Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou took his maiden Indianapolis 500 title at the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500. The race was held on May 25 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.The Indianapolis 500 broke its purse money record for the second consecutive year, standing at a staggering $20,283,000 and becoming the largest purse amount of the century. Palou, being the race winner, received the major payout of $3.8 million, while the rest of the drivers earned $596,000 on averageLast year's Indianapolis 500 winner, Josef Newgarden, took home $4.3 million plus a bonus from BorgWarner for a second consecutive Indy 500 win. Alex Palou will be awarded the money during a victory ceremony held at the JW Marriott, which usually takes place on the Monday after the race.The Indy 500 purse is the money collected by the sponsors, sanctioning bodies, and TV broadcasters. The purse money is never split equally but is rather awarded based on the number of laps led by each driver, hitting certain speeds during the practice, etc.The 28-year-old driver won the Indianapolis 500 after he overtook Andretti Global's Marcus Ericsson on lap 187 of the 200-lap race. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver started the race in 5th place and became the first Spaniard to win the Indy 500.Alex Palou speaks about his controversial smirk at Josef Newgarden's Indy 500 carThe three-time champion Alex Palou was seen smiling at the #2 entry of Team Penske during the Fast 12 qualifying held on May 18. Minutes after the qualifying session ended, the Team Penske cars were disqualified as they failed the post-qualifying inspection.During the press conference after the qualifying session, the 28-year-old, when asked about the incident, Alex Palou, shed light on how he was "just trying to be funny" and was not aware of the illegal modifications made to the Penske car. The reporter also asked the driver if he felt bad for smiling after the illegal modifications were brought to light. He said,“No, no. I mean, honestly, I was there like 10 minutes before Fast 12. That was Fast 12, right? I was the last car. Josef's car was right in front of us. I was just focused on my qualifying. Before getting into the car, I saw a lot of movement there,” replied Alex Palou.“I know that you're allowed to change front wing, rear wing, but nothing else. I was just there, just trying to be funny. I asked if they were trying to cheat. I didn't know what was going on. I didn't get an answer there. Then suddenly I found what was going on.“But I honestly didn't know what was going on. I just tried to be funny that moment. Yeah, I mean, that's a sorry. I was not trying to put a finger in the thing that was going on, so yeah,” he added.The rumors about Chip Ganassi tipping off IndyCar took off after the video of Palou smirking started circulating on social media.