Palou Victorious After Dramatic Race at Road America

Alex Palou celebrates his sixth win on the season at the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. (Photo: Mike Moore | The Podium Finish)

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – After two consecutive uncharacteristic sub-par finishes at Detroit and St. Louis, championship points leader Alex Palou survived a caution-filled race and a wide array of pit strategies to get back to his winning ways at the XPEL Grand Prix of Road America presented by AMR.

Palou was able to conserve enough fuel on the final 15-lap stint in his No. 10 SOLO Cup Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to hold off a hard-charging Felix Rosenqvist and earn his sixth victory in nine races.

“It was a crazy race for us,” said Palou. “There were moments I thought we were losing a ton of positions. It was a tough race for everybody. Kudos to the team for the amazing strategy and Honda giving us the fuel mileage we needed to make it.”

After seeing his commanding championship lead diminish to 73 points over the last two weeks, three-time champion Palou regained some stability by stretching his lead to 93 points as the series passes the half-way point of the season.

Rosenqvist was in prime position on “Strategy B” by not having to save fuel in the No. 60 SiriusXM Meyer Shank Racing Honda, but fell just short to finish in second place. Santino Ferrucci squeezed out just enough fuel from his No. 14 Sexton Properties A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet to earn his second podium in three races, and his fourth straight top-five finish on the season.

“It was great,” said Rosenqvist. “It was going back and forth there, comers and goers for the race. We had great speed; we knew that after I messed up in qualifying and started 12^th. Had really good pace, the SiriusXM Honda was phenomenal.”

“They’re counting down the laps, and I told Mike I got to focus because this is getting stressful,” said Ferrucci. “He let me drive, crew did an amazing job, awesome jobs on stops. I stalled it, too. Even with the stall coming back and finishing the way we did was pretty amazing.”

Kyle Kirkwood battles Alex Palou during the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America en route to a fourth-place finish. (Photo: Logan Skidan | The Podium Finish)

After winning the last two series races, Kyle Kirkwood remained consistent and overcame some on-track tussles with Will Power to finish in fourth place in the No. 27 Siemens Andretti Global Honda and move into second place in the championship standings. Marcus Armstrong earned his season-best fifth place finish in the No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Meyer Shank Racing Honda.

Scott Dixon in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was on a near impossible fuel-save “Strategy C” after pitting at the end of Lap 38 and attempting to go the distance. Needing some help from a caution, Dixon was forced to pit with two laps remaining after failing to see a yellow in the last 24 laps after having five yellows in the first 30 laps.

Palou made his final stop on Lap 40. The crucial moments came when Palou strategically utilized his teammates aero draft to save fuel the final 15 laps, making up the two-laps needed to reach the end.

Rosenqvist made his final stop of the race on Lap 42 and was able to push his No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda as hard as he could towards the leaders of Dixon, Palou and Alexander Rossi in the No. 20 Java House ECR Chevrolet – who was on the same strategy as Dixon.

Once all clear and sights set on Palou, Rosenqvist had a four-second deficit to make up with a handful of laps remaining on the 14-turn, 4.014-mile road course. Turning his fastest lap of the race on the final lap, Rosenqvist fell 2.1725 seconds short of victory.

Despite the five cautions for 12 total caution laps within the first 30 laps of the race, the XPEL Grand Prix of Road America saw a race-record 348 on-track passes with 345 of those for position.

Palou’s victory extended an unprecedented run for himself and Kirkwood by continuing to be the only two drivers to win on the 2025 season. What is just as impressive, Honda remains the only manufacturer to win on the season as Chevrolet’s struggles continue.

Rinus Veekay battles Christian Lundgaard during the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. (Photo: Mike Moore | The Podium Finish)

Noteworthy runs on the day came from Kyffin Simpson in the No. 8 Ridgeline Chip Ganassi Racing Honda improving 17 positions from his 23^rd starting position, and Rinus Veekay in the No. 18 askROI Dale Coyne Racing Honda, who overcame three race penalties in the first 28 laps to finish in the top-10.

The series has a weekend off before its next race on Sunday, July 6 at the Honda Indy 200 presented by the all-new 2026 Passport at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

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