Photo by Brad Proctor

Another IndyCar race. another Alex Palou win. Palou has won 14 races over the last two years with his sixth win of 2026.

Palou won in typical fashion, using an overcut on the first pit stop to get ahead of felix Rosenqvist. Except for pit sequences, Palou never looked back, building a lead of more than seven seconds at times.

In the post race press conference, Palou said he was surprised at how good the alternate tires were, and he credited that stint for helping him stay far ahead.

It was a repeat of Long Beach for felix Rosenqvist. He and Palou started on the front row, but Palou won and Rosenqvist finished second.

A Great Day for Andretti

Will Power finished third, Kyle Kirkwood fifth, and Marcus Ericsson sixth for Andretti Global as the team continues to improve their road course program.

Will Power said that with the progress the team has made this year, next year should be very interesting.

Kirkwood retook second place in the standings, but he is now two full races behind Palou. With five races left in the season, overtaking the leader is close to impossible.

The Invisible Man

Rinus VeeKay finished fourth after a spirited battle with Kirkwood, probably the best battle of an otherwise lackluster day. The driver from the Netherlands continues to shine on a team operating without a technical alliance with a larger team.

It is time for a major team to pick him up., but I don’t see anywhere else he can be for 2027.

VeeKay is 10th in the standings, just nine points out of ninth. He has three top fives and five top 10s this year, and he has been a regular member in the Fast Six qualifying.

Notes

Why do all of Honda’s issues fall on Marcus Armstrong? Today is at least the third mechanical issue he has encountered since Road America.

Christian Lundgaard had a sensational drive from 25th to ninth. He was the entire show early ib=n the race as he steadily moved forward.

Attendance seemed to be down from the last two races here, and I’m not sure why. The racing has not been great since IndyCar returned in 2018, and today’s race was less than exciting.

I will have a more in depth wrap up on Tuesday. I will be spending the entire day tomorrow traveling.

Thanks for following along this weekend.

5th to 10th