Alex Palou has pumped the brakes on talk that Kyle Kirkwood is the king of street racing in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.

Yes, Kirkwood has won a series-leading five street races over the past three years, but Palou has won four such races in that span, including his first Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday.

Palou (photo, top) just keeps racking up achievements. The weekend win gave him 11 victories in the past 22 races, a staggering rate unmatched over the past decade. Palou now has 22 career wins in just 103 races and since joining Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021 has won 24.7 percent of the 89 races.

More significant is the fact Palou has the points lead in pursuit of his fourth consecutive series championship and fifth in six years. Sunday’s win allowed him to overtake Kirkwood in the standings, and he will take a 17-point advantage over Kirkwood to the Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Remarkably, Kirkwood is the only driver within a race’s worth of points of Palou. Team Penske’s David Malukas stands third, 63 points in arrears of the leader. More than half of the full-season drivers are effectively two races behind Palou’s point total.

Palou and his Chip Ganassi Racing crew continue to beat opponents at the finer points of these races. Sunday, their final pit stop was just a tick quicker than that of race leader Felix Rosenqvist, whose Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian crew bobbled slightly attaching the left rear tire. Palou also benefited from having the first pit box, allowing him a clean exit in the race off pit road.

Palou did the rest, driving away from the field on a set of Firestone’s primary tires. His margin at the finish line was 3.9663 seconds, but he had significantly slowed coming to the checkered flag.

Felix Rosenqvist

Rosenqvist (photo, above) certainly drove admirably and would have been a deserving winner. The 51 laps he led from the pole were the most for a single race in his career (his previous high was 33). Scott Dixon finished third, his CGR crew helping him jump three positions with a quick final pit stop.

Palou’s win was his third in five races this season, including the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (another street race). Andretti Global’s Kirkwood won the other street race – the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington – with Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden capturing the Good Ranchers 250 oval race at Phoenix Raceway.

Everyone’s focus now turns to Indianapolis, where a two-day Open Test for the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is April 28-29. Here’s the bad news for Palou’s opponents: He swept the two races at IMS last year and has won three of the past four races on the road course. The Sonsio Grand Prix is Saturday, May 9, with the “500” on Sunday, May 24.

It’s fair to debate which driver is king of the various circuits, but the fact remains that Palou is the king of this sport until proven otherwise.