INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Theres a long list of racing greats who have passed through Chip Ganassi Racing over its 35 years in existence but not so lengthy that Ganassi cant rattle them off the top of his head.
Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya gave Ganassi four consecutive championships. Scott Dixon teamed with Dario Franchitti to restart another four-year title streak. Marcus Ericsson won Ganassi his fifth Indianapolis 500 victory in 2022, ending a 10-year losing streak in The Greatest Spectacle in Racing for Ganassi.
Now he has Alex Palou on his roster, and as he leaned to kiss the first Spaniard to ever win the Indy 500, Ganassi had a message for him.
Youre the best driver, the team owner said. Unbelievable, man. Unbelievable.
It was the expected ending of a bizarre, crash-filled Indy 500 in which Palou won for the fifth time in six races this season but in the one event Palou was adamant he needed to win to ever have a complete racing resume. Hes already the two-time defending IndyCar champion and has won three titles in the last four years, all with Ganassi.
I think hes one of the greats. Its that simple, Ganassi said. Certainly weve had some great drivers on our team, and hes right there, at worst, shoulder-to-shoulder with all the rest of them.
What a start
There have only been two drivers to win five of the first six races of a season in the modern era Al Unser Sr. and A.J. Foyt, with Foyt winning the first seven and that included the Indy 500.
Now Palou is on a similar dominating pace and with 11 races remaining in the IndyCar season, he takes a 115-point lead over Pato OWard in the championship standings to this weekends race in Detroit.
Palou says the results are not solely driver based and acknowledged the work of his No. 10 Ganassi team.
I think I get a lot of credit because you see that Im the only one driving the car. But theres a huge team behind that is making me look very good on track, Palou said. Whenever weve had the chance to win, weve been able to execute. And thats taking into account not only the setup, but the strategies, the pit stops.
Ive been telling you guys that I know that this is not normal, he added. But Im glad that it didnt end (at Indy) and that we got the wave until the 500 at least.
How did he win the 500?
Palou won Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway by losing it to Helio Castroneves in 2021.
Palou finished second as Castroneves won for a record-tying fourth time, and Palou begged Castroneves to tell him what hed done wrong. Castroneves wasnt interested in sharing his secrets.
So Palou studied the film, tried to understand how Castroneves used the traffic to keep Palou behind him, and steadily improved his craft on ovals. His Indy 500 win marked the first victory for Palou on an oval.
Thanks to Helio, I was able to read the traffic good, Palou said. I knew that because of how the strategies were shaking up at the end that we were going to have traffic. So traffic, even though you were P2, you were actually P5 or P4. So you had to take that into account. So I was just trying my best to try and read it and get on top of it.
He was seeing two and three moves ahead, something he learned from Castroneves winning move, and it gave Palou the guts to make the final pass with 16 laps remaining. It was an incredibly early move in a race that has been decided the last several years by a series of late-lap passes.
I think Im here because of 2021 for sure, said Palou.
What comes next?
Palou is still being sued for nearly $30 million by McLaren Racing in a breach of contract suit after he changed his mind in late 2023 to leave Ganassi for McLaren ahead of the 2024 season.
The two teams had been engaged in a tug-of-war over Palou since he had signed contracts with both teams and McLaren wants every dollar back it spent on developing him as its Formula 1 driver and damages accrued when Palou did not join the IndyCar team.
But he lives his life as if this lawsuit isnt hanging over his head or even bothers him just a bit.
Its tricky, though, because Palou is so hot right now many are beginning to openly ask why he isnt in F1. Theres theoretically at least one seat open next year with the new Cadillac F1 team owned by Dan Towriss, who also owns the Andretti Global IndyCar team and watched Palou beat his driver Ericsson to win the Indy 500.
Palou doesnt believe a spot remains open to him in F1 after the McLaren mess, but more important, is content where he is with Ganassi.
I would understand (if teams dont want me), but I am super happy where I am, Palou said. I mean you can see that. Ive not had any conversations with anybody and I am not knocking on doors. I promise 100% I have had no conversation and no one with my (management) team has had any conversations with anybody.
The Spanish effect
Palou is unsure if his Indy 500 win will gain him any attention in Spain, where he became the first Spaniard to win the race. The country celebrates soccer and F1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz Jr., while Palou, from Barcelona, remains under the radar.
He said he noticed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway more Spanish fans and flags than hes seen at any other IndyCar race in his six seasons racing in the United States.
I dont know what its going to be for Spain. Hopefully they are celebrating as much as I am, he said. Hopefully that gets more fans, more people. There was a lot of Spanish flags here, which I did never see before.
His focus is instead on building his fanbase in the United States and in Indiana, where he resides during the season and has embraced the community. Palou wore a Tyrese Haliburton jersey in the Indy 500 parade, and had it on again Sunday night when he showed up in the second quarter of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Pacers and the New York Knicks.
Thats going to help some people in Indiana to know me, he said of the standing ovation he received at the game.
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In the Pits analyzes the biggest topics in auto racing.
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印第安纳波利斯（美联社）——Chip Ganassi Racing在35年的存在期间，已经有很多伟大的赛车手通过该车队，但名单并不长到Ganassi无法在脑海中快速说出。
Jimmy Vasser、Alex Zanardi和Juan Pablo Montoya为Ganassi车队赢得了四连冠。Scott Dixon与Dario Franchitti联手，再次开启了四年的冠军连续夺冠之路。2022年，Marcus Ericsson为Ganassi车队赢得了第五个印第安纳波利斯500英里大赛的胜利，结束了Ganassi车队在“赛车界最伟大的盛事”中连续10年的败北。
现在他的队伍中加入了亚历克斯·帕洛，当他倾斜着身体去亲吻第一个赢得印第500赛冠军的西班牙人时，甘纳西（Ganassi）向他传达了一个信息。
车队老板说：“你是最棒的司机。”然后又说：“太不可思议了，太不可思议了。”
这一季的印地500赛（Indy 500）以其出人意料的激烈碰撞而结束，其中帕鲁（Palou）在六场比赛中第五次夺冠，但在这一场比赛中，帕鲁坚决认为他必须赢得比赛才能有完整的赛车履历。他已经是连续两届印地车赛（IndyCar）冠军，并且在过去四年中三次获得冠军，所有这些荣誉都来自甘尼斯（Ganassi）。
我认为他是其中最伟大的。就是这么简单，甘纳西说道。当然，我们车队里曾有一些出色的车手，而他也是其中之一，至少和其他的车手一样出色。
多么好的开端
在当代，仅有两位车手在赛季的前六场比赛中赢得了五场胜利，分别是阿尔·安塞尔（Al Unser Sr.）和A.J. 福伊特（A.J. Foyt）。而福伊特更是拿下了前七场的全部胜利，其中也包括了印第500英里大赛（Indy 500）。
现在，帕洛以类似的统治性速度前进，在印地赛车季还有11场比赛的情况下，他在本周末底特律的比赛中在冠军积分榜上以115分的优势领先帕托·奥沃德（Pato O��Ward）。
帕洛表示，比赛结果并非完全取决于车手的表现，同时他也认可了其第10号Ganassi车队的努力。
帕鲁表示：“我认为我得到了很多赞扬，因为你们看到只有我在开车。但在我背后有一个庞大的团队让我在赛道上看起来非常出色。只要我们有获胜的机会，我们就能执行下去。这不仅仅考虑到设置，还包括策略、进站。”
我一直告诉你们，我知道这并不正常。但我很开心的是，它没有在印第安纳波利斯（Indy）结束，我们至少在500（赛事）中还能有这样的表现。
他是如何赢得500的？
2021年，帕洛在印第安纳波利斯赛车场以输给赫里奥·卡斯特罗内维斯的方式赢得了周日比赛。
在卡斯特罗内斯创纪录的第四次夺冠后，帕洛获得了第二名，并恳求卡斯特罗内斯告诉他自己哪里做错了。但卡斯特罗内斯对此并不感兴趣，不愿分享他的秘密。
因此，帕鲁（Palou）研究了这段影片，试图理解卡斯特罗内斯（Castroneves）是如何利用交通情况来保持帕鲁（Palou）跟在自己身后的，并稳步提高了他在椭圆形赛道上的技术。他的印地500赛胜利标志着帕鲁在椭圆形赛道上的首次胜利。
由于海里奥的帮助，我能够很好地阅读交通情况。我知道，因为比赛末段策略的激烈竞争，我们将会遇到交通拥堵。所以即使你是P2，实际上你可能是P5或P4。因此你必须考虑到这一点。所以我尽我所能去阅读并应对这种情况。
他预见了两到三步的棋，这是他从卡斯特罗内维斯的胜利中学习到的，这使帕洛在还剩16圈时鼓起勇气进行了最后超越。在过去的几年里，比赛的胜负往往是由几圈的最终超越决定的，而他的这一招实在是出奇制胜。
巴鲁表示：“我认为我之所以能参加这次比赛，是因为2021年的原因。”
接下来会有什么？
在2023年末改变主意，决定在2024赛季前从Ganassi转会至McLaren后，Palou仍面临McLaren Racing提出的近3000万美元的违约诉讼。
自巴鲁与两队签约以来，这两支队伍就陷入了争夺巴鲁的拉锯战中。麦克拉伦希望将所有为培养巴鲁作为其F1车手所花费的每一分钱都收回，并希望巴鲁未能加入印地赛车队时所造成的损失得到赔偿。
但他似乎并不在意这场官司悬在他头上，甚至丝毫没有因此而感到困扰。
尽管如此，这依然很棘手，因为Palou目前非常炙手可热，许多人开始公开询问他为什么不在F1中。理论上，明年至少有一个空位将由丹·托瑞斯（Dan Towriss）拥有的新凯迪拉克F1车队提供，他也拥有Andretti Global IndyCar车队，并目睹了Palou击败他的车手埃里克森（Ericsson）赢得印第500赛。
帕罗乌并不相信在迈凯伦的混乱之后，F1中还有他的位置空缺，但更重要的是，他对现在与甘纳西（Ganassi）的处境感到满意。
帕鲁（Palou）表示：“如果车队不想用我，我可以理解。但我现在所处的位置让我非常开心。我的意思是，你们可以看出来，我并没有和任何人交谈，也没有去敲门。我保证100%没有进行过任何交谈，我的（管理）团队也没有人和其他人交谈过。”
西班牙效应
帕洛乌不确定他赢得印地500赛的胜利是否能在西班牙引起关注，因为在西班牙，他成为了首位赢得这项赛事的西班牙人。西班牙人热爱足球，同时也崇拜F1车手费尔南多·阿隆索（Fernando Alonso）和卡洛斯·塞恩斯（Carlos Sainz Jr.），而来自巴塞罗那的帕洛乌却鲜为人知。
他表示，在印第安纳波利斯赛车场，他发现了比他在美国六季的印地赛车中在其他任何一场比赛中都更多的西班牙球迷和旗帜。
我不知道西班牙会如何。希望他们和我一样开心庆祝，他说。希望这能吸引更多的球迷，更多的人。这里有很多西班牙国旗，我从未见过。
他的重心是在美国和印第安纳州，尤其是他赛季期间居住的印第安纳州，建立自己的粉丝基础，并融入当地社区。在印第安纳波利斯500大赛游行中，帕卢穿着泰尔斯·哈利伯顿的球衣，周日晚上在步行者队与纽约尼克斯队东部决赛第三场第二节比赛时，他再次穿上了这件球衣。
他在谈到自己在比赛中获得的起立鼓掌时表示，这将有助于让印第安纳州的一些人了解我。
《In the Pits》分析了汽车比赛中的最大话题。
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