DETROIT — Alex Palou regained his position as the best driver in IndyCar, returning to victory lane for the fourth time this season by winning Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on the streets of downtown Detroit.
It was the Chip Ganassi Racing driver’s first win since the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 19.
Palou won from the pole and led 71 laps in the 100-lap contest. He defeated Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood by 3.0584 seconds aboard the No. 10 Honda Racing Corp. Honda that started on the pole for the third-straight race.
“It feels like the first time, honestly,” Palou said. “It was a tough one, a very tough one. The team did an incredible job once again with the pit stops and strategy. The Honda Honda was incredible, but it was a tough with the temperature on the restarts, I couldn’t be at the level of Kyle Kirkwood and Will Power on the restarts. They were able to get the tire temp better than me, but it was a tough one.
“Track position was a key. On the first stint, I started struggling and then I put myself in a bad spot with Christian Lundgaard and Scott McLaughlin. But to be in a position to get saved by the yellow really helped.”
Kirkwood started sixth and finished second.
“I’m happy with that,” Kirkwood said. “The Sam’s Club Honda was really fast and took a gamble on tires being the only one on the Reds at the end. It nearly paid off but we had two untimely yellows.
“From there, we didn’t have another shot at it. I’m happy with P2 from sixth. The pit stops were phenomenal and nearly flawless.”
Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing finished third for his third podium of the season followed by the Arrow McLaren duo of Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Chevrolet and Christian Lundgaard in the No. 7 Chevrolet.
“We had a lot of pace when we needed it,” Rahal said. “We had to go a long way and save a lot of fuel, but we also needed to get a yellow and we got it. The fuel mileage was really key for us.
“It feels extremely good to have some breaks. It was a good day and for the first podium, all of my daughters were here, so that is special for me.”
Josef Newgarden of Team Penske drove with an injured left foot and finished 10th, despite the pain.
The win is Palou’s fourth victory of 2026 and the 23rd of his IndyCar career. He ties Tommy Milton for 20th on the all-time wins list.
Palou entered Sunday’s race with a 37-point lead over David Malukas. He now leads by 62 points over Kirkwood.
It was a clean start on a race track that is very tricky and the first nine laps of the race of the was clean until Christian Rasmussen smacked the Turn 1 wall for the first yellow flag of the race.
Palou was the leader at the time of the caution and when the pit opened on Lap 11, Felix Rosenqvist, Dennis Hauger, Josef Newgarden and David Malukas all pitted for four tires and fuel.
It was back to green on Lap 14 and Palou was in front. But on Lap 17, Will Power powered past Palou for the lead in Turn 3 and began to pull away from the polesitter.
By Lap 20, Power’s lead was 1.3234 over Palou.
There was a spicy four-lap battle between Louie Foster and Marcus Ericsson with the two just inches apart. Ericsson dove onto pit road for his stop on Lap 29, and that gave the position to Foster.
Palou’s tires started to fade, and Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin passed the No. 10 for second place and went after former Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin. The two bang wheels but Power maintained the lead.
Palou pulled into the pits on Lap 34 and Power was ordered into the pits on Lap 36. By then, both McLaughlin and Christian Lundgaard both passed Power’s No. 26 Honda.
Power and McLaughlin both pulled into the pits on Lap 35. That moved Lundgaard into the lead followed by Pato O’Ward, Scott Dixon and Foster.
On Lap 37, Lundgaard, O’Ward, Graham Rahal and Foster were on pit road for four tires and fuel. That put Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong and last week’s Indianapolis 500 winner, Felix Rosenqvist first and second. The injured Josef Newgarden had moved up to third but still needed to pit.
A tight battle between Rahal and Kyffin Simpson sent Rahal’s No. 15 spinning into Turn 3 and that was the reason for the season full course caution. The leaders under caution were Rosenqvist, Newgarden, Palou, Kirkwood and McLaughlin.
Simpson was assessed an avoidable contact penalty.
Armstrong was running low on fuel and had to enter the closed pit area for emergency service, which meant a penalty and more than likely, his chance for victory was over.
The green flag waved on Lap 45 and Palou was back in the lead ahead of Kirkwood, McLaughlin and Lundgaard. Power was fifth.
At the halfway point of the race on Lap 50, Palou led Kirkwood by 3.3127 seconds.
Palou pitted from the lead on Lap 65, and that put Kirkwood into the lead. Kirkwood tried to stretch his time while in the lead, but a full course yellow ruined those chances when Santino Ferrucci and Rinus VeeKay ran into each other, sending VeeKay’s car spinning around.
The caution on Lap 67 closed the pit and played perfectly into Palou’s strategy.
Bryan Herta is Kirkwood’s race strategist and voice his frustration.
“I know IndyCar now said we are going to go yellow as soon as a hot dog wrapper blows on the track,” Herta said. “It turns the race into something that isn’t based on merit. I don’t love that. The last two yellows we had, the incident cleared within seconds.
“There has to be a middle ground to not ruin the race for people for something that doesn’t need to be a full course yellow.”
On Lap 69, Kirkwood, McLaughlin and Power all made their pit stops on the dual pit lane.
During the caution, Scott Dixon pulled into the pits and climbed out of the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda on Lap 70.
“Just another joyous hybrid failure,” Dixon said. “It happened earlier on Lap 4. With the alarm they have now, if you drive it, you have to buy the system.
“I don’t think anybody wants to buy these.”
Alexander Rossi was penalized for pitting in a closed pit. He was lined up second to Palou, the leader of the race when the green flag waved on Lap 73.
On the restart, Palou led Rossi, who had yet to serve the penalty, rookie Mick Schumacher, David Malukas and Rahal.
By the end of that lap, Malukas and Schumacher drove each other off the course into the runoff as Schumacher missed the turn, leaving Malukas nowhere to go.
Racing resumed on Lap 76 with Palou in the lead. But with 21 laps to go, Ferrucci’s No. 14 Chevrolet came to a stop on course for another full-course caution. This also came after McLaughlin and former Team Penske teammate Power banked wheels, knocking Power into the wall.
Power came into the pits and was out of the car, another race ending in disappointment.
With 17 laps to go, the green flag waved and Palou led Kirkwood and Rahal to the restart. Palou had a great jump and at this point, was toying with the field.
Palou had a lockup in Turn 1 with 13 laps to go and went wide in Turn 8, and Kirkwood was trying to close the gap.
With 10 laps to go, Rossi punted Grosjean in the rear, sending the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda down the runover for another full course caution.
Race Control reviewed the incident.
The green flag waved with seven laps left and Palou in the lead. Kirkwood tried to close the gap.
Palou was running low on push-to-pass and that helped Kirkwood close up on the race leader. But Palou used all of his racing savvy to put the lead back to 1.3 seconds with four to go.
