History awaits Alex Palou this weekend at Milwaukee Mile.

The four-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion can clinch a record-tying fourth consecutive Astor Challenge Cup in either the Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250 on Saturday or the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 on Sunday.

Palou (photo, top) can clinch Saturday by finishing 108 points ahead in the standings after the 250-lap race or by 54 or more points after Sunday’s race.

The Spaniard enters the weekend with a 91-point lead over second-place Kyle Kirkwood. Only Sebastien Bourdais, who won four consecutive championships from 2004-07, has accomplished the feat.

Palou’s path became more difficult Friday when his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was one of five cars requiring an unapproved engine change after the race last Sunday at Washington. The change puts Palou over the five-engine season allotment, resulting in a nine-spot grid penalty for Saturday’s race.

Still, Palou isn’t changing his approach.

“We got here by trying to win races, not by just trying to score points,” said Palou, who has six wins in 15 races this season. “I’m not going to go crazy, but I need to see where we start at the same time and how we feel.

“I know that we have a good cushion, but at the same time, I know that a bad race suddenly kills like 40, 50 points. So, if I have the chance to go for the win, I’ll go.”

NTT P1 Award qualifying for both races takes place at 11 a.m. ET Saturday on FS1, FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls. Palou was third fastest in the opening practice Friday.

That mindset worked for Palou at Milwaukee last year. He started on the pole and led 199 of 250 laps before finishing second, his best result in three starts at the 1.015-mile oval.

Without a championship to protect after clinching the title the previous race at Portland International Raceway, Palou focused on improving his oval racing craft.

The Spaniard believes that could indirectly lead him to a 2026 championship this weekend.

“I think we learned a lot last year,” Palou said. “It was the first ever time on a short oval that I was driving the car, like the car wasn’t driving me. So, it was a great experience.”

The biggest lesson was learning how aggressive he could be without going over the line. That’s something he wasn’t comfortable with prior to Milwaukee last year.

“How aggressive can you be without going crazy,” Palou said. “How fast and in traffic, especially. … So just to be at that level.”

Pato O'Ward

Battle For Second Rages On

The championship may be all but decided, but the battle for second is a good one, with drivers who are expected to be out front this weekend.

Kirkwood is 91 points behind Palou for the championship lead, but he leads Christian Lundgaard by 19 points for second. David Malukas is 51 points behind Kirkwood, with Pato O’Ward 63 points back.

Kirkwood, who won last Sunday at Washington, aims to give Andretti Global its second runner-up points finish in the last three seasons. Colton Herta finished second to Palou in 2024. O’Ward (photo, above) was the runner-up to Palou last season.

Kirkwood has an opportunity to pounce with Palou and Malukas two of the drivers facing nine-spot grid penalties Saturday. So do Scott McLaughlin, Rinus VeeKay and Sting Ray Robb in those taking nine spot grid penalties due to engine changes.

But Kirkwood’s No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda also was heavily damaged in a crash with Christian Rasmussen during practice Friday.

“It’s the battle for second now,” Malukas said. “We’re not going to be focusing on that (a championship). I mean, it’s done. We just have to look on trying to get to second because that race now is a big battle.”

Milwaukee Mile could provide an opportunity for Malukas and O’Ward to close the gap, despite Malukas’ grid penalty.

Malukas has scored a series-high 152 points in the four oval races this season, including three top-three finishes.

O’Ward has three top-seven finishes in the four oval races and won in 2024 at Milwaukee.

“If we have a great Milwaukee, I do think we have a shot at second (in points) going into Laguna,” O’Ward said. “But if we don’t, I think we’re pretty much set.”

Kirkwood finished second at Phoenix this season, but was sixth at World Wide Technology Raceway and 10th at Nashville after starting from the pole.

Lundgaard has a best oval finish this year of 10th at WWTR, but he finished sixth at Milwaukee last year.

“This was the best oval race I had last year,” Lundgaard said. “I’m not going to lay back to not win a race. We do want to finish second (in points), and if that comes as a consequence of finishing second in one of the races, that’s what we can do.”

Rasmussen Returns to Winning Spot

Not many drivers pass Palou late in a race to win.

Rasmussen did last year at Milwaukee Mile for his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory, leading the final 16 laps. The Danish driver returns to Milwaukee as the defending race winner.

"Time to go back to short oval racing," Rasmussen said. "And not just any oval, the oval where we won last year. Being the defending winner and knowing what we are capable of there definitely sets our goals high. And even better, we get two chances at it with it being a doubleheader weekend."

Rasmussen has put on a show at an oval this already this season. He climbed from 18th to second earlier this season at Phoenix Raceway but hit the wall battling with Will Power for the lead. He led 69 laps.

Rasmussen started 19th and finished third at WWTR.

He may not have to start as far back Saturday. Rasmussen has started seven or better in three of the past five races on the season in the No. 21 Splenda Stevia Chevrolet for ECR. But his crew also had plenty of work to do Friday night after the crash in practice with Kirkwood.

Odds and Ends

  • Palou has the No. 1 pit stall for both races this weekend due to his Washington pole.
  • Andretti Global seeks its first three-race winning streak since Ryan Hunter-Reay won three consecutive races in 2012 at Milwaukee Mile, Iowa Speedway and Toronto. For a time, ovals were Andretti Global's Achilles' heel, with the team going winless on circle tracks from September 2018 until Herta broke through at the 2024 finale at Nashville Superspeedway. Kirkwood won last year at World Wide Technology Raceway.
  • Watch out for Team Penske drivers this weekend, too. Seventeen teams have won races with Chevrolet power on short ovals, with Team Penske accounting for 56.1-percent of those victories (32 of 57), including two of three this season for Josef Newgarden, who led practice Friday.
  • Honda leads Chevrolet by 206 points in the engine manufacturer standings. If Honda leaves Saturday’s race with a lead of at least 193 points, it will clinch its second consecutive manufacturers championship and ninth overall. Honda has 10 victories in 15 races this season, including four in a row.
  • Lundgaard and Nikita Johnson, the second-place driver in INDY NXT by Firestone points, are the only two drivers to have completed 100 percent of the laps this season. Lundgaard has completed all 1,962 laps in NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition, while Johnson has completed all 501 INDY NXT laps. The INDY NXT race is at 11 a.m. ET Sunday.