Having already dominated in one American racing series, reigning four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou has admitted to being keen to try his hand behind the wheel of a NASCAR.
The 28-year-old Spaniard is fresh off a dominant season with Chip Ganassi Racing, winning eight of this year’s 17 races, including his first-ever Indy 500 victory. Now with his fourth championship secured and the season concluded, Palou recently spoke with NASCAR driver and broadcaster Corey LaJoie, where he revealed his stance on potentially swapping series.
Palou explained on the ‘Stacking Pennies‘ podcast that while he is yet to test drive a NASCAR, he “would love to,” adding, “I don’t know if Chip would be happy with that, but I think it would be really fun.”
That being said, Palou was hesitant about the prospect of competing in a race, commenting, “Maybe I would be able to do something on road and street courses, but I think on ovals at the moment I would just get smashed, and I don’t like that. So, yeah, testing would be good, and then maybe we see.”
Palou went on to reiterate that he simply didn’t think he “would be good” in NASCAR, explaining, “I think it would take me a long time. I think I would struggle. I don’t know if I would ever be able to be fighting at the level that I’m fighting in IndyCar.” He even suggested that switching IndyCar for Formula 1 would be a smoother transition for him, given the inherent similarities between the series.
Regardless, should NASCAR ever manage to convince Palou to give the series a try, perhaps on a road course, he’d be following in the footsteps of the likes of Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, and Tony Stewart, who have all won in both series.
Furthermore, he wouldn’t need to look far for a prime example of a successful road course racer performing well on streets in a stock car whilst struggling to adapt to ovals, with three-time Supercars Championship winner Shane van Gisbergen having won four road course races this season in the Cup Series, while he is yet to crack the top 10 on an oval.
Palou even went on to mention, when asked which races he would “love to win,” that, along with Le Mans, the Daytona 500 would fit within that category, adding that the same goes for “all races that are big and that don’t conflict with IndyCar. I would love to do those. And even races that might not be as big. I love to race cars, whatever cars. I just love to race. I love the competition.
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“I’m not as crazy as [Kyle] Larson to be racing 300 and something or 100 races. I don’t think I have the talent either to race multiple different series of cars, but I love to race. I love to be in a car and to compete with other drivers.”
As eluded to by Palou, Hendrick Motorsport’s Larson is well-known for seemingly packing in as many different races into his schedule as he can.
However, there is, of course, an inherent risk involved that it could go wrong, as was the case this season. The 2021 Cup Series champion endured a nightmare when attempting “Double Duty,” crashing in the Indy 500 before making his way to Charlotte, where he later wrecked in the Coca-Cola 600.
Unsurprisingly, Larson admitted in June that he does not intend to run “Double Duty” again. “I will have FOMO from running the Indy 500,” he said, via NBC Sports. “Hopefully, someday I can run that again, but I don’t have any desire to do the Double again. It didn’t go well the last two years.”