With Helio Castroneves by his side, Alex Palou sets sight on breakthrough Indy 500 win

Alex Palou has got the brainpower of the four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves on his side for this year's May event. Chip Ganassi Racing has a technical alliance with Meyer Shank Racing (Castroneves is a co-owner).

In line with this, Alex Palou is eagerly looking forward to benefitting from Helio Castroneves' (who is also competing) experience of the Indy 500. The former was recently asked about the same, and he replied by stating:

"That'll be cool. Never worked with him. I know that he might know a lot of stuff... like having Tony (Kanaan) here when he was in our car, and also Jimmie (Johnson), even though he was not from this place with our car, the things they think about before the race or before the qualifying, it's stuff that I would never think. So I can't wait to see what Helio has to say and has to bring, but for sure... well, he's earned four Indy 500s, right? So it'll be good." (0:39 - 1:12)

Helio Castroneves triumphed in the Indy 500 in 2001, 2002, 2009, and 2021. Alex Palou, on his end, managed fourth and fifth place in the 2023 and 2024 editions of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway event.

Alex Palou had an 'amazing' outing at Thermal Club

While Alex Palou has set his sights on putting on a great show at the 2025 Indy 500, he has been perfect in terms of results in the IndyCar season. His first victory came at St. Pete, whereas his second was at the recent 65-lap Thermal Club Grand Prix.

Following his sensational triumph around the tricky Thermal layout, he had the following to add:

“What an amazing weekend. We had a really fast car since practice, and everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing on the 10 car executed perfectly. We knew it was aggressive to start with the used reds (alternate tires), and we knew that we were looking toward the end of the race with that 10 car, and we did it."

Alex Palou has entered the ongoing IndyCar Series as the reigning champion. Last year, he amassed an impressive 544 points to secure his third title. Moreover, in the process of doing so, he was able to put on board two wins, three poles, 13 top-five, and 13 top-10 finishes. His nearest rival was Andretti Global's Colton Herta, who managed 513 points.

Palou has been on-song from the get-go this year as well, and keeping in view everything that has been discussed, he would be one of the favorites to triumph in the 2025 Indy 500. However, his biggest challenge could prove to be Team Penske's Josef Newgarden, who has amassed back-to-back victories in the event since 2023