So, how do you even begin to measure a season as utterly relentless as the one Alex Palou just put together? With the Spaniard clinching his fifth NTT INDYCAR SERIES title and a record-tying fourth in a row, the experts have been arguing over the exact turning point of his 2026 championship campaign.
Curt Cavin points to an insane stretch of five consecutive poles running between the Sonsio Grand Prix and the XPEL Grand Prix of Road America. Spanning two road courses, two ovals, and a street circuit, this qualifying domination let Palou stretch his points lead from 17 to 60. Even though he only converted one of those poles into an actual race victory and posted a five-race average finish of 7.0, starting from the front week after week dealt massive psychological blows to his rivals.
Meanwhile, Eric Smith zeroes in on the victory at Nashville as the true turning point where the championship was unofficially sealed. Palou came into the Nashville weekend with a shaky oval record for 2026—having finished 24th, seventh, and 17th—and just one result better than fifth across his previous six races. With second-place in points Kyle Kirkwood on pole and Palou starting fourth, the machine went to work: Palou led 97 of 225 laps, extending his points advantage from 56 to 83 and crushing his competitors' hopes.
Arni Sribhen looks much earlier to March, when the foundation for the championship was poured. Palou locked in podium finishes in three of the first four races, taking wins on the streets of St. Petersburg and Barber Motorsports Park. Aside from a DNF caused by contact at Phoenix, this early dominance set a terrifyingly consistent tone that left the rest of the field scrambling just to figure out who the challengers even were.
Finally, Paul Kelly highlights the brutal two-race combination of Nashville and Portland. After Pato O’Ward took the win at Mid-Ohio over the Fourth of July weekend, Palou held a 65-point gap over Kyle Kirkwood with seven races left. For a moment, it looked like a real title fight might break out. Instead, Palou destroyed the field at Nashville and followed it up at Portland, leading more than half the laps in both events and blowing his lead out to 110 points. While it may not have felt quite as untouchable across the entire calendar as 2025, those explosive spurts were more than enough to secure the Astor Challenge Cup once again.
