Alex Palou addresses concerns surrounding | Sports News

Having already dominated in a single American racing sequence, reigning four-time IndyAutomobile champion Alex Palou has admitted to being eager to strive his hand behind the wheel of a NASCAR.

The 28-year-old Spaniard is recent off a dominant season with Chip Ganassi Racing, profitable eight of this 12 months’s 17 races, together with his first-ever Indy 500 victory. Now along with his fourth championship secured and the season concluded, Palou not too long ago spoke with NASCAR driver and broadcaster Corey LaJoie, the place he revealed his stance on probably swapping sequence.

Palou defined on the ‘Stacking Pennies‘ podcast that whereas he’s but to check drive a NASCAR, he “would love to,” including, “I don’t know if Chip would be happy with that, but I think it would be really fun.”

That being mentioned, Palou was hesitant concerning 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 merely did not suppose 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 urged that switching IndyAutomobile for Formula 1 can be a smoother transition for him, given the inherent similarities between the sequence.

Regardless, ought to NASCAR ever handle to persuade Palou to present the sequence a strive, maybe on a highway course, he’d be following within the footsteps of the likes of Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, and Tony Stewart, who’ve all gained in each sequence.

Furthermore, he would not need to look far for a prime instance of a profitable highway course racer performing properly on streets in a stock car while struggling to adapt to ovals, with three-time Supercars Championship winner Shane van Gisbergen having gained 4 highway course races this season within the Cup Series, whereas he’s but to crack the highest 10 on an oval.

Palou even went on to say, when requested which races he would “love to win,” that, together with Le Mans, the Daytona 500 would match within that class, including that the identical 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 loopy as [Kyle] Larson to be racing 300 and one thing or 100 races. I do not suppose I’ve the expertise both to race a number of completely different sequence of automobiles, however I like to race. I like to be in a car and to compete with different 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 within the Indy 500 earlier than making his technique to Charlotte, the place he later wrecked within the Coca-Cola 600.

Unsurprisingly, Larson admitted in June that he doesn’t intend to run “Double Duty” again. “I’ll have FOMO from working the Indy 500,” he mentioned, by way of NBC Sports. “Hopefully, sometime I can run that again, however I don’t have any need to do the Double again. It didn’t go properly the final two years.”