Paddock Buzz: Alex Palou Proves He's Mortal Friday at Phoenix

Alex Palou showed he is human, after all.

The four-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion starts 10th for Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway after posting a two-lap qualifying average of 172.980 mph in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Coverage of the 250-lap race begins at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX One, FOX Sports app and INDYCAR Radio, powered by OnlyBulls.

“Good recovery from practice,” Palou said. “We struggled a lot in practice, a bit more than we thought. I feel like the car was a lot better than in practice. So, we knew we were not going to fight for top five.”

The qualifying result followed a difficult practice session earlier in the day where Palou (photo, top) was 18th fastest, forcing the Spaniard and the Chip Ganassi Racing team to focus on stabilizing the car rather than chasing the front row.

The last time Palou started outside the top 10 was the 2024 season finale at Nashville Superspeedway, where he qualified 24th before finishing 11th to clinch his third series championship.

Last season, when Palou captured his fourth title in five years, he qualified ninth or better in all 17 races.

Saturday’s race also marks Palou’s 100th career start in the series. In his first 99 races, he has recorded 20 victories, 58 top-five finishes and 74 top-10 results, including a win in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 1.

Palou knows the race remains wide open for an opportunity to extend his points lead. He was fourth fastest in final practice.

“Yes and no,” Palou said when asked if he was satisfied with the result. “I knew it was going to be tough, but after practice I was like, ‘Whoa, maybe too much tougher than we expected.’

“So, I feel like we did a good job of not throwing crazy stuff and just having a very bad qualifying. I think top-10 qualifying is not great, but it's good, and we can race from there.”

Palou also proved last season that he can thrive on ovals. He led the series in oval points in 2025, winning the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge and a race at Iowa Speedway for his first career oval victories. He also finished in the top two four times in six oval races.

Newgarden Leads Final Practice

Josef Newgarden backed up his second-place qualifying performance behind Team Penske teammate David Malukas by leading the final practice, which included a high-line session to create more racing room on the 1-mile oval.

SEE: Final Practice Results

Newgarden (photo, above) was fastest at 167.677 in the No. 2 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet, followed by Marcus Armstrong at 167.161 in the No. 66 ROOT Insurance Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian.

Pato O’Ward was third at 166.724 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, with series points leader Palou fourth at 166.197 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

NTT P1 Award winner Malukas rounded out the top five at 165.394 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

Malukas Embracing Life at Team Penske

A few hours before Malukas earned the first NTT P1 Award of his career, he found himself in a very different setting.

Inside Team Penske’s hospitality unit Friday morning, Malukas joined team owner Roger Penske and teammates Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin for a Q&A session celebrating the organization’s 60th anniversary. NASCAR Cup Series drivers Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric also participated (photo, above).

The moment highlighted how far Malukas’ career has come.

The 24-year-old raced with Dale Coyne Racing in 2022-23 before stops at Meyer Shank Racing in 2024 and AJ Foyt Racing in 2025. He’s in his first season driving the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

The Chicago native remembers racing alongside Newgarden and McLaughlin at World Wide Technology Raceway early in his career and thinking to himself: “Those are Penskes.”

Now he is one of them.

Malukas is joined on the front row by teammate Newgarden (No. 2 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet). McLaughlin starts fifth in the No. 3 Gallagher Insurance Team Penske Chevrolet.

“I’m still living my dream, and I'm not really getting used to it,” Malukas said. “I watched Team Penske and Will Power in the Verizon car on TV while riding around on my scooter inside when my mom screamed at me. I can’t believe it.

“Now we're here, 24 years old, and not just racing with Team Penske, I get to stand up as part of Team Penske.”

Despite joining the team this offseason, Malukas admitted the reality of the opportunity didn’t fully hit him until last weekend at the season opener in St. Petersburg.

“St. Pete was when everything was just the choreography, the discipline between everything and seeing how things are organized,” he said. “I'm so used to grabbing my own things. They said: ‘We got this all sorted. You do your stuff.’ That was my first moment where it felt real.

“When you look at the team, the Penske trucks, the chrome, you’re always wondering what’s going on in there. Now I get to open that door and be part of it.”

Logano Joins FOX Broadcast at Phoenix

Three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano is joining FOX Sports’ broadcast team for Saturday’s race. He shares the booth with FOX INDYCAR play-by-play announcer Will Buxton and analysts James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell.

Logano (photo, above) has enjoyed tremendous success at Phoenix Raceway, winning two of his three championships at the track, in 2022 and 2024.

“I called them (FOX Sports) and said I don’t know what you expect of me,” Logano said with a laugh. “I watch INDYCAR races, but I have no idea what’s going on with strategy.”

Instead, Logano expects to offer a perspective on how drivers approach Phoenix in different types of race cars.

“I’m excited,” he said. “I’ve never seen INDYCAR machinery in person on an oval other than a practice day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This is going to be wild.”

Logano recently compared notes with McLaughlin about how differently NASCAR and INDYCAR drivers approach Phoenix.

“He asked if we cover the brake a little bit in the corner,” Logano said. “I’m like, ‘We’re way on the brakes and downshift.’ He told me they’re flat (no braking).

“Both of our minds were blown.”

Strong Start for VeeKay, Rossi

Rinus VeeKay starts eighth in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet after continuing the momentum he built in the season opener at St. Petersburg, where he climbed from 19th to finish ninth.

“It’s a pretty good start,” VeeKay said. “I think Juncos Hollinger Racing is showing that they can give me a top 10-worthy car every time.”

His teammate, Sting Ray Robb, earned a career-best 12th-place starting spot in the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger – Goodheart Chevrolet.

Alexander Rossi also expects to be a factor despite qualifying sixth in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet.

Rossi (photo, above) was the fastest driver during the series’ two-day Open Test at Phoenix two weeks ago but encountered a few surprises during Friday practice.

“Qualifying was not what I expected, but is it ever?” Rossi said. “We were obviously really strong here in the test. We had a couple of surprises this morning in practice that put us a little bit on the back foot.

“But I think ultimately the package is pretty good. I’m not too concerned about it.”

Rossi is one of five drivers, joining Will Power, Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon and Newgarden, with previous INDYCAR experience at Phoenix Raceway. Among his eight career victories, two have come on oval tracks.

Odds and Ends

• Rookie Mick Schumacher starts fourth in the No. 47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. It marks the second consecutive race a rookie has started on Row 2 after Dennis Hauger qualified third last week at St. Petersburg.

• Kyle Kirkwood starts ninth in the No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda, the best qualifying result among Andretti Global drivers.

• Will Power crashed on his second lap of qualifying in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda for Andretti Global. Teammate Marcus Ericsson qualified 13th after taking a conservative approach with a similar setup.

• Friday’s on-track conditions were tricky. The morning practice session took place in air temperatures in the low 60s. Qualifying and the final practice session occurred in windier conditions, with temperatures at least 10 degrees warmer.

• Plenty of NASCAR drivers walked around the garage area when NTT INDYCAR SERIES final practice was taking place. Carson Hocevar, William Byron and Riley Herbst were notable drivers intrigued by what was occurring on track.

• Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series race features a tribute this weekend to McLaughlin’s Australian Supercars machine from his 2019 Bathurst 1000 victory. McLaughlin joked he’s not old enough for a throwback vehicle.

• An alumni autograph session will take place March 14 ahead of the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington, featuring former INDYCAR SERIES, Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers legends as Bobby Rahal, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, Charles Haley, Johnny Rutherford, Elvis Andrus and Drew Pearson.