Palou to drive American Legion car for last INDYCAR oval race
The American Legion will be represented by NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing in Saturday night’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill.
The 24-year-old driver from Spain will trade in his NTT DATA paint scheme for the full sponsorship of The American Legion on the No. 10 Honda for the Aug. 21 race.
The American Legion is normally on the No. 48 Honda driven by Jimmie Johnson on the street and road courses. Because this is a short oval race, Johnson gets the weekend off. Popular 2004 INDYCAR SERIES driver and 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan returns to the grid in the No. 48 and will be sponsored by Bryant Heating and Cooling.
Palou leads the NTT INDYCAR SERIEs championship standings by 21 points over Pato O’Ward of Mexico and by 34 points over Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon, a six-time series champion.
It’s the last oval race of the season.
“I’m super excited to go to Gateway and represent The American Legion,” Palou said. “It’s always fun to see Indy cars around the ovals. Gateway as a track and as an event is super exciting.
“For the championship, it’s always crazy on the ovals, but I think we have done a really good job this year on the ovals. We finished seventh at Texas and second in the Indianapolis 500. I hope we can continue that at Gateway. It’s a race that I’m looking forward to.”
It’s also a night race held in front of a big crowd making it an exciting atmosphere.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Palou said. “I would watch that race on TV and it looks awesome at night with the grandstands full of people. It’s an event that is important for INDYCAR. I’m looking forward to it and think we have a good car.
“Hopefully, it will be a good event for us.”
Palou values his relationship with teammate Jimmie Johnson of The American Legion with helping him prepare for the battle for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES title.
Johnson is a racing legend, one of just three drivers in history to win seven NASCAR Cup Series championships in a career that included 83 Cup Series victories. This year, Johnson has parked his No. 48 Chevrolet in NASCAR and replaced it with the No. 48 Carvana/The American Legion Honda as an NTT INDYCAR SERIES rookie.
Although Johnson continues to tackle the steep learning curve in INDYCAR, his championship experience and willingness to help teammates has had a dramatically positive impact on Palou’s season. Johnson leads by example, just by the way he carries himself and elevates everybody around him.
“Jimmie is so special,” Palou said. “He has been the champion seven times in NASCAR Cup and that is not easy to do. That is amazing. He has helped the team elevate. He is not only trying to learn the INDYCAR, but also trying to erase all the experience he had from NASCAR. He says how they do it is completely the opposite on the throttle, so he is trying to forget 20 or 20-plus years of experience in NASCAR and learn from INDYCAR with no testing and really small practice.
“He is doing much better every time. He has made a big jump since the beginning of the championship. You will see once he returns to road courses that he has been and tested before like Laguna Seca, he will be right up there.”
Palou has ranked no lower than third in the standings at any point this season and with four races remaining, he is the driver every other racer in INDYCAR is chasing for the championship.
That’s a position Johnson is quite familiar with from his NASCAR championships and has imparted some of his wisdom and experience with Palou, a 24-year-old from Spain.
“I said one time one of the first days I met him, ‘I was trying to work as hard as possible to be a champion one day like you are,’” Palou recalled. “He said, ‘Yes, you will be. Don’t worry.’ Once the season started and we got some results, he was always stressing to us that we know how to do it.
“There isn’t extra pressure on you when things are going well. When things are going well and you work super hard to get the results, you don’t feel the pressure. You are doing everything you can to prepare yourself as much as possible to make things happen. When things go bad, then you feel the pressure.
“Now, we are in good times and enjoying and preparing even more and even harder.”
As the youngster on the team, Palou remains highly inquisitive and eager to learn from such legends as six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Dixon and seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Johnson.
“The interaction I have with Jimmie Johnson is really good,” Palou admitted. “I sometimes text him what he is doing today. I want to learn from champions. I have the opportunity here to learn from true champions and I want to know what they do, what they eat for breakfast, how they think, how they prepare.
“On the race weekends, my relationship is really close to him. I’m really, really close to Jimmie and he is always looking for me, trying to help me in certain areas. It has been super fun.”
Four previous times this season, Palou’s No. 10 Honda has carried the colors and logos of The American Legion. During those weekends, he has gotten to know many members of The American Legion and former national commanders have been with Palou in the pits and on the starting grid before those contests.
“It’s been awesome to represent The American Legion as a group,” Palou said. “We started together at Indy road course. They had some really important and amazing people as guests at the races. It’s been super interesting to me. Coming from Spain and getting to know so many people that are so special, it’s been an amazing experience for me. I love representing The American Legion and have had a lot of fun representing them.”
His time around members of The American Legion have always given the 24-year-old from Spain a tremendous understanding of the United States. Members of The American Legion have served this country and it’s that service that Palou highly respects.
“I’ve always wondered why there is this thing in the United States that people love their country so much, because you don’t see that much in Europe,” Palou explained. “Once you experience the culture and learn more, you really understand it.
“I’m enjoying it. I always wanted to live in the United States and experience the people and the culture. Thanks to getting to know and work with The American Legion, it’s been a really fun experience for me.”
Johnson will resume his duties with the No. 48 Carvana/American Legion Honda beginning with the Sept. 12 Grand Prix of Portland. He will be in the cockpit for the final three contests of the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.