PORTLAND, Ore. — Alex Palou’s remarkable season has included the most victories by a driver in 18 years.
A driver earns at least 51 points for a victory. So in some ways, they all count relatively the same.
But what role did his victories (and maybe his non-victories) play into his fourth series title, clinched after 15 races of the 17-race schedule?
Palou sat down with me following his championship-clinching run Sunday at Portland International Raceway to give me almost an immediate oral history of the season’s major turning points.
Win No. 1: St. Pete (Season Opener)
Palou: That was one of the most important wins of the year. It was a place that we struggled in the past, and we knew that by pushing really hard there and trying to improve a couple of stuff that we had, we're going to be able to fight for the win. Getting that win there just kind of allowed everybody to believe that we were a little bit better than everybody else, that we were a little bit more prepared than everybody else, and we wanted to take advantage of that and try and get more wins and try to get more good results.
Alex Palou opened the season on a winning note at St. Petersburg.
Win No. 2: Thermal (Race 2)
Palou: When we went from St. Pete to Thermal, that was amazing. We had to fight for both of those races so hard, but it was amazing to get two wins in a row, which I've never had in my entire career at the start of the season. And it felt amazing. ... It felt more like, OK we won the first two, it's looking very good to fight for the championship again. But there's no chance that I would have even thought about getting eight wins in one year. Like zero chance.
Win No. 3: Barber (Race 4)
Palou: It was the first weekend of May. We forget
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