IndyCar
Alex Palou wins INDYCAR Rev Group Grand Prix at Road America
ELKHART LAKE, WI (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou passed Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden on a restart with two laps-to-go to win Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rev Group Grand Prix at Road America.
The win was Palou’s second of the year, CGR’s fourth of 2021 and third straight at Road America where the team swept both races in 2020.
“Thank you to all the guys on the No. 10 car,” said Palou. “It was amazing. We had a really good car during the race. We were able to overtake him before the corner. I’m super happy and super proud of this Chip Ganassi Racing Team. I can’t believe it!”
The drama unfolded after the final caution flag of the race flew for Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan’s Ed Jones, who had a left rear failure on the No. 18 Sealmaster Honda.
On the ensuing restart Newgarden led the field up the hill to the green flag but shortly after passing the start/finish line Newgarden’s Hitachi Chevrolet lost forward drive and began to slow allowing Palou to pass Newgarden before turn one.
Newgarden continued to fall through the field eventually dropping to the last car on the lead lap where he had to settle for a 21st place finish.
“I couldn’t get it to shift into sixth gear,” said Newgarden. “And then I got it stuck in fifth in turn one and finally got it to go down, but just could not get it to upshift after that. So I got it down to first essentially. Just trying to stay out of the way after that because I couldn’t get it to upshift after that. I’m not sure what happened. Obviously it’s disappointing for all of us. I know we had a great car. We had a good car all day and were doing everything we had to do. We were surviving the yellows. Surviving the fuel game. We had a rocket ship.”
Palou knew the restart was going to be critical so he was doing everything he could to stay as close to Newgarden’s gearbox as possible.
“I was on my Push-to-Pass, and as soon as I saw I was in fifth gear and I saw I couldn’t get him, I saved my Push-to-Pass, and as soon as I saw that there was something weird, like I was getting a lot of tow I thought, I pressed it again and said, oh, wow,” said Palou. “So I didn’t really see if he had an issue or not. Obviously I saw later, but at that moment I just thought, oh, wow, we had a lot of power
Palou meanwhile put the hammer down and crossed the finish line 1.9106-seconds ahead of Andretti Autosports Colton Herta who finished second.
“I think we had third place pace and that was where we were going to finish until Josef had that problem”, said Herta. “Car felt really good. Guys did an amazing job in the pits to gain me a few spots on track and put us on the podium in the second spot.”
Team Penske’s Will Power finished third and could empathize with Newgarden as Power saw victory slip from his grasp last week in Detroit when his car wouldn’t start, while leading, following a red flag.
“Man, you just don’t know what it is about our team right now,” lamented Power. “We almost have a win in the bag and something just ridiculous happens, like just something that — I don’t know what it was, but things that you couldn’t prep for, something that you couldn’t avoid. It’s like my thing was just a switch, just a weird glitch in the system in Detroit, and I don’t know what his was this time. But yeah, unbelievable.”
Palou’s CGR teammate Scott Dixon started 13th and methodically worked his way up through the field to finish in fourth place.
The victory allowed Palou to regain the Championship points lead by 28-points over Arrow McLaren SP’s Patricio O’Ward. Dixon, who is battling for a record-tying seventh title is lurking 53-points back in third place. Newgarden’s troubles left him fourth in points, 88-points behind Palou.
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on the 4th of July.
WASHINGTON D.C. (August 22, 2026) – Alex Palou’s blistering lap of 56.8993 seconds in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda puts the four-time NTT IndyCar Series Champion on the pole position for Sunday’s Freedom 250 on the streets of Washington D.C.
“Incredible,” said Palou. “My car was on rails. Super-fun lap, super-fun car to drive. Couldn’t be happier. Looking forward to tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, man, 250 miles.”
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood lines up second after a lap of 57.4661 in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda.
“P1 both first and second group, and the last one Alex Palou is just a legend and goes faster on his one-lap dash than he did the whole rest of the run, I think,” Kirkwood said. “He made us look silly out there.”
Scott McLaughlin spoiled the Honda party up front, putting the No. 3 PPG Chevrolet third on the grid after a fast lap of 57.4200.
Palou’s CGR teammates Scott Dixon and Kyffin Simpson did not fare as well as their teammate.
Dixon was on a lap that would have allowed him to transfer into the next round of qualifying, when Simpson hit the wall, triggering a red flag which cancelled Dixon’s lap. The No. 9 PNC Bank Honda will start 14th.
Bringing out the red flag penalized Simpson of his two fastest laps so the No. 8 Sunoco Honda will start last in 25th.
Coverage of the Freedom 250 starts at 11:30 a.m. on Fox and IndyCar Radio with the green flag waving in our nation’s capital at 1 p.m.
MARKHAM, ONTARIO (August 15, 2026) – The NTT IndyCar Series is making it’s first visit to a new street circuit in Markham, Ontario but a familiar face topped the speed charts after the first practice.
Four-time Series Champion Alex Palou turned the fastest lap around the 12-turn, 2.19-mile temporary street course, a 1-minute, 14.9915-seconds (100.811 mph) lap in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
A.J. Foyt Racing rookie Caio Collett was second quick with a 1-minute, 15.0454-seconds (100.739) in the No. 4 Chevrolet.
Louis Foster was third quick in the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda at 1:15.0278 (100.702) followed by Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin 1:15.2981 (100.401). Will Power rounded out the Top 5 at 1:15.3152 (100.378).
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammates were not as strong. Six-time Series Champion Scott Dixon was 20th at 1:16.4583 (98.877) in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. Kyffin Simpson was 24th at 1.17.3893 (97.688) in the No. 8 Sunoco Honda. Simpson made contact with the wall at Turn 6, causing damage to the rear suspension. Simpson limped to pits for repair and returned to action later in the session.
Practice 2 is set for 2:30 p.m. as delayed track construction forced officials to cancel Friday’s activities and condense Saturday’s schedule. NTT P1 Pole Qualifying is set for 6:30 p.m. ET
MARKHAM, ONTARIO (August 14, 2026) – Issues with the completion of the temporary street circuit in Markham Ontario has forced the NTT INDYCAR SERIES first practice to be moved to Saturday as all of Friday’s on-track activity had to be scrubbed from the schedule.
“INDYCAR is incredibly disappointed that our promoter was not able to complete the track build on time, despite significant support from our team on site,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said. “Ontario has always been a magnificent market for our sport and the number of spectators that attended today is a shining example of that. New events can always pose logistical challenges and we join in the frustration of our loyal fans and apologize.”
Green Savoree Promotions also issued a statement.
“Ensuring the safety of the drivers and the completion of the certification process of competing on a brand-new racetrack delayed all on-track activities today. Today’s sessions have been rescheduled to Saturday, August 15, to allow for further track preparations.”
“We greatly appreciate all the fans who made it out to the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham today and chose to spend the day with us. The attendance and support were overwhelming.”
The revamped schedule calls for the first practice to take place at 10:00 a.m. followed by a second practice at 2:30 p.m. and P1 Pole Qualifying at 6:30 p.m.
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Palou quickest in first Markham practice
