Did Alex Palou's dominance kill the era of IndyCar parity?

Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou won the 2025 IndyCar championship with a couple of races left in the season. Historically, the American open wheel racing series title usually goes down to the wire, which is largely because it is a spec series.

Unlike F1, which is an open Formula series where every team develops its own car from the ground up, IndyCar is a spec series with Dallara making the chassis for every team. As a result, with the cars having similar performance, the biggest difference is made by the combination of the setup and the driver.

While the last few championships have been close, Alex Palou blew open the 2025 IndyCar championship by taking 8 wins in a season, and also winning the title at Portland after his rival Pato O'Ward retired from the race.

But did Alex Palou’s dominance kill the era of parity in IndyCar? Let's have a look at the factors that led to Palou's dominance and determine whether the Spaniard killed the parity in the American open wheel racing series.

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Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing’s strong performance has been taken to another level

Alex Palou won the IndyCar title the very year he moved to Chip Ganassi Racing, i.e., 2021. The Spaniard has been a force to be recognised and went on to win the 2023, 2024, and 2025 titles as well. However, the most recent championship was different from the previous championship in a way that the Spaniard won a lot more races.

Alex Palou won the 2021, 2023, and 2024 titles by being consistent, not retiring, and making the best even on bad days. During the 2024 season, Palou had fewer wins than Scott McLaughlin, Will Power, and Pato O'Ward, who all had three wins, whereas Palou only had two (not including the exhibition race at Thermal). It was the consistency that pushed him to the title.

Going into the 2025 season, both Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing stepped up their game while the other top teams slipped, especially at the start of the season. As a result, Palou's consistency was converted into wins, and the reliability of Chip Ganassi Racing and Honda further boosted the season

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Underperformance by top teams, including Team Penske

All three Team Penske drivers were expected to be a threat to Alex Palou going into the 2025 title. However, Roger Penske's team had a shambolic season filled with unforced errors, reliability issues, and even a scandal. The Team Penske outfit was not a stable team in 2025, with multiple people leaving after the attenuator scandal at the Indy 500.

Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin had the pace to win the Indy 500, but the Kiwi made an error during warm-up laps and crashed out, while Newgarden, who joined the lead pack after starting at the back, was forced out of contention after a fuel system issue.

Similar issues persisted throughout the season. Newgarden was in the lead of the race at Iowa Race 1 when the American crashed into Louis Foster’s stricken car and retired. All these mishaps took the Penske drivers out of contention and gave Alex Palou a clear path.

Even McLaren and Pato O'Ward struggled to make the alternate tires work in qualifying, which put the Mexican at a disadvantage. Andretti Global’s Colton Herta underperformed massively and also had bad luck with reliability and making contact with others.

All these issues with the top teams’ drivers gave Palou a free ticket at the front of the grid, from where he dominated with consistency.

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The rise of AJ Foyt Racing and Meyer Shank Racing

While the likes of Team Penske, Arrow McLaren, and Andretti Global struggled, AJ Foyt Racing and Meyer Shank Racing came up as podium contenders in 2025. As a result, a bad result for a top team, which would've otherwise been a lower Top 10 finish, was converted into a finish outside the Top 10 as AFR drivers and MSR drivers beat them.

This further allowed Alex Palou to run away with the championship as his key rivals were getting beaten by midfielders, costing them precious points.

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Chip Ganassi Racing and Honda’s reliability

Alex Palou only had one retirement during the 2025 IndyCar season, and that was also due to his own fault, when he missed the braking point at Detroit GP during a restart and crashed into the barrier. Unlike Team Penske or Arrow McLaren, Palou didn't have a single issue with the reliability of the car.

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Did Alex Palou kill the IndyCar parity era? No.

A culmination of all these above-mentioned factors led to Alex Palou's 2025 IndyCar dominance. On the days when other top team drivers had a flawless run, even Palou couldn't beat them. Team Penske had the outright pace, and we're unbeatable at Nashville. Kyle Kirkwood at Long Beach beat Palou with a flawless drive, and the Spaniard had no answers.

If the top teams are able to put themselves together, Palou can certainly be challenged for another title. However, it doesn't take away from the amazing job that the Spaniard and CGR have done in 2025.