling specific pressure, you're just trying to win every race.

Bruce Martin:

But then you go into the Indianapolis 500, and that was the one race that he really wanted to win. The team really wanted to win, and he did it. He executed, he did everything he was supposed to do at the end of the race. He used the cars at the tail end of the lead lap to try to help him. Some people complained that they should have moved out of the way, but it was like, well if they had moved, Alex would've moved with them because he was using them as a tool.

But he had to be very smart. He learned that obviously from the 2021 finish at the Indianapolis 500 when Helio Castroneves beat him and Alex finished second. But to know that the kid's that smart and to get a win that huge, what was your reaction and what was your feeling of this year's Indianapolis 500 victory?

Julian Robertson:

He did a very good job because at Indianapolis, if both cars are good in positions one and two, it is relatively straightforward to swap positions once per lap or occasionally even twice per lap on each straight.

When you're third in line, it's very hard to pass the guy who's second in line; when you're fourth in line, not much happens because of the disturbance of the area of the cars in front. So, for him to kind of pass Marcus from was it effectively, he was fourth in line at that point or whatever, you don't often see passes from fourth in line.

And from memory, I think we told him to turn the fuel up only seconds before that because we knew from halfway through the race, when was there a yellow, let's say lap 1 to 10 or something like that. And we saw those guys pitting and we knew that they would come back into play near the end of the race.

Again, track position, do you pit out of okay, then we were probably clocking around the top five or six or something, do you pit out of that to go to the back knowing that you'll reappear at the end of the race or do you stay near the front? So, we kind of knew we were racing those guys from even halfway through the race and we're just kind of pacing it to the end, and they popped out right near us and it became a battle at that point.

Bruce Martin:

So, as an engineer, you deal with math, you deal with physics, you deal with geometry, you deal with algebra, you deal with logical. So, how do you begin to understand the psychological impact that Alex’s season has on the rest of the competitors? Because it almost seems to me that he got in their head early, and once he got in their head, half the battle was won.

Julian Robertson:

I don’t know if that's a true statement that half the battle is won because they're all focusing … like Pato O’Ward is focusing on winning every race or whatever. I don't think he's too worried about what Alex's previous results has been. He's probably just treating everything fresh and going for it.

Bruce Martin:

There may not be much truth to it but it's a good line, so we continue to use it. But it does seem like when it comes to the championship, even Pato toward the end said, before he got eliminated was like, “Hey, all I can do is just go out and win races because otherwise, I know that I'm not going to be able to catch him on points alone.”

But it really does set up a situation where he's been so good now since joining Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021. People ask is it good for the series or would it be better to have more variety, we've seen in other sports dominant teams, dynasties, so why not auto racing?

Julian Robertson:

There's going to be something that changes. Like I said, it isn't always going to be up for us, I'm sure we're going to have to fight some battles. Like they'll change the rules, they'll do something. I know in terms of the show, they probably don't want Alex winning all the time.

Yeah, we've been fortunate this year everything has gone our way, it doesn't mean … we don't think, oh yeah, next year's going to be like this year. You never think that. All the preparation is done, we're just about to hit the window period.

And certainly, engineering-wise and all that, it all stems off all the preparation we are already starting to do. Even after Indianapolis 500 this year, we were kicking off programs for next year, and it's really going to hit heavy the second the season ends, we get straight back into that.

Bruce Martin:

Have you seen the drawings or the renderings of the new car that's under consideration, or have they pretty much still left the engineers on the team side out of the equation?

Julian Robertson:

We haven't seen too much of it, but occasionally, they call us in and say, “Hey we're looking at this aspect of the car, this is what we've designed, do you guys think it's right or wrong or where should we be going?”

So, they don't ask us a lot, but on certain areas they kind of drag in a couple engineers from each team and show them what they're doing and whether it's right or not. But it tends to be small specific areas like we've been involved in, what do we think of fuel cell design and all that.

Bruce Martin:

But if you were to guess it's not going to be any sweeping changes from the current car, or will it be sweeping changes?

Julian Robertson:

Well, you mean the 2028 car or whatever?

Bruce Martin:

Yes.

Julian Robertson:

Yeah, I don’t know.

Bruce Martin:

And finally, you're the engineer, you have the computer, you run everything through your head and also do all the calculations, come up with the ready setup, then how do you pass that on to Ricky Davis for him to put it into action?

Julian Robertson:

Well, we've got groups, we have a pretty extensive simulation group and performance groups, so they kind of feed data into us. And then yeah, ultimately, the race engineer decides what gets on the car, et cetera, et cetera. But there's a lot of people feeding information in, it's not just one person.

So, I'm taking input from a lot of different areas and then using my experience to decide what we're going to do and then letting Ricky know what we're going to do car-wise. And me, Ricky, Barry, Brian Welling, Blair Bean or whatever, all on 10 car timing stand are always talking all the time on what we're going to do.

And Alex is actually a very big part of it. He gets heavily involved in the strategy because he's pretty good at figuring out, “Hey, this is what I think I can do on these tires, and I can do this but I can't do that, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.” So, we're very much a kind of team unit figuring out what we're going to do.

Bruce Martin:

So, because you have to focus on all the data, how much are you able to really soak in on what's happening in the race?

Julian Robertson:

A lot in the race. Because in the race, you’re focusing on what's happening in the race. To be honest, it's funny, all these people after the race say, “Oh, did you see this guy crash and da-da-da.”

I don't see this guy. I see in the race I see yellow, okay, somebody hit the wall, who was it? Where were they? And you are focused immediately on what do you do in this situation? I'm not watching television just to replay of somebody spinning or whatever. I am focused on what are we doing next to win the race.

Bruce Martin:

Well, that was the point I was leading up to because at the Indianapolis 500, there was this tremendous spectacle going on, but you have a focus of you're not looking to go, “Wow, there's a lot of people here today and look at this crowd.” You don't have the chance to do that.

Julian Robertson:

No. And when things happen often, I don't even know the details because I'm not too worried about the details, I'm worried about what's happening next.

Bruce Martin:

So, last question on that would be, if you weren't an engineer, how bad a race fan would you be? Because you would probably go out there and go feel out of place.

Julian Robertson:

Yeah, like the unfortunate thing is when you are involved on the timing stand in a race, it is super interesting what is going on. Even when people say, “Oh, that wasn't a great race.” If you see it from the view of the timing stand, people, it's extremely great racing because you can see all the way through the field by looking at timing and scoring what each person is trying to do.

And there's often multiple different strategies or plans going on or whatever. Unfortunately, it's very hard for the commentators to convey that to the TV watchers.

Like if you could listen to what each timing stand was saying live, it would be awesome because all the discussion that's going on about oh, what this guy's doing, what that guy's doing, what we should do next — there'd probably be quite a lot swearing that would've to be bleeped out, but it is a great big chess game.

Like I say at Indy, we knew from halfway basically who we might end up fighting at the end, and we could see it coming. I'm not sure whether the commentator's good or not, but with 80 or 90 laps to go, we knew who the people who were going to appear at the end were.

Bruce Martin:

Well, that's what makes IndyCar racing so fascinating, is because there's so much that's going on and really, you only get to tell just a little bit of that story.

Julian Robertson:

Yeah, yeah, you only hear a little bit, but what we talk about, it's awesome during a race what's going on.

Bruce Martin:

But Alex Palou has been a tremendous story with his four NTT IndyCar Series championships, including the last three years in a row, and you're one of the key members that helps that success continue.

But Julian Robertson, engineer at Chip Ganassi Racing for Alex Palou, congratulations on another championship, good luck during the off-season and good luck in 2026, and thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy.

Julian Robertson:

One more thing, Dario Franchitti helps us out a ton, and we're all in the same truck with Scott and Kyffin and all that. So, we talk an awful lot. When it comes to driving and all that kind of thing, Dario is always talking to Scott and Alex and Kyffin and all that.

And we were joking just before the Milwaukee race because Alex thought he had quite a good car or whatever, and we were joking when he gets to the back of the pack and has to start going through the pack, then Dario said, “Well, call me when you get to the back of the pack and I'll tell you what to do or whatever.”

Bruce Martin:

Well, Dario definitely brings a unique insight into the sport and into the series, and he was a heck of a driver.

Julian Robertson:

So, he's a big part of the team also in that he sits in the truck with us all the time talking race cars.

Bruce Martin:

Yes. But Julian Robertson, once again, congratulations on another championship, enjoy the off-season and good luck in 2026, and thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy.

Julian Robertson:

Okay, thanks.

Bruce Martin:

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

Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. Let's continue getting to know the team behind Alex Palou's success with the man who calls the race strategy for the four-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, it's Chip Ganassi Racing IndyCar team manager, Barry Wanser, who joins us for this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview.

If you're talking about the men behind Alex Palou's success as a four-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, you got to start with Barry Wanser, team manager, Chip Ganassi Racing, who's also Alex's race strategist.

Barry, you've worked with a lot of great drivers in your career, what sets Alex apart? What makes Alex different?

Barry Wanser:

Well, I guess when I look at his abilities, I kind of have to compare him to other drivers I've worked with. And his talent, his focus is very much like Dario, very much. And he's able to extract the most out of the car by getting more out of the car through engineering and his relationship with his race engineer, Julian.

Bruce Martin:

And because of that, a lot of people talk about the value of feedback. How good is Alex when it comes to feedback?

Barry Wanser:

It's impressive really. I'd say right from the beginning in 2021, we hit the ground running certainly with the feedback on the road courses, street courses, and he was still fairly new to ovals. But as you can see this year, and he proved it this year that he's comfortable everywhere.

So, he fully understands all the tracks, what he wants out of the car to be able to perform at the highest level. And he’s able to give the feedback to Julian, his race engineer some of those subtle details that I think a lot of drivers miss.

Bruce Martin:

Someone earlier said the impressive thing about him is how he's continued to evolve. He had already achieved some great things, but there was one weak area of his driving and that was on the short ovals.

I remember a couple of years ago, his goal was, “If I could finish in the top eight at Iowa, I would consider that a success.” Well, he’s gone from finishing eighth at Iowa two years ago to winning at Iowa in 2025. And he's as big a competitor or as big a favorite to win on short oval’s now as any other driver. So, to see him address an issue and evolve, how important is that to his total overall success?

Barry Wanser:

Yeah, it's immensely important. You brought up Iowa last year, he had a good race finish, but also in one of the races, he crashed by himself. Made a mistake coming out of four, end up crashing going to turn one. But he learned from that, and he's a driver who is still learning. He's still learning and he still listens to advice from Dario.

You know, Dario's obviously one of the best drivers to come through Chip Ganassi Racing, lots of success, and he still is relevant and understands what these cars need and what you need to do at the racetracks to improve the cars. And Dario still provides that guidance to even somebody like Alex Palou.

Even this weekend at Mid-Ohio, there were some suggestions made that Alex studied and improved his performance there. I mean, yeah, it's amazing going to the racetrack with the driver like Alex, who again, like I said, compared to Dario, that you know you're going to be a contender every race you go to.

And then from there, you break it down to, well, what makes you a contender? It's not just Alex Palou, it's also how well the team, the engineering staff and the engineering department has developed our race cars to basically unload and be in that performance window you needed right away, and at that point, you're just kind of tweaking the car to make it even better.

Bruce Martin:

The other thing about Alex is just he's so genuine, and of all the drivers that you've worked with, how does that genuine quality of his really make it a pleasure to work with?

Barry Wanser:

I've been very fortunate to work for with some amazing drivers and I'd say all of them are very genuine. I think Alex is just the most calm driver I've ever worked with. So, he's certainly very good at staying focused, not letting things distract him from what he needs to accomplish in the car, and that's why you see very few mistakes out of Alex.

Bruce Martin:

So, you wrapped up the season championship on August 10th in Portland, there were still two races left to go in the season, probably had a little bit of chance to have a mini celebration, but not the full blown out session.

So, is it almost like a situation when you wrap it up that early, you're a kid, you already know what you're getting for Christmas, but you can't really celebrate it until Christmas morning because that's the way the championship's going to be. The big celebration's going to come after the Nashville race on August 31st.

Bruce Martin:

Yeah, certainly, it's very rewarding to wrap it up with two to go or anytime before the last race of the year. It certainly takes a lot of pressure off everyone's shoulders, but I can tell you we're thoroughly waiting to celebrate here in a few days.

And it's going to be amazing because like you said, we didn't get to necessarily celebrate. We knew we'd won the championship, we celebrated a little bit in Victory Lane and stuff, but as a team, we're going to be able to accomplish that this weekend and we're looking forward to it.

Bruce Martin:

I asked Alex before the Milwaukee race now that he's got it wrapped up, his focus and he says, “Well, the beautiful thing is now I'm in a position where I don't have to worry about points, so I've got nothing to lose. Might make some gambles here and there that I might not do if I'm fighting for a points championship.”

Did that present itself when we had the five seconds of rain that caused the late race yellow at Milwaukee and you guys decided to stay on track and keep the track position while some of the race winner ended up putting on new tires?

Although Christian Rasmussen was really the only one that made the new tire strategy work by winning the race, the other drivers that did that at that time gained a couple of positions, but they weren't up there in the battle at the end.

Barry Wanser:

No, I wouldn't say the position we're in, we’re not worrying about points affected our decision then. I mean, we went into that race like we did every other race. Our goal is to win the race and we're going to make decisions that we feel is going to give us that best opportunity to win the race or get to the lead or maintain the lead.

As that yellow presented itself, it certainly put us in a difficult situation. You know you're the leader, people are going to make decisions based on what you do. So, there's no way to know if we had chosen to come in what the outcome would've been because we don't know what others would've done.

But we made the decision based on, we felt there was not a lot of race laps, hard laps on those tires that we were on. That we weren't to the point where we wanted to take fresh tires, and we didn't want to give up the lead that easily. And you saw there were two cars that thought the same thing that stayed out behind us.

We felt that we were at a point where there were going to be some lap staying out, we're going to trap some lap cars between us and some of the other people that would come in, and that's exactly what happened.

I mean, the only one I talked about with new tires to Alex before the restart, I said, “Alright, the guy closest to us with fresh tires is O’Ward, and I think he's fourth in the order, but he's restarting ninth from memory, so we had a bit of a buffer there with some cars.” It went green and like you just said, of all the cars that had new tires it was just Rasmussen who made the most of it and was able to accomplish moving forward to overtake us.

I mean, it was something that even if we went back in time, would we have made a different decision? Even making a decision to come in doesn't necessarily mean we win the race, we could have finished further back because maybe more cars would've stayed out to try to beat us, they weren't racing us anymore.

Bruce Martin:

Well, the other thing that should be pointed out is Christian Rasmussen's fearless and aggressive style, he really went out and earned that. But wrapping up here with Barry Wanser, you've had so many great accomplishments on this team, where does Alex's fourth IndyCar Series championship in the past five years rank to you?

Barry Wanser:

It certainly ranks very high. I tend to not reflect back on everything we've accomplished. It's fun to occasionally, but I'm still more of a focused forward person, and I think that's very much a Chip Ganassi Racing trait for those of us who have been around for many, many years, is we focus forward.

We'll get to celebrate this weekend and we'll celebrate here in the off-season, and at those times, that's when we'll get a chance to reflect and think about how amazing it is, what we've accomplished already with Alex, but we're going to be focused forward on what we need to do in ‘26.

Bruce Martin:

And then when it's back to work, there's the challenge, how do we beat them again in 2026? But Barry Wanser, I know that Chip loves winners, he's got to love champions even more, and you've certainly played a huge role in both.

But congratulations on another IndyCar Series championship at Chip Ganassi Racing with Alex Palou, enjoy the off-season and good luck in 2026, and thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy.

Barry Wanser:

Thanks, Bruce. Appreciate it.

Bruce Martin:

We wrap up today's Pit Pass Indy with an exclusive interview with performance engineer, Brian Weller as he explains his role on this winning operation.

As we highlight the men behind Alex Palou's tremendous success as a four-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, one of them is Brian Weller, the performance engineer at Chip Ganassi Racing.

Brian, you're involved in a lot of the race strategy working with Julian Robertson, the race engineer, and Barry Wanser, the race strategist. So, if you could explain your role a little bit more in detail and how it all fits into the puzzle that makes Alex Palou such a tremendously successful driver.

Brian Weller:

Well, I've been on the stand with Barry since 2015, Julian's been on there about the same time. Obviously, Julian's been around a lot longer than that. So, Barry, Julian and I have been around each other for a long time.

I recently moved a couple years ago from the data guy position back to the performance engineer position, and now, we just work together for strategy for the most part and during the race. During practice, I help Julian improve the car as much as I can on the data side, recommending ride heights, this, that and the other, and then he decides what he wants to do with that data.

Once we get into the race, I back up Blair who does the fuel strategy, then I also look at the performance on the car, I look at the strategy because I have a little bit more time than when those guys up there that are looking at the other stuff, and I do my recommendations for what we should do on strategy.

Sometimes Julian takes it, sometimes he doesn't, and then obviously Barry, is looking at everything as well. And for the most part, we all agree what we're going to do before we do it. There's only been a couple of times that we haven't agreed, but it's pretty rare.

Bruce Martin:

One of the things that's always amazed me about all the engineering data and all the calculations that go in to an IndyCar to make it perform well, then you have outside variables like traffic, track temperature, the weather. So, how do you factor all of that in so that the changes you're making are going to give you the result that you're looking for?

Brian Weller:

It's funny that you say that because about halfway through the race or about 10 minutes before we stopped for the yellow, I saw the rain cloud coming, and I said something and we didn't think it was going to hit, but it did for about four sprinkles, which really, really hosed us.

But yeah, I mean we're just looking at everything. We're all looking at very similar stuff, and we just all try to look at what we have as far as data coming in to make the best decision on it.

Bruce Martin:

So, you're the performance engineer, how much of your work is also with the other drivers?

Brian Weller:

We have access to all of our other drivers all the time, so in practice we can see what they're doing. So, I'm always comparing, so is the other stands, our car to their car, and every run, every lap we try to see, particularly for me working with Alex, where’s Alex slower than the other cars? How can we improve that? Why are they doing what they're doing?

And when Alex comes in, other than I'm always looking at other data, but I'm telling him the small nuances of what the other drivers are doing so he can take the best from all of theirs, and he's very good whenever I say you're doing this or they're doing this a little bit better of taking that and applying it almost immediately. It's pretty impressive.

Bruce Martin:

Driver feedback is very important for the engineers to understand what's going on with the cars, and then for you to relay those changes to Ricky Davis and the crew; how good is Alex at driver feedback? I heard he's outstanding.

Brian Weller:

Yeah, we've been pretty spoiled over the years to have the Darios and the Scotts, and now, the Alexs, they know what they're after. We're trying to balance what they're saying to make sure it makes sense in data, and if it doesn't, why what they're saying is probably right. And then I mention it to Julian and Ricky takes his … he doesn't listen to me, he listens to Julian. I say what I think, and then Julian decides and goes from there.

Bruce Martin:

When did you realize that this is going to be a season for the ages? He's entering the last race of the year with eight victories, he could end up with nine, which would tie Mario Andretti in 1969. He's not going to be able to tie the all-time record for most wins in a season at 10, held by A.J. Foyt in 1964 and Al Unser in 1970.

But in this day and age, it has been an absolute tremendous season for Alex Palou. When did you realize this was really going to be a season to remember?

Brian Weller:

I'm not even sure if we're there realizing it yet. When you're this close to it, I don't think you realize what's going on. You're just trying to do your job, trying to go to the track and win the races, and maybe halfway through the season, it's obviously, and this is really good. But every time you win, you're like, “I can't believe we just won this thing again.”

But when you're this close to it, I don't think you look at it like that. We just go to each race and try to win the race, and then reflect later, if you will.

Bruce Martin:

And how genuine is Alex? He seems to be one of the most likable guys in racing.

Brian Weller:

It's pretty impressive. He's probably one of the most calm drivers I've ever worked with. I don't know if he's ever said anything cross to us out there on the track, it's weird actually. I mean, when we got taken out a couple of years ago at Indy in Pit Lane, he was the one calming us down.

The guys pulled him back and we're almost to the panic level trying to get going again. And he comes on the radio, says, “We're going to be fine. Don't worry about it.” And he takes off, and that's when we realized this guy's pretty impressive.

Bruce Martin:

So, what is the Brian Weller story? How did you get involved in racing? Where are you from? Your time here at Chip Ganassi Racing, if you could give us a little bit of a recap?

Brian Weller:

Yeah. I grew up in Texas in Alvin between Houston and Galveston, and I raced track growing up. I went to Texas A&M. Once I got there, I did Formula SA and realized that this is something that I could do for a living, and I graduated in 2000, I ended up at Patrick Racing for a couple years.

So, I was there, then they shut their doors, then I went to Mo Nunn for three years and they shut their doors. And then I went to Eddie Cheever's team and then I ended up coming here in 2007. I came here to engineer Indy Lights car.

A couple of races in, I started engineering Grand-AM car, and then in 2008, when Chris Simmons moved from being an assistant engineer to the race engineer for Dan Wheldon, I took his spot on the assistant engineering side in 2008 there.

I was with Scott through 2014, then I moved to the 10 car in 2015, and a couple years ago, I moved from my assistant engineer role to oversee the assistant engineers, oversee the electronics room and be in the performance engineer position that I'm in now.

Bruce Martin:

It seems that at Chip Ganassi Racing, the key team members for each team have a tendency to stay there for quite a long time. How important do you think that is to create the continuity and the secret for success?

Brian Weller:

I think it's worked well, especially with, say Julian and I. I mean Julian and I and Barry working together, but Julian and I since … because we've been so together on the technical side for so long that it got to the point to where Julian would just point and I knew what he was after.

So, not a lot of words spoken. I can tell the way he's looking at me what he's after, same thing with Barry. And we joke around a lot. We have a good time on the stand, a really good time. We're serious but we have a good time while we're doing our job.

Bruce Martin:

Julian was telling me that there's so many fascinating things going on throughout the race that you guys are able to see. You can determine which teams are using which strategy much earlier than the fans or the TV commentators or the media are able to figure it out. And he said if you understood what was going on in the race, there's always so many fascinating aspects of it. How are you able to sift through all of that?

Brian Weller:

I think the longer you do it, you kind of just know what you're looking at. But you know when you know where we are on fuel, on the say a big oval, you know where other people are on fuel, you know when they pit. I know when they pit, if they pit early, if they're going to have to end up making another pit stop.

And we were at Pocono a few years ago and one of the cars stopped early, and first stop, I knew they were going to have to stop an extra stop if it went green the whole time. So, I think just looking at it long enough, you just kind of know what you're looking at, but it just takes a little bit of experience.

Bruce Martin:

And you work with the greats of the game: Scott Dixon is a legend, Alex Palou has established himself as a legend, then you got Dario Franchitti working with the team. You've got Hall of Famers in their own capacities. Longtime veterans like Julian Robertson and Barry Wanser, Mike Hall's a cornerstone of this team. What's it like working with so many greats of the great?

Brian Weller:

It's fun, but when you're working with them, I don't think you look at it like that, they're just your coworker that's been doing it a long time. Everybody treats each other well. For the most part, we don't yell at each other. It seems kind of like business is normal, but when you take a step back, you realize, “Oh, I'm working with some pretty cool people.”

Especially when you had Scott and Dario driving the car, I just don't think you realize what you have at the time, why you're doing it. and when you step back, it's impressive to know that you've worked with some of the guys like that.

And I mean, even say when Jimmie Johnson came here, I mean it's impressive when NASCAR and just having guys like that around and working with, and it's fun to do because they're just normal people. They're just really good at their job.

Bruce Martin:

They're normal people but when you take a step back, you almost feel like Chip Ganassi Racing is almost like a university of IndyCar or university of auto racing.

Brian Weller:

Yeah, I mean there's been a lot of great divers coming down, I mean a lot of great people in engineers too. I mean, we have Blair Bean that's on our car that he took my place two years ago, the beginning of last year. And he's new but he's doing a great job, and he will be there at some point down the road as well. So, we can't forget about him because he's an integral part of the timing stand.

Bruce Martin:

And finally wrapping up, focusing back on Alex Palou, he can still achieve so many great things in IndyCar. And when you look at what his upside is, these great accomplishments he's done, a lot of people say it's just the beginning for him, it's almost mind boggling to think of what he can achieve if he decides to stay in IndyCar?

Brian Weller:

You can see him getting better each race or however you want to look at it, and it's very easy for him to do what he does, it seems like. He's not a high maintenance guy, he's easy to get along with, and it's just fun to work with somebody like that that you know every time he goes on the track, it's going to be good. You can put him in odd positions in strategy.

When a guy is that good, all strategies become easier, and it's just fun to work with him because he's just a jovial guy. And you would not … if you didn't know who he was, you would have no idea how good he is at what he does.

Bruce Martin:

And because he is so good at what he does, and he's so genuine and so likable, do you almost sometimes wonder how long can you guys keep this role going?

Brian Weller:

Yeah, I mean obviously, we hope to keep it going for a long time, and we've got a good thing going on with the 10 car right now and just see how long everything rolls.

Bruce Martin:

And finally, as far as yourself to be involved in this sport, a lot of people probably don't understand the challenges that are involved, but I've noticed engineers are also people who are problem solvers and they always look for a way to solve a problem. So, how would you describe the challenge of your role?

Brian Weller:

I mean, it's challenging. I mean, you have to love what you do, and I mean, we obviously spend a lot of hours doing what we do. We do a lot of things that people don't see that we do, that it would be great to show everybody what we did, but that's hopefully part of the magic.

What makes us who we are is some things people don't see what we do, and what we do and how hard we work and all the mechanics and working together with everybody and everybody believing when we come down and ask somebody to do something that seems possibly ridiculous to them, they do it, and we talk about why we're doing it to make everything better.

Bruce Martin:

Brian Weller, it's been a tremendous season. Alex Palou once again had a season for the ages as I like to call it, the era of Alex. But congratulations on the team winning a fourth NTT IndyCar Series championship with Alex Palou, 17th IndyCar Series championship for Chip Ganassi Racing, enjoy the off season, and go get them again in 2026 and thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy.

Brian Weller:

Yeah, thanks Bruce. Thanks for having me.

[Music Playing]

Bruce Martin:

That puts a checkered flag on this edition of Pit Pass Indy as we return to action in 2026. We want to thank our guests, the team behind Alex Palou's success at Chip Ganassi Racing, including Crew Chief, Ricky Davis; Technical Director, Julian Robertson; Team Manager and Race Strategist, Barry Wanser; and Performance Engineer, Brian Weller for joining us on today's podcast.

Along with loyal listeners like you, our guests help make Pit Pass Indy your path to Victory Lane in IndyCar. For more IndyCar coverage, follow me at X, previously known as Twitter @BruceMartin_500.

This has been a production of Evergreen Podcasts, a special thanks to our production team. Executive producers are Brigid 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 evergreenpodcasts.com.

Until next time, be sure to keep it out of the wall.