This fact speaks for itself: Alex Palou has never won an oval race as an NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver.

The facts also show this: The series points leader and reigning series champion has been a highly successful oval racer since joining Chip Ganassi Racing for the 2021 season.

Chart the results. Through 17 oval races over four seasons, the Spaniard has as many top-five finishes as Will Power, the winner of the 2018 Indianapolis 500 who is closest to him in points with five races remaining for this year’s series title. Palou also has more top-10 oval finishes during that span than Josef Newgarden, who has won nine of the past 17 oval races since 2021, including the past two “500s.”

Palou’s average finish on ovals over the past four years is 7.75, a figure that’s better than that of Power (11.05) and fellow title hopefuls Colton Herta (13.94), Scott McLaughlin (7.94) and Kyle Kirkwood (16.69). That’s noteworthy given that four of the season’s final five races are on oval tracks (Aug. 17 at World Wide Technology Raceway, Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 at Milwaukee Mile and Sept. 15 at Nashville Superspeedway).

Pato O’Ward is another of the drivers still chasing Palou. Yes, O’Ward has an average oval finish of 5.0 over the past four years, but the difference between that and Palou’s average is worth only six points per race. Do the math. If averages are the norm the rest of the way, O’Ward will gain roughly six points on Palou per oval race, or 24 points. He trails him by 71.

The moral of these metrics? Don’t be too quick to assume Palou is in danger of losing his enviable points lead just because ovals comprise the bulk of the remaining schedule. The dude is elite at racing in circles.

“I think we’ve done pretty well, especially here,” Palou said in May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “We have had our chances to win, for sure, but we just haven’t had enough go right. But we’ve been in position a lot, which is what you have to do.”

In 2021, it took Helio Castroneves to hold Palou back at the end of the “500.” The next year at IMS, Palou was committed to pit road as the race leader just as the caution came out, which led drew a penalty. Still, Palou scrambled back to finish ninth.

Bad luck again tripped Palou at Indy in 2023 as contact from Rinus VeeKay on pit road contributed to Palou only finishing fourth. This year, he finished fifth, but he pushed his four-year total of laps led in the event to 119. No one has led more in that span.

Palou has been consistently competitive, too, with top-10 finishes in 14 of the past 17 oval races. Seven of those resulted in top-five finishes, including the most recent race at Iowa Speedway, where he finished second. Last year he had third-place finishes at Texas Motor Speedway and at Iowa.

Over the past two seasons, Palou has an average finish of 6.9 on ovals, and that includes arguably his only mistake, a spin on old tires earlier this month in Race 1 at Iowa that led to a 23rd-place finish.

Is Palou in the driver’s seat for a third title in four years? His results on ovals would suggest that.

Series Points (Distance to Palou)

• Alex Palou, 411
• Will Power, 362 (-49)
• Scott Dixon, 358 (-53)
• Colton Herta, 354 (-57)
• Pato O’Ward, 340 (-71)

Most Oval Wins Since 2021 (Active Drivers)

• Josef Newgarden, 9
• Scott Dixon and Pato O’Ward, 2 each
• (tie) Marcus Ericsson, Will Power and Scott McLaughlin, 1 each

Most Top-Five Finishes on Ovals Since 2021 (Active Drivers)

• Pato O’Ward, 13
• Josef Newgarden, 11
• 3 (tie). Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin, 10 each
• 5 (tie). Alex Palou and Will Power, 7 each

Most Top-10 Finishes on Ovals Since 2021 (Active Drivers)

• Pato O’Ward, 15
• (tie) Alex Palou and Scott Dixon, 14 each
• (tie) Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin, 13 each
• Will Power, 9