Alex Palou clinched the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series title over the weekend, securing his fourth championship in five years and firmly placing himself among the elites of IndyCar history.

His success also means another title for Chip Ganassi Racing, giving the historic team 17 total championships in its history.

The team has had dominant drivers in the past such as Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti, and Palou certainly lives up to the legacy those drivers built at CGR.

Team owner Chip Ganassi was all smiles after his driver secured the title on Sunday, saying that Palou’s driving talent spoils him when he has to consider inquiries from other drivers.

“Well, it certainly makes it more difficult to hire other drivers, I can tell you that,” said Ganassi in response to a question from Motorsportweek.com.

“When you have a year like we’ve had, you talk to these other drivers and they’ve had one or two wins in their career, I feel so bad.

“I say to [Managing Director Mike Hull] all the time, ‘We’re spoiled.’ There are good drivers that come and talk to us about possibilities. I feel so bad when I’m spoiled with Palou and Dixon and Franchitti. Yes, it spoils me.

“I’ve never seen a guy work so quietly and diligently at his craft as [Palou].

“I said in the beginning of the year that we’re just scratching the surface of his talent. I still think he’s got more in his gas tank, his tank, for this season, and he’s got more in his tank for coming seasons.”

Ganassi’s team is now tied with Team Penske with 17 series championships in the record book.

With a talent like Palou secured, it seems only a matter of time before that tie is broken and CGR can move into a category all its own.

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Chip Ganassi is no stranger to success in the NTT IndyCar Series. His teams have 16 series championships over the past 35 years and he now has six wins at the Indianapolis 500 thanks to Alex Palou’s achievement on Sunday.

The legendary team owner knows that there is something special in Palou, potentially even matching his other veteran driver Scott Dixon.

Ganassi talked after victory lane celebrations to describe how Palou matches up to some of the greatest names in IndyCar despite only being 28 years old.

“I think he’s one of the greats. It’s that simple,” said Ganassi. “Certainly we’ve had some great drivers on our team, and he’s right there. At worst, shoulder to shoulder with all the rest of them.

“You’ve got to talk about [Dario] Franchitti and [Juan Pablo] Montoya and [Scott] Dixon and all the champions we’ve had, [Jimmy] Vasser and [Alex] Zanardi, and it just adds to it.

“[Marcus] Ericsson won here with us. It’s just a great thing. He’s clearly in that group now. Clearly.

“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.

“I don’t want to say his career is complete now; he’s got a lot in him yet. He’s just an incredible driver. What can you say? Look at the last five, six races we’ve had. It’s just incredible. He’s on a roll.”

Palou comes into 2025 having won three of the past four championships, and he is already 115 points clear of everyone else after just six events this season.

All signs point to him earning a fourth championship and further solidifying his place in the history books.

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The NTT IndyCar Series held its annual post-season Victory Lap celebration on Monday evening, presenting multiple drivers and personnel with awards they earned throughout the 2024 season.

The headline of the night was Alex Palou, who officially accepted the Astor Cup for winning the driver’s championship for the third time.

The 27-year-old only won two races during the season, but was near the front nearly every single weekend and had unbeatable consistency.

Palou finished 31 points ahead of Colton Herta, and finished off the season by celebrating with his wife and newborn child after the season finale from Nashville Superspeedway.

At the Victory Lap celebration, Palou was joined on stage by his crew and his race-winning car to soak in the moment.

Chip Ganassi, who now has 16 championships as a team owner, was also invited up on stage to hoist the Astor Cup in celebration.

Other awards presented

Palou and Ganassi were not the only people receiving accolades at the formal event.

Linus Lundqvist received his Rookie of the Year award for his performance in the #8 CGR Honda throughout the 2024 season.

The Swede earned two podiums and four top 10 results to best the other rookie drivers in the field, and finished 16th in the overall standings.

Chevrolet was also presented with the manufacturer’s award for besting its rival Honda over the course of the season.

Chevrolet earned its third consecutive title by finishing 132 points ahead of Honda, assisted by Honda’s problems with engine reliability throughout the year.

General Motors executive director of global motorsports competition Eric Warren accepted the award on the stage.

A pair of Penske drivers were awarded as well. Scott McLaughlin took home the NTT P1 pole award for his five poles he earned throughout the year and Will Power accepted the Firestone Pit Performance Award for his crew’s quick work on pit stops.

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2022 FIA Formula 2 World Champion Felipe Drugovich has landed an NTT IndyCar Series testing opportunity with reigning champions Chip Ganassi Racing.

Drugovich has served as Aston Martin’s Formula 1 Test and Reserve Driver since graduating from F2 at the end of 2022.

In 2024, the Brazilian balanced his testing duties with a European Le Mans Series campaign with Vector Sport and contested this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans with Action Express Racing’s Cadilac V-Series.R.

Now Drugovich will test an IndyCar with Ganassi at Barber Motorsports Park on September 30.

“We’ve received approval today from IndyCar to test him,” said CGR managing director Mike Hull via RACER.

“With the way IndyCar has the testing rules structured to test and evaluate drivers, it made sense to connect with Felipe and get him in one of our cars.”

Hull revealed the test is Chip Ganassi delivering on a promise to Drugovich.

Chip Ganassi saw Drugovich up close at Le Mans, with the team running the factory Cadillac effort in competition with Action Express.

“We wanted to test him a year ago and we’re catching up on that,” Hull said.

“Indirectly, we were introduced to Drugovich last year at Le Mans and were impressed with him up close and personal.

“We want to get to know him and we think it’s worth doing.”

Felipe Drugovich IndyCar race seat prospects slim

Chip Ganassi is downsizing from a five-car to a three-car effort in 2025 making a race seat opportunity unlikely for Drugovich.

Scott Dixon and 2024 IndyCar Champion Alex Palou are the only two confirmed drivers for Chip Ganassi in 2025.

Marcus Armstrong has departed for Meyer Shank Racing with Linus Lundqvist and Kyffin Simpson still looking for a drive.

As a result, Drugovich’s opportunities look remote.

“There were no strings attached to that one,” Hull revealed to Autosport. 

“Certainly, nothing to this one. Where is it gonna go? Right now, it doesn’t have legs.”

READ MORE: Meyer Shank Racing sign Marcus Armstrong for 2025 IndyCar campaign

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Alex Palou is IndyCar’s newest three time champion, clinching the title in the final race of the 2024 season held at Nashville Superspeedway.

Not only is he one of only 12 drivers to have earned three championships in America’s top open wheel series, he is the second youngest to do so at the age of 27.

The Spaniard has only been racing in IndyCar for five seasons, and to already have three titles to his name is a serious accomplishment.

Palou’s rapid rise into the record books has shown the world how talented of a driver he is, and often the conversation turns to compare him to other great drivers of the series, including his Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate Scott Dixon.

Team owner Chip Ganassi is aware that he has more than one exceptional talent on his team, and is enjoying the successes his drivers have brought to his team in recent years.

“Good question. I don’t know,” said Ganassi when asked who Palou can be compared to. “We’ve been lucky to have some great drivers on the team over the years.

“You want to make the obvious comparisons, but I don’t know that you can. At his age to be doing what he’s doing, having the experience that he has. Especially with the series the way it is today now with some ovals, these guys aren’t exactly oval meisters that are excelling in the series today.

“There are some better oval racers out there. I’m sure he’ll tell you that. So it’s an interesting series now. It’s an interesting mix.

“To have a guy like Alex on your team… I was saying to somebody yesterday, three championships in four years. I mean, I don’t know how many guys have three championships, not that many.

“He’s in pretty rarefied air right now, as they say. His name has to be among and certainly in the conversation of the great drivers. He’s certainly in the conversation of the greatest.”

The only driver to earn three championships at a younger age than Palou was Sam Hornish Jr., who clinched his third title in 2006 at an age three months younger than Palou.

It is no wonder why Ganassi fought to keep Palou on the team, despite earlier disagreements and lawsuits over contracts involving Arrow McLaren.

The team owner’s famous line is “I like winners,” and he has plenty to be happy about while Palou continues to represent CGR.

Ganassi went on to say that while he knew Palou was talented when he completed his first IndyCar test, the level of success he’s had in just a few short years in the series was not expected.

“I can tell you that my expectation was that I was just hoping that we had a guy that liked ovals, liked road races, was going to grow with the team.

“I had no idea what three of the next four years were going to be like. If I told you I had any other idea or expectation, I’d be lying to you. I had no idea it would be this much fun and this successful.”

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Chip Ganassi Racing is fielding five full entries in the NTT IndyCar Series this year, the first time it has ever done so.

Many were surprised when the team announced in September that Kyffin Simpson would be joining the team, as four other drivers had already been announced.

Questions immediately followed about how CGR planned to ensure that all of its entries would have the staff and support needed to run the largest team in the series.

The team’s veteran drivers were quick to point out ahead of the season that the personnel were able to easily handle the task, and Chip Ganassi related virtually the same message at last weekend’s St. Pete opener.

“Yeah, going with five cars with the team of people we have, I don’t think it was a huge challenge,” said the experienced team owner. “We had the people. We had to augment each team with one person or so, two people sometimes.

“We don’t look at it as a big challenge. We run multiple cars out of our race shop. In some sense it’s almost easier when they’re all at the same place as opposed to two or three different places. We’re not in Extreme E this year.

“We have plenty of people on the team that understand our system and how we work. So far it’s seamless. It’s a lot of work, but it’s seamless.”

Ganassi has been competing in CART and IndyCar as a team owner since 1990. In that time he has fluctuated between one and four drivers per year, with an occasional fifth being brought in for the Indy 500 alone.

To add a fifth full time entry with relative ease this season speaks to how mature his race organization is, and how well he keeps every aspect of the operation staffed.

The 65-year-old even went so far as to say this year’s setup is easier to manage than last year, simply because all five cars are going to one event.

“We’ve run multiple cars,” Ganassi continued. “We run multiple cars out of our race shop. The fact that instead of three going here and two going here, all five going one place, it’s somewhat easier from a logistics point of view.

“Whether the team expands and contracts, a lot of times it’s dependent on driver situations, sponsor situations. But if the opportunity is there, if there’s a good opportunity for us to take advantage of it, we do.

“I think everyone can see we have two really solid, solid veterans that can win at any racetrack we go to. So it’s nice to have this group of younger guys coming up that they’ll have the opportunity to work with Alex [Palou] and Scott [Dixon], learn from them.

“So it’s a great opportunity. I challenge anybody to say that it’s taking anything away from anybody by going from four to five. It’s just not the case.”

In addition to his large IndyCar squad, Ganassi also runs a team with Cadillac factory support in the top level prototype class of IMSA, often allowing his drivers to compete in both series for a portion of the season.

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Chip Ganassi Racing has revealed a new look for Alex Palou’s car for the upcoming IndyCar season.

Palou will be sporting the familiar DHL colors while defending his second championship, but the traditional livery design that has been used for DHL-sponsored cars in the past has been reworked.

The main cockpit and Aeroscreen coloring is the deep red of the company’s logo, with the traditional yellow adorning the wings and sidepods rather than the entire car.

The design of the #10 car is such that it appears to be primarily red from the front, and primarily yellow from the side.

“I couldn’t be more excited with our DHL US livery,” said Palou on social media. “Looks like a perfect car to defend the title.”

DHL is making its sponsorship debut with Chip Ganassi Racing for the 2024 season, as the global shipping company parted ways with Andretti Global at the conclusion of last season.

The partnership with Andretti had been continuous since the 2011 season, and the livery had remained relatively unchanged over the past 12 years.

Many assumed the same design would be present on Alex Palou’s car when it was announced he would be carrying the familiar sponsor, but a new look has been chosen to represent the company as it begins a new partnership with Ganassi.

The new livery will be run for the first time during the opening round of the 2024 IndyCar season, when the field takes to the streets of St. Petersburg.

Romain Grosjean successfully put the DHL colors on pole during the 2023 event, and Palou will look to do the same in just over two weeks’ time.

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Marcus Armstrong is about to begin his second season driving in IndyCar, and he is preparing for the new challenge laid before him.

He will be piloting the #11 entry for all 17 races of the year, meaning he will be running races on an oval for the first time in his career.

Last year, Armstrong came over to IndyCar following a three-year stint in Formula 2, and was tasked with driving the season’s road and street courses for Chip Ganassi Racing.

He quickly warmed up to the idea of running some of the ovals as the season progressed, but the team chose to have its veteran racer Takuma Sato drive the team’s fourth car for all five oval rounds.

This year the 23-year-old will get to try his hand at the new discipline, and he is grateful to have such a large talent pool within his team to gather information and advice from.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of people in the team with a lot of experience with winning races and championships,” said Armstrong. “Certainly Scott [Dixon], I share a driver lounge with. He’s more than happy to share everything with me, as far as I know, which is extremely helpful.

“Dario [Franchitti], as well, like I said. I have to say that all the strategists, all the engineers, they have very good information to share.

“When it comes to race day, usually I will go to a few people that I usually go to to get a second opinion on, whether it be strategy or race craft in one way or another, and then it’s down to me to go and do it.

“I’ve always been one to study data, so I would say that it’s business as usual, really. Last year when I was having my first race weekends, it was quite a lot of information coming at me.

“Ultimately you just need to drive the race car as fast as you can around the circuit, if you put it really simply. Certainly this year I’m going to try and get into the details as much as possible and improve.”

Chip Ganassi Racing is running five full time cars this season, and is said to have roughly 180 people at its Indianapolis race shop, including plenty of personnel with specialized experience to draw from.

Whether that’s the six-time series champion Scott Dixon, four-time champion turned driver coach Dario Franchitti, or a number of tenured engineers assigned to his car, there is always someone that can answer Armstrong’s questions as he thinks of them.

As a young driver who is going to be tasked with a completely new type of racing format this year, Armstrong will certainly benefit from having nearly every resource he needs within reach.

“Certainly there’s a lot to be learned from Scott [Dixon] and Alex [Palou], who have obviously proven themselves. I think there’s eight championships between them. Clearly there’s some expertise there to be drawn upon.

“I’m in a very fortunate position really where, yeah, I’m surrounded by fantastic people and a great team, strong teammates to work with, share data with, and push forwards with.”

The first race of Armstrong’s sophomore season is less than two months away, with his first oval race coming at the 108th Indianapolis 500 on May 26.

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Last week IndyCar announced that its much-anticipated hybrid power system would not be ready in time for the 2024 season opener in St. Petersburg.

Citing a need for more time to complete development of the system, but not laying out exactly what was preventing a full rollout by March, the series made the difficult decision in order to ensure that all teams could properly test the final product before being asked to run a race with it fitted to their cars.

As of now, only a handful of the largest teams have been part of the testing. And though the tests have been secretive, it appears those that have helped with development also see the need for the delay.

Chip Ganassi discussed his thoughts on the delay, and stated that the decision to push back introduction of the hybrid system is the right one given its current state.

“It’s interesting, it takes a lot of things to come together to make an announcement that you’re going to go hybrid,” said the experienced team owner. “It’s equally difficult to announce it’s going to be delayed.

“It’s unfortunate, no question. But it’s probably the right decision. Knowing all I know, and from what I understand, it was probably the right decision to make.

“Sure, it’s not our first choice. I wouldn’t say it’s the optimal thing to do, to delay it, but it was the right thing to do with everything I know.”

With Ganassi’s crew and drivers assisting with on track testing from the very beginning, he is more aware than most of what the lingering issues are and if they would present any problems during a race weekend.

It is thought there are still critical reliability concerns with a portion of the system, but team owners and series officials agreeing that a further delay is appropriate is the only public commentary offered to date.

Ganassi went on to explain that bringing the system in halfway through the year isn’t a bad thing in his book, despite the odd situation of having only a portion of a championship season featuring the major power unit innovation.

“Having said that, if they bring it in halfway through the season, I don’t think it’s as big a deal as people would think,” Ganassi continued. “In the test that we’ve done with the hybrid, the teams are going to find it very easy to transmit over to that program when the time comes. I don’t see that as a big thing.

“We want to make sure it’s ready, when it’s ready for prime time, then bring it along, but not too soon to discourage the type of great racing we have right now. I don’t think we want to do anything to impede that.

“Our on-track product is very, very good right now. More passes, more on-track passes than any open-wheel series in the world I think right now. I think that speaks for itself in terms of IndyCar.

“We don’t want to mess that up or we don’t want to mess up the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, which is the Indianapolis 500. I think if the hybrid comes along sometime after that, it will be fine.”

Chip Ganassi Racing plans to run five full time entries next season, more than any other team on the grid.

The first race of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season is scheduled for March 10, with the hybrid components not coming until sometime after the Indianapolis 500 on May 26.

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Chip Ganassi Racing has announced that it will promote Kyffin Simpson up to IndyCar next season with a full time arrangement.

The unexpected deal gives CGR five full time entries for the 2024 season, which will firmly place it as the largest team in the series.

Simpson has competed in Indy NXT for the past two seasons, and earned two podiums in the most recent year while driving for HMD Motorsports.

He is also familiar with sports cars, contesting select races in IMSA and the European Le Mans Series.

“It’s been incredible working with Chip Ganassi Racing as their development driver over the last couple years and I’ve been able to learn so much,” said Simpson.

“I am very excited to be making the next step to IndyCar with this team. I had a great time at the test and I can’t wait to get back in the car.

“It’s been my dream to race in the NTT IndyCar Series and it’s an honor to make it happen now with one of the best teams in the series. I’m really looking forward to working more closely with the entire team and the drivers.

“I want to give all the glory to God, and I also want to thank Chip [Ganassi] and Mike [Hull] for giving me this opportunity, Ridgeline Lubricants and The American Legion for their support, and of course my family.”

Simpson will only be 19 years old at the start of the 2024 season, and is expected to be the youngest on the IndyCar grid.

He joined CGR as the team’s development driver in May of 2022, and completed a test with the team at Sebring earlier this year.

Simpson will join Alex Palou, Scott Dixon, Marcus Armstrong, and Linus Lundqvist next season, completing a robust lineup of drivers at the Ganassi squad.

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