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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印第安纳波利斯（美联社）——35年来，Chip Ganassi Racing车队经历了众多杰出的赛车手，他们的名单很长——但并不是长到Ganassi不能脱口而出的地步。
吉米·瓦瑟（Jimmy Vasser）、亚历克斯·赞纳迪（Alex Zanardi）和胡安·帕布罗·蒙托亚（Juan Pablo Montoya）为Ganassi赢得了四连冠。斯科特·迪克森（Scott Dixon）与达里奥·弗兰奇蒂（Dario Franchitti）联手重启了另一场四年的冠军连冠。马库斯·埃里克森（Marcus Ericsson）在2022年为Ganassi赢得了他第五个印第安纳波利斯500英里大赛的胜利，结束了Ganassi在“赛车史上最伟大的盛事”中的10年连败纪录。
现在他（Ganassi）的名单中已经包括了亚历克斯·帕罗（Alex Palou），当他倾斜身躯去亲吻第一个赢得印地500赛的西班牙人时，Ganassi向他传达了一条信息。
车队老板说：“你是最棒的司机。” 接着说，“太不可思议了，伙计。简直难以置信。”
帕鲁在六场比赛中第五次获胜，这为2023年印地500大赛画上了意料之中的句号。但在此次比赛中，帕鲁坚称他必须获胜，才能为他的职业生涯增添一抹完整的色彩。他已是连续两届印地汽车赛冠军，并在过去四年中为甘纳西车队赢得了三个冠军。
甘尼斯（Ganassi）表示：“我认为他是其中的一位巨星，就是这么简单。当然，我们的车队也拥有一些伟大的车手，他（哈里克）与他们一样优秀，至少也是并驾齐驱的。”
这真是一个良好的开端
在当代，仅有两位车手曾在一季的前六场比赛中赢得五场，分别是Al Unser Sr.和A.J. Foyt。而Foyt更进一步，赢得了前七场，其中包括了印第安纳波利斯500赛。
如今，帕洛（Palou）也以相似的统治性速度前进，在印地车赛（IndyCar）赛季还剩11场比赛的情况下，他在本周末于底特律（Detroit）的比赛中以115分的领先优势领先帕托·奥沃德（Pato O��Ward）排在积分榜首。
帕洛表示，结果并非完全由驾驶员决定，并肯定了他的第10号Ganassi车队的努力。
我认为我得到了很多赞誉，因为你们看到只有我在开车。但在我背后有一个巨大的团队，他们在赛道上让我看起来非常出色，Palou说。每当我们有获胜的机会时，我们都能执行得很好。这不仅仅取决于设置，还包括策略、进站换胎等。
我一直在告诉你们，我知道这并不正常。但我很开心它（比赛）没有在印第安纳波利斯结束，至少我们撑到了500米。
他是如何赢得500的？
2021年，帕罗在印第安纳波利斯赛车场（Indianapolis Motor Speedway）的比赛中，输给了赫里奥·卡斯特洛内夫斯（Helio Castroneves），但最终他赢得了胜利。
在卡斯特罗内斯以创纪录的第四次夺冠后，帕洛获得第二名，并恳求卡斯特罗内斯告诉他自己哪里做得不对。但卡斯特罗内斯并不想分享他的秘密。
因此，帕洛（Palou）研究了这场比赛的录像，试图理解卡斯特罗内夫（Castroneves）是如何利用交通来保持自己在帕洛（Palou）身后的位置，并稳步提高了他在椭圆形赛道上的技艺。他的印地500（Indy 500）胜利标志着帕洛在椭圆形赛道上的首次胜利。
帕洛表示，多亏了赫利奥（Helio），我才能很好地掌握交通情况。我知道，因为我们的策略在最后阶段发生了变化，所以会有交通拥堵。所以，尽管你当时是P2，但实际位置是P5或P4。所以你必须考虑到这一点。我只是尽我所能去理解和应对它。
他能够预见接下来的两到三步棋，这是他从卡斯特罗内维斯的制胜之举中学到的，这使帕洛在还剩16圈时鼓起勇气进行了最后超越。这在近几年的比赛中是一项非常早的行动，过去的比赛经常在最后几圈的超越中决定胜负。
我认为我之所以能在这里，2021年肯定是一个重要原因。
接下来会是什么？
2023年末，Palou改变主意，决定在2024赛季前离开Ganassi转投McLaren，因此，McLaren Racing对其提起诉讼，指控其违反合同，要求赔偿近3000万美元。
自从帕罗乌与两队签约后，两队一直在争夺他。迈凯伦希望收回每一分用于培养他作为其F1车手所花费的开支，并要求因帕罗乌未加入印地车队而产生的赔偿金。
但他的生活似乎并未受到此诉讼的任何影响，甚至没有因此而感到任何烦恼。
尽管如此，这也颇具挑战性，因为Palou现在非常火热，很多人开始公开质疑他为什么没有参加F1。理论上，明年至少有一个席位空缺，由丹·托里斯（Dan Towriss）拥有的新Cadillac F1车队提供，托里斯还拥有Andretti Global IndyCar车队，并见证了Palou击败他的车手埃里克森（Ericsson）赢得印第500赛。
帕洛乌并不认为在迈凯伦的混乱之后，他在F1中还有一席之地，但更重要的是，他对与甘纳西（Ganassi）一起的现况感到满意。
如果车队不想要我，我能够理解。但我现在所处的地方，我感到非常开心，帕洛说道。你能够看到这一点。我并没有与任何人交谈，也没有敲门（寻求机会）。我保证，我确实没有进行任何交谈，我的（管理）团队也没有与任何人交谈过。
西班牙效应
帕洛（Palou）不确定他赢得印地500赛（Indy 500）是否能在西班牙引起关注，因为他是西班牙首位赢得该赛事的选手。该国热衷于足球和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则尚未引起广泛关注。
他表示，在印第安纳波利斯赛车场（Indianapolis Motor Speedway），他注意到了比他在美国六年的印地赛车（IndyCar）比赛中任何其他比赛都更多的西班牙球迷和西班牙国旗。
“我不知道这对西班牙意味着什么。我希望他们和我一样庆祝，他说道。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，这是我以前从未见过的。”
他的重点是在美国和印第安纳州建立自己的粉丝群体，他赛季期间就居住在这里，并融入了当地社区。在印第安纳波利斯500英里赛车的游行中，他穿着特里塞·哈利伯顿的球衣，而在周日晚上他出现在东部决赛第三场第二节，步行者队与纽约尼克斯队的比赛中时，他再次穿上了这件球衣。
他在谈到在比赛中收到的起立鼓掌时说，这将会帮助印第安纳州的一些人了解我。
《在赛道上》分析了汽车竞赛中最重要的主题。
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