Palou Conquers Nashville for Fifth Victory of 2026

Alex Palou celebrates with the Gibson guitar trophy after claiming his fifth victory of 2026 in the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by OnlyBulls at Nashville Speedway. (Photo: Chris Owens | Penske Entertainment)

LEBANON, Tenn. – Spaniards are not just winning on the World Cup stage – they are winning on the racetrack, too. Quite often, in fact.

24 hours after Spain won their second FIFA World Cup by defeating Argentina, fellow Spaniard and four-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou captured his fifth victory on the season in the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by OnlyBulls, by virtue of precise pit stop timing around cautions and outlasting an aggressive Team Penske duo charge on the final restart.

“That’s a pretty cool weekend for Spain,” said Palou. “It’s impressive what they did yesterday in the World Cup, and I’m happy to top it off today on Monday. My first-ever win on Monday – I’ve never raced on a Monday. So, pretty cool.”

Palou led a race-high 97 laps to beat Nashville native and reigning winner Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet. While Newgarden’s teammate David Malukas rounded out the podium finishers in his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

A race that was extended to 300 laps and served as a lead-in from the World Cup broadcast, the plans for a massive TV audience came to a disappointing halt when Mother Nature drenched the rare opportunity and rained out Sunday’s event. The late afternoon race was moved to Monday afternoon and shortened to its originally scheduled 225 laps due to local heat advisories.

One of Palou’s golden tickets came before his pit stop on Lap 123 when he entered the pits just narrowly before the pits closed for a yellow flag for an on-track incident between his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda and Alexander Rossi in the No. 20 Java House ECR Chevrolet.

With a “free” pit stop on a closed pit lane, Palou was able to cycle to the lead when Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Rinus VeeKay and pole sitter Kyle Kirkwood all made their stops under yellow once the pits opened to the field, ultimately filing them behind Palou for the restart.

David Malukas drove to another podium finish of 2026 in the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway. (Photo: Joe Skibinski | Penske Entertainment)

Up to this point, Malukas was having an impressively strong run and looked to be well on his way to his first career victory from his last-place starting position, by taking advantage of pit strategy from an early yellow while remaining on track as much of the field pitted. But the bad side of lady luck struck Malukas on that Lap 123 caution cycle when he made his pit stop just a handful of laps prior and ultimately caught the Chicago native a lap down at the time of the yellow.

During the final round of stops, Newgarden, Felix Rosenqvist and Malukas each opted for the faster and less-durable Firestone “red” alternate tires. While no surprise to anyone, Palou’s No. 10 DHL Honda team opted for the more durable Firestone primary compound to make his charge for the checkered, as Palou often prefers.

That decision proved to be the winning ticket for Palou as the yellow came out for the final time on Lap 181 for Dennis Hauger making contact with the Turn 3 wall in his No. 19 Nammo DCR Honda. The extra grip on the black primary tires for Palou on the ensuing Lap 194 restart proved to be what the doctor ordered as Newgarden and Malukas’s red alternates began to fade as the laps ticked down.

McLaughlin put the third Team Penske car in the top five with his fourth-place finish in the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Chevrolet, with 2026 Indianapolis 500 champion Rosenqvist rounding out the top five in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing.

Josef Newgarden cools off after 225 laps in 100-degree heat en route to a second-place finish in the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by OnlyBulls at Nashville Superspeedway. (Photo: James Black | Penske Entertainment)

“Oh, my goodness,” said Malukas. “I’ve never driven so hard in my life. What a result, we needed that for the championship. We’re still there, it was a good result, good recovery. Tried so hard, so hot. Things were looking so good I had to keep pushing.”

Palou begins to take command in the championship standings, now padding an 83-point lead over Malukas with his third career oval victory and 24^th victory overall as the series heads into a few weeks off before they tackle the Portland International Raceway for the OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland on Sunday, August 9.

Results: