Alex Palou Moves Closer To Historic IndyCar Championship With Easy Laguna Seca Win

Alex Palou won the Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca Raceway from pole to take a nearly insurmountable lead in the IndyCar season championship with three races to go.

Palou started from pole, led 84 of 95 laps and set the fastest lap to claim the maximum 54 points available. Only surrendered the lead once during a pit cycle, which allowed 20-year-old Nolan Siegel to lead for the first time in his IndyCar career for 11 laps.

“It’s been an awesome weekend, an awesome year (and) today was something else,” Palou said after the race. “It’s super fun to be here, one of my favorite tracks for sure. I couldn’t be happier right now.”

Pato O’Ward, the only driver that still has a mathematical chance of catching Palou for the championship, finished in fourth place and grabbed 32 points. He is now 121 points in arrears with a maximum of 162 points left if he can sweep all three of the remaining races, while the minimum number of points Palou can earn is five per each start. Christian Lundgaard and Colton Herta finished on the podium behind Palou.

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If Palou holds on for the title, it will be the Spaniard’s fourth in five years and third in a row, which at 28 would make him the youngest driver to three-peat in the top American open wheel class.

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IndyCar takes a week off before heading to Portland International Raceway, followed by the Milwaukee Mile and the season-finale at Nashville Superspeedway.