Alex Palou is clearly the driver to beat in INDYCAR this season after winning three straight titles. However, FOX INDYCAR broadcaster Will Buxton argued — during the premiere of “SPEED With Harvick And Buxton” — that the four-time INDYCAR champ is certainly beatable in 2026.
Who could dethrone Palou, though? In the debut episode of “SPEED,” Buxton dished out a few names of who he thinks might be able to prevent Palou from four-peating, but he keyed in on one name in particular: Christian Lundgaard.
“I’m really excited to see what Lundgaard can do this year,” Buxton said. “It was his first year with McLaren last year. He’s got his feet under the table; he’s really got to step on, and I think he will.
“McLaren, I look at them to do in INDYCAR what they did in Formula 1, which is to have those incremental gains and year-over-year improvements to the point where they can go out and win the championship, as they proved they could last year with Lando Norris and having won back-to-back team titles in Formula 1 as well.”
Lundgaard had his best INDYCAR season yet in his first year with McLaren in 2025. He finished fifth in the season-long standings, to go with his seventh-place finish at the Indianapolis 500. While McLaren hasn’t won an INDYCAR title before, Lando Norris helped the team win its first F1 title by an individual driver in 16 years in 2025, as Buxton pointed out.
Beyond Lundgaard, there are a few other names that are enticing to Buxton for drivers who he thinks might be able to take down Palou in 2026.
[MOTORSPORTS: ‘SPEED With Harvick And Buxton’ Debuts February 23]
“I believe Will Power on a revenge tour with Andretti goes to be nice,” Buxton stated. “Scott McLaughlin is fired up at Penske. He is actually taken on that group management position.”
Energy is the one motive why Palou did not win his fifth straight INDYCAR title final season, taking the title in 2022. However he additionally had his worst INDYCAR season in 4 years in 2025, ending ninth. Shortly after the season ended, Energy parted methods with Penske and joined Andretti.
Christian Lundgaard at The Milwaukee Mile in 2025 in West Allis, Wisconsin. (Photograph by Geoff Miller/Lumen through Getty Photos)
McLaughlin additionally had his worst season in a number of years in 2025, ending tenth. However he is proven he can compete on the high stage of the game, recording two straight third-place finishes in 2023 and 2024 following a fourth-place end in 2022.
When “SPEED” co-host and former NASCAR Cup Collection champion Kevin Harvick talked about David Malukas as a possible sleeper, Buxton did not appear as bullish in regards to the concept.
“I really like Malukas as effectively, however let’s not neglect, he is by no means even received an INDYCAR race,” Buxton stated. “So, placing the load of, ‘Is he going to win the title?’ in his first season at Penske — that is the expectation, clearly, whenever you’re racing for Penske. However that is an enormous problem.”
Malukas completed eleventh final season, which was one of the best end the 24-year-old driver has had in his 4 seasons in INDYCAR. He is proven loads of promise, although, racing to a second-place end ultimately 12 months’s Indy 500 as effectively.
David Malukas at Sebring Worldwide Raceway on February 10, 2026. (Photograph by Michael L. Levitt/Lumen through Getty Photos)
In the end, Buxton acknowledged that the crown is probably going Palou’s to lose.
“I bear in mind final 12 months speaking to the drivers earlier than the season began, and so they had been all … like, ‘Yeah, he’s beatable.’ Then, you ask that very same query this 12 months, and so they’re much more measured of their responses as a result of they see the extent he is at,” Buxton stated.
“They know that the goal on his again is not static, it would have elevated over the winter. He can have moved himself to a different stage. In case you had been aiming for the place Palou was final 12 months, you are going to miss. You have to purpose larger. He is simply phenomenal. It is his really feel. It is his intelligence, his race mind. All the pieces about him [is] at such a excessive stage.”
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