Palou's 2023 IndyCar title cements his meteoric rise to the top of IndyCar, whether he likes it or not

Alex Palou came to IndyCar in 2020 as a relative unknown, hopeful for something better than the title of Formula One prospect.

Now, he's won so much — so quickly — it's hard to imagine him as anything other than an IndyCar legend.

Palou cemented one of the greatest IndyCar seasons of the modern era, locking up the NTT IndyCar Series championship with a race to spare on Sunday after winning the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland.

His Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1o squad, without mastermind strategist Barry Wanser, who was at home recovering from a surgery to treat skin cancer, drove from sixth to first and left no doubt that Honda, Ganassi and Palou are the class of the field for the foreseeable future.

Palou won five times this year. His worst finish is eighth. Even in a season without the chance to pull away with double points at the Indianapolis 500 or the final race, he locked up the title with enough time to enjoy a stroll around scenic Laguna Seca in central California next weekend in a sort of victory lap.

He even called his shot Sunday, telling Ganassi before the race he was going to lock up the title with a win.

"No, honestly, I thought we had a really, really fast car," Palou said. "I would say fast six, the result we got there wasn't what we could have achieved. I didn't think we extracted 100% from it, so I knew after warmup that we could go for it and win the race. So we didn't really go on safe mode of just staying with the 9 [of Scott Dixon] because we thought we could win the race today, and we did. So happy that everything worked out."

A lot is made of IndyCar's spec chassis, tires and relatively limited ability to find gargantuan time advantages. Palou hasn't seemed to get that memo. He won and won and won again while rivals like Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon and Pato O'Ward ran into trouble and strategy mishaps that simply couldn't beat what was happening in the No. 10 garage.

His perceived weakness is short ovals, but Palou averaged a sixth place finish and scored a podium in the three races this season.

In the highest-profile race of the year, Palou started on pole at the Indianapolis 500, got run into by Rinus VeeKay despite having the best car, and still managed to recover and finish a quiet fourth place. He finished second at Toronto with half of his front wing dragging on the ground, hanging on by a vinyl sticker.

It didn't matter when cautions fell. It didn't matter when he had contact. He just couldn't figure out how to have a bad day. He was rewarded with the most dominating championship performance since Champ Car and IndyCar reunified in 2008.

Now, in the midst of a second contract dispute in as many seasons — one that may cost him as much as $30 million — he's the IndyCar champion. Somehow, Chip Ganassi managed to keep the whole thing together for at least one more year too.

It is hard to win in IndyCar, but Palou makes it look so effortless it seems like he's driving a different series at times. Maybe he feels like proving he should be, considering most of his contract drama stems from trying to open doors to Formula One that tend to be closed once you're older than 20 and have an American IndyCar stink on you — ironic for a series trying to establish an American presence so adamantly, huh?

And maybe he shouldn't be here, to be fair.

Palou was the first Spaniard to win a GP3 race in 2015, rubbing elbows with current F1 stars Charles LeClerc and Esteban Ocon.

In 2017, he raced in a few development series, namely Formula 2, scoring points in his first race and beating current F1 stars Alexander Albon and Lando Norris.

He spent time in Japan with Super Formula and Super GT, but ultimately ended up taking the step to IndyCar just in time for the COVID-19 impacted 2020 season. His first Indianapolis 500 took place with no fans, and most of his races featured no spectators or highly limited in-person restrictions.

You wouldn't be wrong to say he came out of nowhere, and he probably feels like he did too. His first experience with IndyCar came with no cheers, and when he showed up to win at Barber in 2021 — his first race with Chip Ganassi — everyone was surprised.

One month later, he was two laps from keeping Helio Castroneves from winning his fourth Indianapolis 500, finishing just few car lengths back in second.

Still, he won the 2021 championship over Newgarden in a scrappy battle, featuring additional wins at Road America and Portland.

He didn't win until Laguna Seca last season, but figured into multiple races, even while being sued by Ganassi for pursuing Formula One dreams with McLaren (among other factors).

Now he's a two-time IndyCar champ driving for the best team in the series, one that cemented itself as the fastest at Indianapolis and everywhere else in 2023.

But even Palou admits he's keeping his eyes open for F1 opportunities, even if he finally feels at home in IndyCar. He was asked about that despite his new Ganassi contract after the race Sunday.

"I said it many times that [IndyCar] was not my fully focus," Palou said. "Then when an opportunity came, I had to go for it, I felt. At the same time I know I'm not 21 or 19. I'm already 26, which is good. I'm not saying I'm old, but I mean, it's not that I'm super young. So next year I'll be 27. If an opportunity comes in the future, which is like really, really small chances, I'll think about it for sure, 100%.

"But I'm happy honestly. As long as I keep on winning championships and races or battling for championships I think I'll have a great career."

He went through all the right steps to make it into Formula One, likely around 2021 or 2022 if things had gone differently. He drove F1 cars this year for McLaren in Hungary, and who knows what ultimately made him back out of his McLaren deal to stay in IndyCar with Ganassi.

Palou is more than good enough to drive any car he wants. Growing up in Spain, it makes perfect sense his lifelong dream to race like in Formula One like Fernando Alonso.

But, one way or another it seems like one of two things happened this year.

1: Palou realized he was too old, even at 26, to break into Formula One without a stint as a reserve driver, disrespecting himself and risking his career for a shaky promise of time in the F1 spotlight. Never say never, but admit it's not likely and not worth throwing away a good thing.

Or, 2: he thought "to hell with F1, I'm pretty damn good at this."

Glad he's wised up, one way or another.

Oh, before I forget, congrats on the baby, Alex. He announced one is on the way this offseason.