PORTLAND, Ore. — No matter the track, the conditions or the competition, Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing makes winning look easy.
He claimed his 14th NTT IndyCar Series victory over the last 30 races, and the 25th career IndyCar Series win and 51st podium finish in 111 starts by winning Sunday’s OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway.
“I feel like you don’t really realize when you’re just going week in and week out, but when you look back and see those numbers, they’re incredible,” Palou said. “But I could not do it without the team, with everybody that is around me, giving me the chance every single weekend. The preparation we have before every weekend, having had the opportunity to test here couple weeks ago, just having always best strategies, it’s incredible.
“But the end of the day we need to keep it up. We need to keep on winning and keep on fighting for championships and 500s.”
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver defeated pole winner Felix Rosenqvist by 4.1167 seconds and increased his lead in the NTT IndyCar Series championship by 110 points over Kyle Kirkwood, who finished fifth.
Palou led 60 laps in the 110-lap race and has a commanding lead with five races left over the next four weekends of the 2026 IndyCar Series season.
Once again, he made it look easy.
“He just drove better, to be honest,” Rosenqvist said. “Not a lot quicker, but he was a little bit quicker, especially on the Blacks (Firestone Tires). That first stint he outsmarted us, did one lap longer. I didn’t know he did that, so maybe we need to work on communication. I don’t think I could have kept up with that pace he did anyways, if I saved that much fuel.
“He got us in a sequence. I got kind of twisted up leaving my box because I was so close to the Mick Schumacher crew. I think between the overcut and that, we kind of lost the position. From there on we just sat in second.
“Some stints we looked really good. The last one we were struggling a little bit. Yeah, it’s hard to pass. I think they did the right move there.
“Yeah, from there it was just like a lapped car race, I guess. Sometimes you’re getting three seconds because of a lap car, the next time you lose three seconds. I think without sounding salty, I don’t think I would have won the race anyway, but I think it’s kind of time for us as a series to grow up and not have the lapped car situation. I think it makes us all look stupid.
“When you work hard and all of a sudden, you lose five seconds behind a lapped car, I don’t think it’s right. I don’t think anyone wants to see that.
“Again, I don’t think I would have won anyways. I think all drivers probably agree with me.”
Palou hit the accelerator to drag race Rosenqvist into Turn 1 at the start, but the pole winner was able to maintain his position through the tight initial turn. Rinus VeeKay was the fastest driver at the start.
On Lap 4, Marcus Ericsson passed Palou for second place as the Andretti Global driver looked like a strong contender on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course.
Graham Rahal stuffed his No. 15 into the Turn 12 tire barrier for the first caution of the race. At that time, the running order was Rosenqvist, Ericsson, Palou, Will Power and VeeKay.
It was back to racing on Lap 10 with Rosenqvist leading Ericsson and Palou and the remainder of the field into Turn 1.
Christian Lundgaard was the biggest mover in the race in the first 10 laps as he already gained 11 positions up to 13th place.
Ericsson pitted on Lap 25. Kirkwood also comes in. Rosenqvist continued to lead followed by Palou.
Lundgaard pitted on Lap 29 and got out ahead of Louie Foster. VeeKay pitted on Lap 30.
Rosenqvist pitted on Lap 32 for his first pit stop. Palou scored as the leader followed by Josef Newgarden, who pitted during the first caution and elected to go with a four-stop strategy.
Palou pitted on Lap 33. He was able to return to the track ahead of Rosenqvist while running on the Red tires. Newgarden was the leader ahead of Santino Ferrucci, Palou and Rosenqvist.
Newgarden pitted as the leader on Lap 38, restoring Palou to the lead ahead of Rosenqvist. Marcus Armstrong was out of the race after three Honda engine failures in three of the last four races.
“I feel bad for myself and the team, really,” Armstrong said. “We put in so much work, you can’t believe. To have three engine failures in four races. I’m not sure what happened. It felt similar to Road America where it felt like and over-boost and then just broke.
“We need to figure it out and come back again stronger in Canada.”
With Palou at the front of the field, he was blistering the pace and was 5.3134 seconds ahead of second-place Rosenqvist.
When race strategist Barry Wanser radioed to Palou that he needed eight more laps on the Reds to get to 15 laps on the soft tires, Palou’s response was, “Yeah, easy.”
At Lap 50, Palou’s lead over Rosenqvist was up to 7.5 seconds.
On Lap 51, Kirkwood, Christian Rasmussen and Nolan Siegel pitted for four tires and fuel. Three laps later, Lundgaard and Romain Grosjean pitted. The next lap was halfway and Palou’s lead over Rosenqvist was 6.7449 seconds.
Palou pitted on Lap 56 with a healthy lead putting Rosenqvist back in front. Palou’s team put scuffed Firestone Black tires onto the No. 10 Honda.
Will Power was in the lead on Lap 59 ahead of Kyffin Simpson and Newgarden, who took the lead one lap later after Power made a pit stop.
Palou remained the lead on Lap 67 when Newgarden pitted. He had a healthy 4.4112-second lead over Rosenqvist. Further back in the field, Simpson and Lundgaard were in a battle for ninth place.
Kirkwood was on pit road on Lap 79 and was in and out in 7.1 seconds. He was the first to pit on the final sequence but also had a slow leak in one of his tires. Rosenqvist was next to pit on Lap 81 for his final stop. Power moved up to second.
Palou pitted as the leader on Lap 82 for another set of Firestone Black tires. Palou was still able to get out ahead of Rosenqvist. Power, Newgarden and Simpson were the top three.
Lundgaard was in fifth place when he pitted on Lap 83. Power had built up an 18.3052 second lead over Simpson as he continued around the circuit on Lap 86. He was called into the pits one lap later.
After Power’s pit, he came out third just behind Rosenqvist.With the completion of the final green flag stops, Palou led Rosenqvist by 3.3658 seconds, Power was third, 7.7658 back with VeeKay fourth, 13.2439 in arrears with 20 laps to go.
By then, the Palou was on the path to victory lane.
