INDIANAPOLIS — There’s an easy case to be made for Álex Palou being among the most dominant race car drivers in the world.Palou, 29, has demolished the IndyCar competition for most of the last five years. A four-time series champion with Chip Ganassi Racing, the Spaniard completed a championship three-peat last year in dominant fashion, scoring eight wins and capturing his first Indianapolis 500 victory.Since the start of 2023, Palou has won just shy of one in every three IndyCar races. And there is zero sign of him letting up any time soon.“He’s doing everything absolutely perfectly,” Kyle Kirkwood, an IndyCar driver with Andretti Global and Palou’s closest challenger in the points standings, said ahead of this weekend’s Indianapolis 500.“(Palou’s) car and everyone on his crew are perfect,” Kirkwood added. “We have to match that level that they’ve done over the past few years.”Palou has sustained his pursuit of perfection this year. Three wins, two poles and one runner-up finish in the opening six races opened up a decent points lead before going into Indy 500’s qualifying week.Of course, he won the pole again.Leading the field away for the 110th running of the iconic race, Palou has a chance to cement his place in Indy 500 legend. Twenty-one drivers have multiple wins to their name, but just six have done it in consecutive years.Winning his first Indy 500 last year lifted no weight from Palou’s shoulders, making his return this May feel no different — a clear sign to his rivals that his mentality is as strong as ever.“I know I’m hungrier than ever, just because I know what comes with it, once you win the Indy 500 and what it means,” Palou said. “I don’t feel more or less pressure. Not because I won once, it’s not like now I need another one. It’s more the opposite. I want to go back-to-back.”The last repeat winner of the Indy 500 was Josef Newgarden, who became the first driver in 22 years to go back-to-back in 2024. Despite being a two-time IndyCar champion, Newgarden felt at peace that he may never win a 500 — only to then go back-to-back.“I don’t think anything really changes when you win the race and then you’re trying to go back-to-back,” Newgarden said. “You’re going through the same process. You’re putting in the same sort of effort.“You just hope that you can get the cards two times in a row. The likelihood of it is pretty low. (It) doesn’t mean it can’t happen.”The unpredictable nature of the Indy 500, between the tire and fuel strategies, the risk of cautions and trying to stay out of trouble, makes it very hard to win. The adage that this race picks its winners has been repeated plenty this week.“There is some truth to that,” Kirkwood said. “But at the same time, I believe in making your own luck too. You’ve got to do all the things right, and then I think it chooses you.”“You can’t make mistakes up against (Palou and Ganassi),” added Conor Daly, who is entering the Indy 500 as a one-off entry with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. “They’re very good. But they’re not impossible to beat. You just have to execute at the highest level and do the best job possible, because you know they will.”Álex Palou won his first Indy 500 last year, on his way to a third straight IndyCar season title. “He’s doing everything absolutely perfectly,” rival driver Kyle Kirkwood says. (James Gilbert / Getty Images)Scott McLaughlin knows what it’s like to be in Palou’s shoes as the dominant front-runner. Before moving into IndyCar with Penske in 2021, McLaughlin dominated the Australian Supercars series, winning three straight titles from 2018 to 2020.“You’ve always got someone chasing you,” McLaughlin said. “The hardest part is being able to stay there. He’s been able to do that for a very long time, which is kudos to him.”McLaughlin said Palou’s performance only served to inspire him and Penske to up their game. “I definitely feel like if you’re one-on-one with him, I’ll back myself to the (hilt),” McLaughlin said. “That’s how you’ve got to think, how you’ve got to believe. He’s done a very good job. No mistakes. (Let’s) put some pressure on them, see what we can do.”Stories of such dominance are not new in American racing. Kyle Moyer, McLaren’s director of competition, pointed to the likes of Gil de Ferran, the back-to-back CART champion in 2000 and 2001, and Sébastien Bourdais, who won four straight CART titles from 2004-07, as examples.“You have that where all of a sudden, the guy just gets into the mode, and right now he’s the one,” Moyer said. “It’s for all of us to catch up with.“Last year, (Palou) sort of went out and won himself a championship. This year, he (and) the team’s executing better than everybody else. That’s where all of us, (in) most of these races, the other 24 are making mistakes and giving them wins. So the other 24 drivers need to quit doing that.”Only perfection will do. It’s a high bar that Palou and Ganassi have set for the competition. And the confidence is there to try and make another bit of Indy 500 history by joining an illustrious club of back-to-back winners.“I know we have everything,” Palou said. “We have a really, really fast car. Hopefully we can have a good race and get there (at) the end.”