Alex Palou stood behind the black ropes that separate the No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing garage stall from race fans, standing in line with those who watched him set a fast pace earlier in the day as they all watched dozens of crew members hard at work fixing his damaged race car.
It was a messy scene in Gasoline Alley following Day 1 of Crown Royal Armed Forces Qualifying at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Palou and his team are certainly a bit down, but they’re not out.
Palou wrecked his fast Honda at 3:38 p.m. (ET) Saturday on his second qualifying attempt of the afternoon. He drifted on the exit of Turn 2, and after a quick attempt to correct the car, Palou slammed hard into the outside SAFER Barrier with the right side of his car and came to a rest on the backstretch. He climbed from the battered car without injury.
It came after Palou had already set the seventh-fastest time of the day with a four-lap average speed of 231.145 mph, but he wanted more. Today’s qualifying results determined the order for tomorrow’s Firestone Fast Nine Shootout (3 p.m. ET, live on NBC), slowest to fastest, and Palou wanted a more optimal spot in qualifying.
In turn, he did something race car drivers rarely complain about doing.
“I was just trying to go as fast as I could, and I went too fast,” he said. “We made a mistake, I made a mistake and crashed the primary car. But then you realize you’re in the Fast Nine and the Indy 500, that the car is good, we don’t have to go to a backup car. I’m feeling good. It’s over now. We need to move on. I’m still really sorry for the team, but it’s Fast Nine mode now.”
Palou, 24, said once he took some time to calm down following the wreck, he evaluated the team’s position and fell back into his easy-going demeanor. Knowing he made the Firestone Fast Nine Shootout certainly made the healing process easier, but at the end of the day, it’s racing.
“I’m usually pretty easy when something goes bad,” he said. “You have to be, right? It’s racing. You have so many highs and so many lows. Like last weekend, I was on the podium (after finishing third in the GMR Grand Prix), and now we are crashing the car, but at the same time we made the Fast Nine.”
Mechanics from all four Chip Ganassi Racing teams are working to repair Palou’s car in time for tomorrow’s qualifying session. Chief mechanic Ricky Davis said he suspects it will be a long night for the organization, but he doesn’t think the team will be working out of Gasoline Alley all night.
Davis said that while fixing the car is important, a host of things go into determining how late they will stay, including how tired the engineers and mechanics are as the night goes on. He also has the benefit of the full Ganassi organization, which rushed to his side to help.
“It’s family; that’s the way it is,” Davis said. “A family member is in trouble, you come to the rescue, and that’s what they’re doing. They’re all coming to the rescue. Everybody is coming to our rescue. We’ve got a lot of support and a lot of help.”
Davis suspects there will be little change in how the car feels for Spaniard Palou when they roll out for Firestone Fast Nine Shootout practice Sunday morning (11:30 a.m. ET, live on Peacock).
Palou was confident, too, noting that while several new parts and pieces are being put onto the chassis, they’re all coming from the same source and are the same pieces that made his car seventh fastest and also put his other three teammates inside the Firestone Fast Nine Shootout.
Therefore, Palou is certain he still has a shot at winning the NTT P1 Award for pole for the 105th Running of the Indianapolis 500.
“Of course, we (have a shot),” he said. “This is Chip Ganassi Racing. We need to connect everything, and then it’s ready. It’s going to be the same one as I was running before and the same as the other guys. There’s no reason why the car isn’t going to be as fast as it was today.”
It’s that poise and confidence that got Palou his first-career NTT INDYCAR SERIES win in the season-opening race on April 18 at Barber Motorsports Park, and it could secure him a spot on the front row of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on Sunday, May 30.
To do so, he’ll have to go through his teammates, namely Scott Dixon in the No. 9 PNC Bank Grow Up Great Honda, who posted the best four-lap average speed of the day at 231.828 mph.
As he watched the organization repair the chassis, the engine, the gearbox and more that were scattered across the garage, Palou said he felt bad for the damage he created. He apologized to Davis immediately when he saw him after the wreck, and he joked that he plans to buy the team a lot of beer when this is all said and done.
But for now, the crew is hard at work, box dinners scattered across the garage, repairing the No. 10 car.