Palou earns back-to-back wins with Portland IndyCar victory

Alex Palou captured his sixth win from 13 races this season at Portland International Raceway to reinforce his road course supremacy and secure back-to-back triumphs after winning the most recent race on the Nashville Speedway oval.

The current tally for Palou is three street course wins, two road course wins, and the oval victory, which helped the Spaniard extend his championship lead to a nearly insurmountable sum of 110 points over Kyle Kirkwood with five races to go. It was the 25th IndyCar win for Palou in a career that began in 2020 and spans just 110 races.

Beyond the Chip Ganassi Racing ace pushing his victory rate to nearly 50 percent on the year and appearing to forget how many wins he’s produced, Palou and the No. 10 Honda overtook polesitter and second-place finisher Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing and went on to lead the most laps by a vast margin — 60 in total — and controlled the 110-lap contest with relative ease as Honda claimed a 1-2-3, with Will Power completing the podium for Andretti Global.

“I had an absolute rocket ship today,” said Palou. “Once again, everybody did an incredible job on the 10 car, and yeah, incredible to get our fifth win of the season, or six, whatever. Yeah, it's been great.”

Rosenqvist and the No. 60 MSR Honda led from pole and kept Palou at bay during the first stint, but from there, it was Palou rising and either leading or sitting and biding his time behind others on alternate strategies. Although the order was slightly shuffled by Palou, the drivers who qualified first through third ended up finishing first through third.

“That’s all I had,” Rosenqvist said after crossing the finish line 4.2s behind Palou. “P2, great points. Great job to Honda, triple podium.”

Power had a chance to fight for second, but a misunderstanding on when the Andretti team wanted him to stop for the last time with the No. 26 Honda meant he spent an extra lap behind much slower cars and surrendered the opportunity to pass Rosenqvist. He went under the checkered flag a full 8.12s down to the winner.

“I think I missed a call there,” Power acknowledged. “We certainly lost a lot on that next lap because we were battling with some back markers. I think I would’ve had a reasonable shot at Rosenqvist. I don't think [I had a shot at] the win at all.”

Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rinus VeeKay, fourth at WWTR and Mid-Ohio, took fourth at Portland in the No. 76 Chevy to lead the brand on a day where Team Penske and Arrow McLaren were no match for the unheralded team. Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood was fifth in the No. 27 Honda and improved to second in the championship, but had his gap to Palou grow from 87 to 110 points. Teammate Marcus Ericsson threatened early after passing Palou for second, but an issue at the first chicane and the subsequent time loss left him in sixth with the No. 28 Honda.

Elsewhere, Scott McLaughlin was the first driver home for Team Penske in seventh. Christian Lundgaard did an amazing job to reach ninth after starting 25th for Arrow McLaren, and a slow pit stop was all that prevented Ganassi’s Kyffin Simpson from finishing higher than 10th.

Penske’s David Malukas, who started 15th, picked up a few spots to earn 12th, but it came with a cost as he fell from second to third in the championship and, more importantly, had an 83-point gap to Palou swell to 118. A single full-course caution flew during the race when Graham Rahal crashed into the tire barriers in Turn 11 before reversing and continuing.

It wasn’t the most memorable Portland race unless you’re an Alex Palou fan, and with the top three qualifiers finishing in the top three, there wasn’t much to offer with wheel-to-wheel passing for those positions, but Lundgaard put on a show until his car found its place, which was right around 10th, where his advances stalled and any realistic hope of winning the championship came to an end.

Five races left to run, and every driver is at least two full race’s worth of maximum points behind Palou in the standings. Kirkwood at 110 and Malukas at 118 are the only ones with a tiny chance to stop Palou. Lundgaard, now 135 back in fourth, is first among those who need to place their focus on 2027.

Nashville and Portland were the last two races for the rest of the challengers to carve into Palou’s charge to win four consecutive championships and five in total. He won both races and heads to two straight street circuits in a season where he’s won three of the four on the schedule.

The OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland saw polesitter Felix Rosenqvist and championship leader Alex Palou fire into Turn 1 for the first of 110 laps. Palou ceded the position.

Lap 2 and it was Rosenqvist ahead of Palou by 0.8s, both on Firestone’s primary tires, ahead of Ericsson on alternates, Power, VeeKay, Kirkwood on alts, and Simpson.

Lap 3 and Rosenqvist leads Palou by 0.7s, Ericsson by 1.1s, and Power by 2.2s. Lundgaard, having started last, is up to 16th!

Lap 4 and Ericsson takes P2 from Palou.

Lap 6 and Rosenqvist leads Ericsson by 0.9s and Palou by 2.3s. Power is 3.3s down, VeeKay is 4.0s back, and Kirkwood on alts is 4.9s arrears. Lundgaard is P15 ahead of Newgarden in P16 and Malukas in P17.

Lap 7 CAUTION Graham Rahal firing off the track on approach to Turn 11 and hitting the barriers.

Lap 10 GREEN and no changes at the front.

Lap 11 and Rosenqvist leads Ericsson by 0.7s and Palou by 1.7s. Malukas takes P18 from Newgarden. Lundgaard is P13.

Lap 15 and Rosenqvist leads Ericsson by 0.7s, Palou by 2.0s, Power by 3.6s, VeeKay by 4.9s, and Kirkwood by 5.8s. Simpson, Dixon, McLaughlin, and Grosjean complete the top 10.

Lap 17 and Rosenqvist’s lead is down to 0.6s over Ericsson who’s getting excellent life from his alts. Palou is 1.8s down, which suggests Rosenqvist is starting to lose performance with his primes.

Lap 21 and Rosenqvist has pushed the lead to 1.0s over Ericsson as the life of the alts might be in question. Palou is 1.9s down as pit stops are starting to happen.

Lap 23 and Rosenqvist is starting to drop Ericsson at 1.2s back; Palou’s at 2.0s. Power’s at 4.1s.

Lap 24 and Ericsson’s 1.5s down to Rosenqvist. Time for tires.

Lap 25 and Ericsson pits from P2. Palou is 2.3s behind Rosenqvist. Kirkwood and Dixon pit at well as Kirkwood takes a second set of alts.

Lap 26 and Rosenqvist leads Palou by 1.7s. Lundgaard is P7!

Lap 27 and Rosenqvist’s lead is 1.2s over Palou.

Lap 28 and Lundgaard pits from P6. Rosenqvist leads Palou by 0.8s.

Lap 30 and VeeKay and Simpson pit. Palou is 0.6s behind Rosenqvist.

Lap 31 and Ericsson runs long into Turn 1 and loses a lot of time. Rosenqvist pits. Long stop. Power pits as well.

Lap 32 and Palou pits for alts.

Lap 33 and Newgarden, on an alternate strategy, takes the lead ahead of Ferrucci. Palou return in P3 to lead Rosenqvist.

Lap 34 and Armstrong pits saying the engine is broken.

Lap 38 and Newgarden pits; Ferrucci was in a moment ago, which hands the lead to Palou.

Lap 39 and Palou leads Rosenqvist by 4.7s and Power by 7.0s.

Lap 45 and Palou leads Rosenqvist by 6.3s, Power by 8.8s, and Kirkwood by 12.9s as Newgarden takes P10 from Dixon.

Lap 50 and Palou leads Rosenqvist by 7.6s, Power by 10.4s, and Kirkwood by 15.2s. Oof. Lundgaard is P9, 25.8s down.

Lap 55 — halfway — and Palou’s alts appear to be at the crossover point as the lead is down to 7.1s

Lap 56 and the lead over Rosenqvist is 6.7s.

Lap 57 and Palou pits for primes. It wasn’t the fastest stop.

Lap 60 and Rosenqvist pits from the lead for alts.

Lap 64 and Newgarden leads Palou by 4.2s and Rosenqvist by 9.7s.

Lap 66 and Newgarden leads Palou by 4.0 and Rosenqvist by 8.8s.

Lap 67 and Newgarden pits.

Lap 70 and Palou’s lead is down to 3.3s over Rosenqvist. Primes vs alts.

Lap 72 and Palou’s lead is down to 2.5s as Palou has Rahal ahead to lap.

Lap 73 and Rahal moves aside for Palou. The gap to Rosenqvist is 2.2s.

Lap 74 and Rahal lets Rosenqvist by.

Lap 75 and Palou’s lead is 2.0s. Power’s 7.6s back, ahead of Kirkwood who’s 13.9s shy of the leader. Rosenqvist is nearing the crossover point with his alts.

Lap 77 and Palou leads Rosenqvist by 1.9s. Palou has Robb ahead to lap next.

Lap 78 and the gap is down to 1.6s as Palou is stuck behind Robb and Collet.

Lap 79 and Kirkwood pits. The team says he had a slow puncture.

Lap 80 and Palou’s lead is down to 1.2s. Power is 6.7s back.

Lap 82 and Rosenqvist pits after getting stuck behind Foster.

Lap 83 and Palou pits.

Lap 84 and Power leads Newgarden by 13.8s, Simpson by 18.2s, Palou by 24.0s, and Rosenqvist by 26.1s.

Lap 88 and Power pits from the lead after losing a ton of time behind Robb.

Lap 90 and Palou leads Rosenqvist by 4.0s, Power by 7.7s, VeeKay by 13.4s, and Kirkwood by 15.3s.

Lap 94 and Palou leads Rosenqvist by 5.3s, Power by 6.8s, VeeKay by 13.3s, Kirkwood by 16.3s, and Ericsson by 17.1s. Lundgaard is P10.

Lap 98 and Palou leads Rosenqvist by 5.7s and a surging Power by 6.5s.

Lap 100 and Palou’s in full control with 5.8s over Rosenqvist.

Lap 110 and Palou leads 60 laps and crushes the field. Championship No. 5 is closer.

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