Chip Ganassi Racing and Álex Palou dominated the 2025 IndyCar season, and they don’t plan to stop in 2026. On day two of IndyCar content days, the three drivers, Palou, Scott Dixon, and Kyffin Simpson, spoke about their performances last year and how they plan to build on them this season.

Álex Palou

The season that Palou had last year was something he could only describe as “magical.“ To earn eight wins, an Indy 500 win, and a championship title, “you need so many things to go right.” And for Palou and the No. 10 car team, it did.

His dominance has put a target on his back as the driver to beat. But Palou knows in IndyCar it can change from year to year, so “you cannot count one person, one driver, one team out.”

With that being said, Palou knows he will find replicating his 2025 season next to impossible, as he says he’s “pretty certain that it’s probably not going to happen again for me. But I’ll try. I’ll try.”

Last year’s performance proved that what he wanted to achieve, which was good, consistent results, was tough but doable. This, in turn, is giving them something to chase in 2026.

“Trying to get those podiums, those amount of podiums, those amount of wins, and trying to get both the 500 and the championship.“

Scott Dixon

Last year, Dixon finished third in the championship standings. However, he feels it was a “bit of a downer year” for him and his team. He managed to earn only one victory and six top-5s.

Looking back on 2025 during a “big deep dive in the off-season,” they saw positives. He also there were also factors that became the Achilles’ heel to achieving better results. Saying there were things he “could have executed a little bit better on.”

Dixon highlighted poor qualifying performances and other small things that were resulting in races in which they “gave up a lot of big starting positions on weekends that were looking extremely good.”

Heading into the 2026 season, Dixon is looking forward to getting redemption. He’s recognized the problems on his side, made “a couple of small changes on the stand.” Now, for him, it’s all “just execution and looking at the details a little bit better.”

Kyffin Simpson

In 2025, Simpson took a huge step up from his rookie year and is looking to carry that momentum into the 2026 season with one clear thing in mind: “consistency.”

Looking back on last year, Simpson credits “building and building throughout the year” with his rise in performance. His season was highlighted by performances like Toronto, where he earned his first podium with a third-place finish, and the final race of the season at Nashville, where he battled Scott McLaughlin for third in the final laps.

Those performances showed him and the team that “we’re good enough and that we’ve been very close before,” fighting at the top. Giving themselves the opportunity to “aim high”. Goals like getting that first win or a top 5 in the championship.

And that’s where the consistency comes in. Last year, there were good and bad races, but this year, he wants to make a “bad weekend not so bad.” By doing so, he thinks that “is where you
really make big gains in the championship.”

Expectations for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2026 will be high. Eyes will be on whether the team can maintain its dominance across all three drivers. 

Every driver enters the season with their own set of motivations. Palou aims to secure his fourth consecutive championship, Dixon is eager to regain his championship-winning form, and Simpson is focused on building on his 2025 performance. That motivation has Dixon thinking, “This year should be big for all three of us.“

See more articles on drivers’ goals and teams’ outlooks for the 2026 IndyCar season here.