By JENNA FRYER
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Alex Palou took the ceremonial swig of milk in victory lane at the Indianapolis 500. He allowed his wife to have a sip, she in turn gave a sip to their baby, and team owner Chip Ganassi ended up with the bottle and took a drink, as well.
“I have to tell you, it was the best milk I ever had,” Palou said.
The first Spaniard to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” then took a victory lap with his entourage around Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the back of a pickup truck. At one point, Palou climbed onto its roof and raised his arms in triumph, the winning wreath draped around his neck. He briefly lost his balance and Ganassi instinctively reached out to grab his star driver.
No need.
Palou rarely makes a wrong move.
“All my family around, it’s amazing, honestly,” he said, smiling. “All the team around, they make me look really good on the track.”
Palou came to the speedway as the two-time defending IndyCar champion — he has three titles in four years — and had opened this year with victories in four of the first five races. It’s the kind of start not seen since 1964, when A.J. Foyt won the first seven races of the season, including the Indy 500.
But it was win No. 6 that Palou had circled on his calendar. Without an Indy 500 win, he said, his career would be incomplete.
“Like he said last week, if he was to go through his whole career and not win here at Indianapolis, it wouldn’t be a complete career,” Ganassi said. “I don’t want to say his career is complete now — he’s got a lot in him yet. Look at the last five, six races we’ve had. It’s just incredible. He’s on a roll.”
Palou was in fuel-saving mode over the closing laps, following former Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson. Palou got tired of staying put with 16 laps remaining and charged ahead — a move Ericsson said “will keep me up at night. What I did and what I didn’t do.” Palou was never challenged from there, taking the checkered flag as a crash brought out a caution.
He stopped the car just beyond the Yard of Bricks, climbing out of it and nearly losing his balance as he raised his arms in triumph. Palou jumped down and took off in a run down the front stretch, pulling off his gloves and tossing them behind him, and ultimately was engulfed by his father, Ramon, and his team in a jubilant celebration.
Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti both hugged him, a pair of former Ganassi Indy 500 winners welcoming him into their exclusive club. He wasn’t sure what the win will do for him Spain, which celebrates Formula 1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz Jr., but Palou said for the first time he can recall he saw throngs of fans with Spanish flags chanting his name at an IndyCar race.
“It makes it extra special that I’m the first Spanish driver to win it,” Palou said. “But honestly, if I was the 50th Spanish driver to win, I would be as happy as I am now.”
Meanwhile, Ericsson climbed from his car in pit lane and pressed his hands to his face, the disappointment of coming oh-so-close to a second Indianapolis 500 victory etched across his face. David Maluks was third for A.J. Foyt Racing.
“It’s pretty painful,” Ericsson said of his second career Indy 500 runner-up finish. “I need to look at it again. You replay it in your head a million times after the finish, wondering what I could have done differently. Second means nothing in this race.”
Josef Newgarden’s bid to win three consecutive Indy 500s ended with a fuel pump issue. He was trying to become the first driver to come from the back row to win because he and Team Penske teammate Will Power were dropped to the back of the field for failing inspection before the final rounds of qualifying.
Power wound up 19th, the highest-finishing Penske driver on a miserable day for the organization owned by Roger Penske. He earlier this week fired his top three IndyCar executives for a second technical infraction in just over a year, and has had to defend the optics of his teams failing inspections when he also owns IndyCar, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500.
Penske has won the Indy 500 a record 20 times.
It was the sixth Indy 500 win for Ganassi, who has been on a dominating wave since hiring Palou before the 2021 season. Palou won the championship in his first year with the team, added two more titles, and now seems on pace for a fourth one.
“I’ll tell you what, that kid’s a good driver. I think he’s off to a good start,” Ganassi said. “We’re gonna have a good season. It might be OK. Yeah, might be okay. Might be looking at a championship.”
Ganassi also vowed that winning the Indy 500 win “is going to make Alex Palou’s career. It is going to make his life.”
Palou started the race tied with Pato O’Ward as the co-favorites, listed at +500 by BetMGM Sportsbook. O’Ward finished fourth — the fifth time in six career starts the Mexican has finished sixth or higher. Kyle Larson won’t complete “the double” after crashing out of the Indianapolis 500 before he headed to North Carolina to compete in the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race.
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