As the IndyCar circus arrives in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy weekend, one question stands out: Can anyone manage to catch runaway championship leader Alex Palou on the streets of Exhibition Place?
That’s because the reigning IndyCar champion and 2025 Indianapolis 500 winner clearly looks to be the driver to beat on almost every weekend, and ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ should be no different.
“There really isn’t an area of his game that you would consider a weakness,†said former IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe, now a Fox Sports commentator. “He’s exceptionally good at a few things, but the things that he’s not exceptional at he is still very, very good. Add into that mix the perfect temperament for a driver and it makes him devastatingly good.â€
The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ kicks off with a full day of practices and qualifying this morning. (July 18, 2025)
The Canadian PressSo far in 2025,
The three-time IndyCar champion (2021, 2023, 2024) has seven wins in 12 races this year, two more top-three finishes and a 129-point lead over Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward in the drivers’ standings. (IndyCar drivers get 50 points for a win).
Despite the 28-year-old Spaniard’s success in 2025, two things might work against Palou in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½. First, the unpredictable nature of the 11-turn, 2.874-kilometre Exhibition Place track, where anything can happen and often does.
“Street circuits are sometimes a bit of a lottery, so every one of them opens up opportunities for different winners,†Hinchcliffe said. “It also happens to be a type of track where his Chip Ganassi team doesn’t appear to have the fastest car, so it’s definitely going to be a big challenge. That said, he did finish on the podium with half a front wing in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ a few years back.â€
Second, Andretti Global boasts the strongest street course package this year with Kyle Kirkwood taking two wins on those tracks at Long Beach in April and at Detroit in June.
On top of that, defending ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ race winner Colton Herta drives for Andretti and remains hungry for his first win of 2025. A dark horse could be Felix Rosenqvist, whose Meyer Shank Racing team enjoyed a technical partnership with Andretti last season.
Devlin DeFrancesco is set to race at his hometown Exhibition Place course for the third time in the Ontario Honda Dealers ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Indy next weekend.
Devlin DeFrancesco is set to race at his hometown Exhibition Place course for the third time in the Ontario Honda Dealers ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Indy next weekend.
No matter who looks quick at Exhibition Place, Palou vowed to keep the throttle pinned rather than go the easy route, which would be to sit on his lead and race for points instead of wins in the five-race home stretch beginning with Sunday’s race in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½.
“I don’t think we’ve ever raced for points. The only places I remember was probably Nashville last year and Long Beach in 2021, where you know that if you finish in that position, you can be the champion,†said Palou, who needs three more wins to tie the single-season IndyCar record jointly held by A.J. Foyt and Al Unser.
“I think in all the other races it makes no sense. Like if we change the way they call the strategies or the way I drive just for thinking about points, I think we’re going to start dropping towards the back. I think we’re doing the right thing.â€
A.J. Foyt Racing driver David Malukas chose to find a positive in Palou’s domination, insisting that it makes other drivers work harder to find ways to match the front-runner.
“Competition is always good, it raises the whole field up,†said Malukas, who caused Palou’s worst result of 2025 when he crashed into Palou in Detroit, which saw the Ganassi driver classified 25th.
“To be able to race with Palou when he’s at this peak of racing — kind of just smoking the field in a field that’s already so strong and so powerful, he’s just making everybody else better. Everybody is studying it and trying to close that gap on him. Obviously, he’s been doing an incredible job this season, pulling far away from the rest of the pack.â€
While Palou has dominated in 2025, O’Ward, 26, seems to be hiding in plain sight as the most likely driver to mount a late-season challenge for the title, especially after taking his first win of the season in Iowa last weekend.
The big race is on Sunday, though there will be events all weekend.
The big race is on Sunday, though there will be events all weekend.
“I’ve been as consistent as I’ve ever been. I feel like I’ve been laying low, and that usually means you’re staying out of trouble, but it’s tough to be in podium contention and qualifying top three every single weekend,†said O’Ward, who hails from Mexico.
“In racing, anything is possible. But (Palou) just doesn’t have any bad races, and a bad race for him is like fifth; otherwise, he’s on the podium.â€
Unfortunately for O’Ward, Iowa turned out to be a one-step-forward, two-steps-back scenario after he won the first race of the doubleheader weekend to draw within 105 points of Palou, who finished fifth, only to see the places reversed in the second race.
Even if O’Ward can catch Palou on the streets of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ and close the gap a little more, Hinchcliffe definitely won’t bet against the Spaniard ending the 2025 season with IndyCar title No. 4.
“I won’t lie, it is a Herculean task to chase down Palou at this point, given his lead in the points, but we still have a few tricky races coming up,” he said. “A few non-finishes can see that lead dwindle very quickly.”
Australia’s Will Power and Kyle Kirkwood of the United States had two of the fastest practice laps at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½. They were impressed with the amount of fans that came out on Friday for the practice rounds and expect to see big crowds all weekend at Exhibition Place leading up to Sunday’s IndyCar Series race. (July 18, 2025)
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