NTT INDYCAR SERIES: 109TH RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500

May 22, 2025

Scott Dixon

Alex Palou

Felix Rosenqvist

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Continues with row 2, starting sixth, Alex Palou. Starting fifth, back for his seventh Indy 500, Felix Rosenqvist. Starting fourth, the 2008 winner of the 500, six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champ, Sunday he'll break a tie with Mario Andretti for most career starts in INDYCAR history, Scott Dixon.

We'll start with you, Alex. Looking forward to getting back in the car tomorrow?

ALEX PALOU: Yeah, super excited. It's almost race day. Carb Day is super fun. A lot of people. Last chance for us to try and get a little bit more from the cars. I think we still want more sessions or more time to try and get the cars better.

But yeah, feeling good.

THE MODERATOR: Felix, a lot of good shots at winning this race. This is a good one, right?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yes. The last three years really I've been pretty good for us here. Yeah, just ready to get going, man. I feel like everyone is going to have an amazing car with the amount of testing we have. Everyone keeps tuning on it. Hopefully ours is a little better than the rest.

No, it's been a good month for us. Qualifying was solid. It's been pretty good in every kind of weather, which race day might be a bit colder.

Yeah, ready to get going.

THE MODERATOR: Looks like it's going to be dry. It is going to be chilly. Scott, how does that change things, if at all, race setup?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, can't worry about the weather, right? Can't control it. It's the same for everybody.

I think we probably would have preferred it to be hot. I don't know. Maybe the people in the stands.

ALEX PALOU: Or windy (laughter).

SCOTT DIXON: Hot and windy.

No, it's nothing you can really focus in on too much. We'll get a little bit better idea come Friday, conditions should be pretty similar.

Yeah, just makes kind of tire deg a little easier and things like that. I think for a spectacle maybe with the race being cold, it might be a little more compact so the racing will be a little better, so that will be good.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Alex, with how good your season has gone so far, how difficult is it not to rest on your laurels and think it's going to go like it's gone the last several races so far?

ALEX PALOU: Yeah, honestly, I mean, it's been a crazy start of the season for us. Yeah, didn't go to Indy road course thinking it was going to continue that way, or Barber, Long Beach, any other races. We just try and execute as good as we can.

But the 500, it's a different animal. It feels like it's outside of the championship. Like we're here for two weeks, everybody is so dialed in. You have new entries for this place. A lot more activities that we do for the 500. It feels like a race on its own.

Yeah, I'm just focused on the 500. So far we've been sixth best car out there.

Q. The change this year with Meyer Shank Racing, how different does this car feel than last year not taking the hybrid into account with that?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: Hard to know with the hybrid. I think the hybrid has been pretty huge around here. The cars have felt pretty good. The partnership with Ganassi, all three of us are technically in the same boat.

You hear how difficult the car is to handle, and we feel that. I think we're on the better side of it. There's definitely cars that are handling worse than ours.

It's just a lot of depth in this alliance. You have the guy sitting next to me, you have Kyffin and Marcus and Helio. Every time after a session, there's so much to be learned. I think that's also the reason why we've been strong.

Yeah, super successful so far. Super happy with it.

Q. Scott, how busy have the debriefs been this year? How different is it this year compared to last?

SCOTT DIXON: It's been pretty chilled to be honest. It's been pretty relaxed. I think some days we've had a fair amount of time. I think it's been very resourceful and pretty open. There's kind of no egos. Apart from Helio, it's been pretty easy (laughter).

Q. He called you out saying you dyed your hair.

SCOTT DIXON: I've never dyed my hair. Him, that's a different story (smiling). I did bleach blond my hair. Is that the same thing? Whatever. Okay, so I have.

I'd like to see the proof. I'd like to see the proof.

Q. Alex, one of the kind of videos that's made a lot of rounds since Sunday is the one where you're laughing at Newgarden as they're working on Newgarden's car. Now with all the fallout, do you feel bad about standing there laughing?

ALEX PALOU: No, no. I mean, honestly, I was there like 10 minutes before Fast 12. That was Fast 12, right? I was the last car. Josef's car was right in front of us. I was just focused on my qualifying. Before getting into the car, I saw a lot of movement there.

I know that you're allowed to change front wing, rear wing, but nothing else. I was just there, just trying to be funny. I asked if they were trying to cheat. I didn't know what was going on. I didn't get an answer there.

Then suddenly I found what was going on. But I honestly didn't know what was going on. I just tried to be funny that moment.

Yeah, I mean, that's a sorry. I was not trying to put a finger in the thing that was going on, so yeah.

Q. Scott, a lot of talk on whether there's a level playing field or not. Are you confident that there is?

SCOTT DIXON: It's a difficult situation for them, right? I think they're under the magnifying glass anyway with what happened last year, then what happened last weekend. It's unfortunate I think mostly just for the series.

I don't want to get involved with it, to be honest. I think we've seen how it's playing out. They're doing the best they can at this moment. The downside is that most of the talk going into our biggest race of the year is about that as opposed to someone like Shwartzman getting the pole, rookie team. There's so many cool stories going into it. Hopefully that definitely ramps up.

Q. Scott, you have a lot of time over here, have been in a lot of meetings. I asked Helio. He said, Yes, I see a couple things I pointed out, but I also keep some things to myself. You already have Takuma as your teammate. Can you explain what do you see in these drivers that you still keep looking up in order to improve?

SCOTT DIXON: Helio is not very good at filling out his sheets and forms. Yeah, he's keeping a lot to himself. I think I asked several times that he fills in all the stuff on the computer (smiling).

No, no, it's always a feeling thing, right? For everybody it's a little bit different. Helio is so accomplished, winning four of these races is insane.

As I said earlier, it's been really relaxed. It's kind of cool to see everybody evolve in different ways throughout the practice sessions. I know at one point last week we went to the 06 setup just to try it because I want to see what he's been working on, what it feels like. I think a lot of us maybe merged in some directions of what he's been doing.

It's been a lot of fun. Also, you're so immersed in what you're doing yourself that the interaction is not always completely together. When there's five separate groups, there's a lot of stuff going on.

Fun to work with Sato and obviously Helio.

Q. Scott, you have enough starts here. Really feels like this year coming into the Indy 500 there isn't an odds-on guy on team picked to win. Does it feel pretty wide open to you as well, more so maybe this year?

SCOTT DIXON: I think the margins are definitely very small. But I think the PREMA Shwartzman thing was a good situation of that. I don't think anybody going into Saturday was like, They have a really good shot at winning pole. As soon as everyone saw them do their first run, I think all of us together in the room were like, Wow, that was really fast. And if he goes flat, it's going to be super fast. He'll be a real contender for the pole. That's how it played out.

There's been quite a few different storylines. Obviously some of the Penskes, all the Penskes are eliminated at the Fast 12. That shifted the storylines, but also how it played out.

I think it's wide open. I think there's a lot of great cars, great competitors, maybe more than we've seen. As you said, maybe you see a clear favorite, maybe three or four. This year there's a lot more.

Q. With the double being again this year, is there anybody you feel like you'd like to see come and try the double on the INDYCAR or NASCAR side? Scott, you have been nominated by a couple of guys already.

SCOTT DIXON: Wow, okay.

Well, yeah, it's probably a little easier going this way given the amount of track time you get. I think we kind of talked about it years ago with Chip. It just never really came to anything.

I think it's very difficult. I think it's maybe manufacturer situation, teams. It's not an easy thing to do. Really admire the people that do it. Obviously the success that we've seen with a lot of them has been huge.

So yeah, it's not in my near future, no.

Q. (No microphone.)

SCOTT DIXON: I don't know. Alex, you should do it.

ALEX PALOU: I would love to do it. I would do it.

SCOTT DIXON: Felix should do it, too. We should all do it maybe.

Q. (No microphone.)

SCOTT DIXON: I thought there's a rule, okay.

Q. (No microphone.)

ALEX PALOU: I think Scott should try. Depending how it goes, we follow (smiling).

Q. Alex, you haven't won an oval yet. Apologies. Is it frustrating, energizing? You've won just about everything else.

ALEX PALOU: No, I mean, I want to win at an oval. Trust me, I'm trying hard.

But yeah, it takes time, I guess. There's nothing I can do until Sunday to change that. Hopefully I can change it and I can win on Sunday. I know it's tough.

Otherwise I'll wait for the next one, Gateway. There's been many, many people that have taken a lot of years to win this race or to win on ovals. Yeah, hopefully we can change it quick.

Q. Alex, was the year you and Rinus got into it on pit lane leaving, was that the very best Indy 500 car you've ever had?

ALEX PALOU: I had really good cars here honestly. Like 2021, when I was battling with Helio, I think my car was better than Helio's. He was just better than me.

Then 2022 we really had good cars as well. 2023. I think the only year we didn't really have the ultimate speed, but still ended up fifth, it was pretty good, was last year.

Yeah, probably 2023 was the fastest car I had. Man, I had really, really good, nice cars here at the Speedway.

Q. After that crash, you went back to 28th, came all the way back to fourth or fifth.

ALEX PALOU: Yeah, as I said, I think here, if you have a really good car and you have confidence, but especially if you have a good car in traffic and fast, you can move up front.

Yeah, as I said, I've been lucky to have really, really fast cars here at the Speedway.

Q. Scott, you've mentioned the PREMA and Shwartzman storyline a couple of times. Where does that rank in your eyes as far as the most surprising Indy 500 moments?

SCOTT DIXON: Well, I don't know. Probably the one out of the blue I think, it's right up there. Might have to reflect a little bit. That may take some time.

I thought it was a cool story. Even for them I think it was unexpected. There's a lot of ex-Ganassi people there. Briscoe that I talk to quite often. I think they were just as shocked as most of the other people. It was a shock for one, but a really cool story.

THE MODERATOR: Guys, have a great day tomorrow and good luck on Sunday. Thank you.