NEW YORK CITY — When Alex Palou told Will Buxton that his nearly 2-year-old daughter was a key to his success, it created even more emotion from a historic season.
Everyone wanted to know what has made the difference. Oh, Palou had won championships previously, in 2021, 2023 and 2024. But his 2025 title couldn’t compare to his three previous titles. The 28-year-old Chip Ganassi Racing driver won eight races and won the title by the biggest margin in the 30 years of the modern era scoring system.
In the less than seven months of the season, Palou’s daughter, Lucia, went from 15 months old to almost 22 months old.
“Since I became a dad, seeing my daughter just wanting to play, just happy, not caring about anything, just about having fun — that made me realize that all my issues were super small,” Palou told Buxton for a piece that aired prior to the season finale a couple weeks ago at Nashville Superspeedway.
“Whenever something is bad, like a bad practice, a bad qualifying, a bad race, it’s OK. She’s still smiling, she’s still good. I think that’s been allowing me to be a lot more free, or a lot more giving 100 percent of myself. So I would say that’s the biggest change.”
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As he went from appearance to appearance to photo shoot celebrating the 2025 title last week, Palou had Lucia with him. He could turn on his phone and see the screenshot of a photo of her.
Lucia has been the star of some photo shoots, such as her reaction as her parents kissed he bricks after Palou’s Indianapolis 500 win.
“I’m very privileged to have the opportunity to live experiences like the 500 and winning or being at victory lane with her and getting amazing pictures,” Palou said last week in New York. “It’s just unfortunate that she’s so young, and she doesn’t really realize what’s going on.
“But one day, we’ll need to spend some time telling her what those pictures are and what they mean.”
What do they mean? They symbolize that Palou has made better use of his time. He has focused on his craft more when he needs to focus on it — and not focused on it to the point of out-thinking himself.
Palou said he has had to compartmentalize his time, forcing him that when he’s working, he’s getting more done because he has less time to do it.
“After the race, when I go back to the bus and she’s there, I suddenly change to parent mode, and it’s no longer the driver mode,” Palou said. “I love it. I think it’s a great balance.
“It’s been helping me a lot to be more focused when I’m on track, or more focused when I’m working, but then also being able to just relax and just enjoying every day.”
The next few years, Palou will get to see the impact of his racing on his daughter.
“I cannot wait for her to just understand what I do, what we do to go race and see if it’s important to her as well, or just at least seeing how important it is to me, and see if she can enjoy that life,” Palou said. “It’s not a normal life as well. … At the same time, it allows me to spend more time with her, like during the offseason, and even during the season.”
So what’s tougher, competing in the INDYCAR Series or being a parent?
For Palou the answer was easy: Parent.
“I think to race in INDYCAR, I’ve been racing go-karts or single-seaters or GTs since I was 5, so I think I went through a lot of stuff and I kind of expect what’s going to come,” Palou said. “With her, it’s not the same for me.
“It’s the first time of everything. Now I think I have a bit more experience. It’s almost been two years, but I remember the first year especially, everything was new. You cannot be really ready for that.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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