Palou Outlasts Chaotic Detroit Grand Prix

Alex Palou celebrates his fourth victory of the 2026 NTT IndyCar season at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. (Photo: Chris Owens | Penske Entertainment)

DETROIT – The Detroit Grand Prix had a little bit of everything this Sunday. From a car in the wall during pace laps, former teammates not playing nicely to on-air camera expletives by a former series champion. You name it, the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix had it.

In the end, pole sitter and four-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou and his No. 10 HRC Chip Ganassi Racing team used crafty strategy and prevailed as victors for the fourth time this season and the 23^rd of his impressive career, winning by 3.0584 seconds over Kyle Kirkwood in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Andretti Global Honda. Palou has now won 12 of his last 25 starts.

“It feels like the first time, honestly,” Palou said. “It was a tough one, a very tough one. But the team did an incredible job once again with the strategy. The pit stops were incredible. Incredible run, incredible start of the year, but it was tough.”

Graham Rahal continued the best start of his career coming home in third for his third podium finish of the season in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, as Honda Racing swept the podium in Chevrolet’s back yard.

Arrow McLaren claimed the final two positions in the top five with Pato O’Ward rocketing to a fourth-place finish in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet and Denmark’s Christian Lundgaard settling in the fifth position in the No. 7 Velo Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Graham Rahal navigating the streets of Detroit during the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix as he finished on the podium for the third time in 2026. (Photo: James Black | Penske Entertainment)

Palou’s run for his third street-race victory of the year was made possible by the call of his strategist to make his final pit stop on Lap 63 of the 100-lap race. Palou’s machine was fitted with the more durable primary “black” Firestone Firehawk compound tire to finish out a race that was seeing fierce battles turn into full-course caution periods, and being buried deep in traffic was not in the cards for the No. 10 team.

That strategy worked out in Palou’s favor when the yellow came out for the third time on the day on Lap 66 when Santino Ferrucci in the No. 14 Homes for Our Troops A.J. Foyt Chevrolet sent Rinus VeeKay’s No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet for a spin exiting Turn 5.

Kirkwood was Palou’s closest competition as he played strategy cards differently and made his final stop under the caution period on Lap 69 in an effort to shorten his stint running on the less durable, but faster Firestone alternates. Kirkwood’s strategy was playing out in his favor as the field saw yet another full-course caution on Lap 73 for rookie Mick Schumacher missing Turn 5 in his No. 47 ENVE Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, collecting last week’s Indy 500 runner-up David Malukas in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

The full-course caution periods allowed the No. 27 team to spend less green flag laps on the red alternates and therefore conserved the compound in hopes of remaining faster than Palou on the restarts.

The fifth caution on the day came on Lap 80 when Ferrucci’s No. 14 Chevrolet stalled with mechanical issues, after Kirkwood closed the gap within two car lengths of Palou and saw a glimmer of hope of passing the Spaniard.

“We took a little bit of a gamble on tires there, being the only guy on reds (alternates) at the end,” Kirkwood said. “It nearly paid off. It was so, so close. There were two untimely yellows.

“We almost covered Palou when we were on primes, which would have been phenomenal, and then we had that other yellow where I had him lined up. I was ready to make a dive on him, and, of course, (the yellow) comes out after I burned 10 seconds of overtake. From there, we just didn’t really have another shot at it. I think I just used up my tires too much to make that one pass.”

Kyle Kirkwood rounding the tight corners of Detroit in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, en route to his third podium on the season as he maintains second-place in the standings. (Photo: Joe Skibinski | Penske Entertainment)

Kirkwood had one more stab at the four-time champion on a Lap 93 restart all due to Alexander Rossi clipping the rear end of Romain Grosjean’s No. 18 BMax Honda, sending the former Formula One driver into the outside wall in Turn 3 on Lap 91, bringing out the final yellow flag of the race.

The continuous caution periods during Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix were a result of the most recent IndyCar rule change following the Sonsio Grand Prix at Indianapolis when the series only showed a local yellow for Rossi’s No. 20 Java House ECR Chevrolet stalled on the front straightaway. This resulted in quite the challenge for teams meeting their pit window, which posed a highly controversial safety hazard. Moving forward, the series will escalate full-course yellows more readily and quickly to prioritize driver safety over competitive considerations.

The NTT IndyCar Series will get back to oval action in primetime on Sunday, June 7 for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline. Race coverage will air on FOX and IndyCar Nation SiriusXM radio channel 218.

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