The 2025 NTT IndyCar season was one for the history books. From the opening race at St Petersburg to the finale in Nashville, one name reigned supreme. It was the Alex Palou show, as the Chip Ganassi Racing driver became a four-time series champion. It was the 17th title for Chip Ganassi’s organization, which ties Team Penske for the most in series history.

Palou dominated the 17-race calendar, securing the championship with two races to spare. The Spaniard won 8 races, including the biggest one in the world. Palou earned his first career oval win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and became the first driver since Dario Franchitti in 2010 to win the Indy 500 and championship in the same season. He is also the first driver since Al Unser in 1994 to capture the championship, Indy 500, and have race wins on every type of track (speedway, short oval, road course, street circuit).

The list of achievements for Palou is endless, but there were plenty of other notable performances throughout the season. Heading into Round 10 at Mid-Ohio, Kyle Kirkwood was the only other driver to find victory lane. Scott Dixon capitalized on a rare Palou mistake there to extend his consecutive seasons with a win. Pato O’Ward won two of the next three races, and Will Power earned a much-needed win at Portland.

Team Penske had their worst season in a quarter century, with just two wins. Josef Newgarden found misery at every stop, except for the season finale in his home city. The train went off the rails for this prestigious organization at Indianapolis. With another cheating scandal being reported, Roger Penske had finally had enough. He fired Tim Cindric, Ron Ruzewski, and Kyle Moyer just days before the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Battles were won, battles were lost. Only one driver was happy with how the season played out. Here are some of the best and worst from the 2025 IndyCar season.

Best Team: Chip Ganassi Racing

Chip Ganassi Racing ran away with this one, and not just because of the dominance of Palou. Scott Dixon was steady all year and delivered a race win, three podiums, six top-fives, and finished 3rd in the final standings. Kyffin Simpson earned his first career podium at Toronto and finished the season with three top-fives and six top-tens.

Honorable Mention: Arrow McLaren

Most Disappointing Team: Team Penske

Just as Ganassi was a landslide for the best team, their rivals were the only real choice here. Obviously, Penske is not the worst team in the series, but looking at their expectations entering the year, they certainly fell short. It’s been more than 25 years since this organization faced this level of uncertainty, but they see optimism in 2026 with new leadership and a rejuvenated driver lineup. This was just an outlier season for Penske. They will turn things around, but their 2025 season was a disaster – on and off the track.

Honorable Mention: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Most Disappointing Driver: Josef Newgarden

Josef Newgarden is one of the three or four most talented drivers in this series. The amount of misfortune he endured this season is more than some drivers may face in their entire careers. He avoided his first winless season in more than a decade by earning the victory in the final race of the season, but still finished 12th in the standings. The crashes, mechanical failures, and crazy voodoo took their toll on Josef. It’s easy to understand his frustration and unwillingness to talk to TV reporters. It was a bad look, though, especially when his teammates were facing the music.

Honorable Mention: Marcus Ericsson

Best Race: Gateway

Everyone looks forward to the Indy 500 each year, but the most entertaining race this season came at Gateway. There were some bold moves, incredible saves, and plenty of action on pit lane. Kyle Kirkwood continued his impressive season with another win, as 14 of the 27 drivers led a lap in the race. The mixture of on-track battles (254 passes for position) and strategy calls created incredible drama. Like peanut butter and jelly, IndyCar and short ovals just go together perfectly.

Honorable Mention: Nashville

Best Finish: Mid-Ohio

The final six laps at Mid-Ohio did not play out as anyone expected. Alex Palou had dominated for most of the afternoon until he made a slight mistake and handed the lead over to teammate Scott Dixon. Despite needing to conserve fuel, Dixon was able to fend off a furious charge by Palou to take the win after starting in 9th position. The final few laps of this epic Ganassi duel were intense.

Honorable Mention: Milwaukee

Most Dominant Performance: Alex Palou, Barber

“It was a perfect day, a perfect weekend,” Palou said after stepping out of his No. 10 Honda in victory lane at Barber. There is no better way to describe his performance that weekend. Palou crushed the competition, starting from pole, leading 81 of the 90 laps, and cruising to a 16-second victory. It was the widest margin of victory since Scott Dixon won by 22.2256 seconds in 2023 at Gateway.

Honorable Mention: Alex Palou, Thermal Club

Biggest 2024 Turnaround: Christian Lundgaard

When Christian Lundgaard made the move from RLL Racing to Arrow McLaren, expectations were high. Although he didn’t win a race, he did earn three runner-up finishes and six total podiums for the team this season. He finished 5th in the championship standings, easily the best for a papaya car not driven by Pato O’Ward. Ovals have long been the kryptonite for Lundgaard, but he made strides on that this year as well. Similar to Formula One, the McLaren team now has two championship contenders.

Honorable Mention: Marcus Armstrong

Best Pass: Conor Daly, Gateway

When Conor Daly took the lead from Pato O’Ward at Gateway, it was the conclusion of an epic five-lap battle. The two drivers were going wheel-to-wheel all the way around the circuit, with Daly prevailing on the outside with a bold move.

Honorable Mention: Alex Palou, pass for the lead with 14 laps to go in the Indy 500

Best Save: Pato O’Ward, Nashville

The best save of the season came in the season finale at Nashville. It was none other than Pato O’Ward saving his car four times in final practice after earning pole position for the race.

Honorable Mention: Colton Herta, Milwaukee qualifying

Best Moment: Christian Rasmussen Victory

Watching Christian Rasmussen claw his way to his first career win was sensational. Watching Alexander Rossi trying to get to him in victory lane after the race was just as good. Rossi was genuinely excited to see him win, and he earned a 4th place finish to put a cap on the day for Ed Carpenter Racing. There is a reason why the team signed Rossi — to guide them to these moments.

Honorable Mention: Robert Shwartzman Indy 500 Pole

Scariest Moment: Josef Newgarden, Gateway

Anytime a car gets into the air, there is a hold-your-breath moment that seems like an eternity. That is what it felt like for Josef Newgarden when he nearly went over the pit wall in a crash at Gateway. It was a microcosm of the season that he had, just another unfortunate string of luck that seemed to plague him and Team Penske all year long. Fortunately, nobody was injured in this scary incident.

Honorable Mention: Conor Daly, Portland

Biggest Heartbreak: Jacob Abel, Indy 500 Qualifying

Getting bumped from the biggest race in the world is never ideal, especially when you’re the only one. Jacob Abel had to experience that this year, in his bid to start his first Indy 500 for Dale Coyne Racing. It was truly a shame because of the tribute livery on this car. The gorgeous Miller High Life colors were a throwback to Danny Sullivan, who won the race 40 years ago, and hails from the same town of Louisville.

Honorable Mention: Scott McLaughlin, Indy 500 pace lap crash

Funniest Moment: Devlin DeFrancesco and Cameraman

Devlin DeFrancesco had a viral moment during the race at Gateway. As Devlin was running to his car on pit lane, FOX cameraman Jimmy Kevin Henslee was following. Devlin stopped abruptly, but Jimmy was not so lucky. The good news is that both were okay, and Devlin gave him a bottle of bourbon at the next race.

Honorable Mention: Michael Andretti saving Conor Daly and Alexander Rossi, who were stranded on a boat

Mr. Consistency: Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing

No surprise here, as Alex was steady all year long, finishing 1st or 2nd in 13 of the 17 races this season.

Honorable Mention: Pato O’Ward

Top Rookie: Louis Foster, RLL Racing

The Rookie of The Year was a two-horse race between Louis Foster and Robert Shwartzman that came down to the final laps of the season. Robert shined on the biggest stage by winning the Indy 500 pole, it was Foster who earned his first pole at Road America. Foster had the better average finish (17.9 to 18.6) but failed to record a top-ten result, while Shwartzman did it twice, at Gateway and Iowa. Oddly enough, Robert’s prowess was on ovals, but we may not see him next season.

Honorable Mention: Robert Shwartzman

Best Helmet Design: Marcus Ericsson

There were several incredible lids on display at Indy this year. So much thought and meaning go into the design of these helmets, and it is always difficult to pick just one. In the end, I chose Marcus Ericsson’s tribute to Avicii (Tim Bergling) for this one. Ericsson shared an emotional story of admiration for the late music producer, who hails from his home country of Sweden.

Other worthy candidates include Pato O’Ward (Cipactli monster), Alex Palou (championship), Robert Shwartzman (gold), and Conor Daly (Wilbur Shaw tribute).

Honorable Mention: Pato O’Ward

Best New Livery:  Dale Coyne Racing/Jacob Abel (Miller Lite)

There were so many incredible liveries this season, many of them coming from Meyer Shank Racing and their partnership with SiriusXM. The Creed car at Indianapolis, The Grateful Dead and Metallica liveries were spectacular. Kyle Kirkwood began the year at St Petersburg with a tasty Chili’s livery. Conor Daly was sporting an amazing purple All American Rejects livery at the season finale in Nashville. Still, it’s tough to beat the Miller Lite car that Dale Coyne Racing put together for Jacob Abel in Milwaukee.

Honorable Mention: Kyle Kirkwood/Andretti Global Chili’s Livery

Best Indy 500 Livery: Juncos Hollinger Racing/Conor Daly (am pm)

It was a relatively light offering of new liveries at Indianapolis this year. Most of the new ones were just okay, and some missed the mark in my opinion. If we’re considering everyone on the entry list, there is zero doubt about my choice here. The award would go to Jacob Abel and Dale Coyne Racing for their Miller High Life throwback livery to celebrate Danny Sullivan’s 1985 race-winning car. Since the car didn’t make the show, I’m giving the award to Conor Daly and Juncos Hollinger Racing instead. As much as I loved the simple red and black “Creed” livery for Rosenqvist, there was just something magical about that purple and orange combination on the “am pm” machine.

Honorable Mention: Felix Rosenqvist/Meyer Shank Racing Creed Livery

Congratulations to Alex Palou and the entire Chip Ganassi Racing organization for another championship season.