Alex Palou Continues Domination of Laguna Seca, Series Standings
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca remains Alex Palou's best track, and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES' champion designation almost certainly will stay with him as well.
The driver of the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda proved both with a dominating drive in the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey. He won on the California road course for the second consecutive year – again from the pole – and scored his third win here in the past four years.
Palou has just as much command of the season standings, where gaining the maximum number of points for the weekend, along with the fourth-place finish of Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward, pushed his lead to a whopping 121 points.
Palou still has work to do to clinch his third consecutive series championship and fourth in five years, but that effort is minimal. Effectively, O'Ward will need to win the remaining three races for Palou to be threatened.
This win gave Palou his eighth win in 14 races this season. Only three drivers in the sport's history – A.J. Foyt in 1964, Al Unser in 1970 and Mario Andretti in 1969 – have won more races in a season. Foyt and Unser hold the record with 10. Andretti had nine. Palou is one of five drivers with eight wins and is the first to do so since Sebastien Bourdais in 2007.
The win was the 19th of Palou's still-young career – he has made just 95 starts. Only 23 drivers have ever been to victory lane as often in open-wheel racing.
Palou relinquished the lead only to pit. Interestingly, the top spot the first time went to Arrow McLaren's Nolan Siegel, who led the first series laps of his career. Team Penske's Will Power grabbed the lead when Palou stopped a second time, but he gave it up on the next circuit, restoring order to Palou's race.
Arrow McLaren's Christian Lundgaard finished second with Colton Herta of Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian third. The two had a memorable moment mid-race when Lundgaard muscled his way to the inside of Herta in the track's final corner.
There were two incidents on the opening lap. First, a tussle between Conor Daly and rookie Robert Shwartman said the latter shoved off into the Turn 3 gravel pit. Three corners later, Chip Ganassi Racing's Kyffin Simpson ran into the back of Felix Rosenqvist, knocking the Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian driver through the gravel and against the tire barrier. Simpson ricocheted off the wall, sending his car into another part of the tires.
On Lap 11, Dale Coyne Racing rookie Jacob Abel appeared to have a mechanical failure as the car completely missed Turn 1 and sailed into the gravel. Later, Kirkwood ran into the back of Dale Coyne Racing's Rinus VeeKay, drawing the penalty that effectively ended his championship hopes.
The two late caution periods were the result of the Turn 6 off by Andretti Global's Marcus Ericsson and AJ Foyt Racing's Santino Ferrucci spinning at the top of the Corkscrew.
After five races over four July weekends, the series will take a short break before resuming the pursuit of the Astor Challenge Cup. The first of three races to end the season will be the BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway on Sunday, Aug. 10 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
IndyCar at Laguna Seca complete results, recap: Alex Palou gets 8th win of season, all but cements championship
Alex Palou all but cements the IndyCar Series championship, winning the 95-lap Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca from pole position for the second straight year. Palou gets win No. 8 of the season by 3+ seconds over Christian Lundgaard. Colton Herta completes the podium on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile layout. With three races remaining, Palou's lead on Pato O'Ward — who finishes 4th — is 121 points. A race win is worth 50. Callum Ilott moves up from 24th to 6th; Kyffin Simpson, who started 14th, finishes 27th after Lap 1 contact. Team Penske makes it to the finish, with Will Power taking 7th, Scott McLaughlin 10th and Josef Newgarden 11th. IndyCar races on the Portland road course on Aug. 10. is your best IndyCar follow, and keep up with coverage throughout the season with . We will have leaderboard updates, crashes and highlights throughout, so remember to refresh. IndyCar at Laguna Seca complete results Alex Palou Christian Lundgaard Colton Herta Pato O'Ward Scott Dixon Callum Ilott Will Power Marcus Armstrong Christian Rasmussen Scott McLaughlin Josef Newgarden Graham Rahal David Malukas Conor Daly Alexander Rossi Kyle Kirkwood Louis Foster Nolan Siegel Sting Ray Robb Devlin DeFrancesco Robert Shwartzman Santino Ferrucci Rinus Veekay Felix Rosenqvist Marcus Ericsson Jacob Abel Kyffin Simpson IndyCar race updates, leaderboard, crashes at Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca Lap 88 restart: Alex Palou leads. Pato O'Ward overtakes Scott Dixon for 4th. Lap 85: Santino Ferrucci spins and stalls. Caution. Lap 83: Louis Foster spins Nolan Siegel, who saves the car and continues. Lap 82 restart: Alex Palou runs away from the field, with Christian Lundgaard in 2nd and Colton Herta 3rd. Lap 77: Marcus Ericsson spins and stalls on track. Racing continues with only a local yellow. As Ericsson fails to get the car restarted, a full-course caution flies. IndyCar at Laguna Seca leaderboard at lap 66 Alex Palou (8+ seconds) Christian Lundgaard Colton Herta Scott Dixon Pato O'Ward Callum Ilott Christian Rasmussen Will Power Marcus Armstrong Josef Newgarden Lap 52: Alex Palou pits out of a 5-second lead over Colton Herta. IndyCar at Laguna Seca leaderboard at Lap 47 Alex Palou Colton Herta Josef Newgarden Christian Rasmussen Will Power Lap 39: Christian Lundgaard scoots by Scott Dixon for 3rd place. Lap 37: Alex Palou passes Nolan Siegel for the lead. Siegel pits on Lap 38. Restart Lap 29: Nolan Siegel narrowly leads Alex Palou, with Scott Dixon in 3rd. Kyle Kirkwood is penalized for forcing Rinus Veekay off track. Lap 26: Caution for the Rinus Veekay run-off. IndyCar at Laguna Seca Lap 25: Rinus Veekay is off after contact with Kyle Kirkwood Lap 25: Rinus Veekay is off the track, but the track remains green. Alex Palou pits out of the lead, which Nolan Siegel inherits. IndyCar at Laguna Seca leaderboard at Lap 20 Alex Palou (by 5+ seconds); In four starts at this track, his average finish is 1.8. Colton Herta Pato O'Ward Josef Newgarden Will Power Christian Rasmussen David Malukas Graham Rahal Scott McLaughlin Marcus Armstrong Lap 14 restart: The top five remain the same. IndyCar at Laguna Seca, Lap 12: Jacob Abel crashes Lap 12: Jacob Abel is into the tire barrier. Caution. Lap 6 restart: Alex Palou leads, with Colton Herta 2nd, followed by Pato O'Ward, Josef Newgarden and Will Power. IndyCar at Laguna Seca, Lap 1: Kyffin Simpson, Felix Rosenqvist crash Lap 1: Alex Palou shoots to the lead and Colton Herta overtakes Pato O'Ward for 2nd. Robert Shwartzman and Conor Daly briefly go off track. Felix Rosenqvist and Kyffin Simpson crash. Caution. IndyCar Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca is delayed IndyCar tire designations for Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca 'I think it's great': IndyCar's 2 championship contenders to start from front at Laguna Seca 'It's just so random and bizarre': Josef Newgarden tries to make sense of painful IndyCar season McLaren CEO: Zak Brown says IndyCar must remain 'commercially viable' IndyCar starting grid for Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca Row 1 1, Alex Palou 2, Pato O'Ward Row 2 3, Colton Herta 4, Josef Newgarden Row 3 5, Will Power 6, David Malukas Row 4 7, Will Power 8, Christian Lundgaard Row 5 9, Graham Rahal 10, Louis Foster Row 6 11, Marcus Armstrong 12, Christian Rasmussen Row 7 13, Scott McLaughlin 14, Kyffin Simpson Row 8 15, Marcus Ericsson 16, Nolan Siegel Row 9 17, Rinus Veekay 18, Kyle Kirkwood Row 10 19, Scott Dixon 20, Santino Ferrucci Row 11 21, Jacob Abel 22, Alexander Rossi Row 12 23, Conor Daly 24, Callum Ilott Row 13 25, Robert Shwartzman 26, Sting Ray Robb Row 14 27, Devlin DeFrancesco IndyCar expert picks, predictions for Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca from IndyStar's Nathan Brown Alex Palou swept the pole and race in 2024. Is it going to be one of weekends? As much as I'd love for the championship fight to get tighter, Palou has exceled here. He didn't run away and hide a year ago, but he was clearly the best car from the jump. This year, Palou has won four of the five natural-terrain road-course races — and in the one he didn't (Mid-Ohio), his small silly mistake cost him the win. We haven't gotten a true Alex Palou beatdown of a weekend since the spring, and it feels like we're due. How will Team Penske fare this weekend? I certainly don't expect a win. I think there's an off-chance we get a podium from either Scott McLaughlin or Will Power. I still think we could get a Penske win before the season ends, but not here. Chip Ganassi Racing has won each of the last three trips to the track, and if I'm making predictions, there's no reason to expect that to change unless something odd happens. The Rookie of the Year race couldn't be tighter. Who has the edge between Louis Foster and Robert Shwartzman? Foster has had a better track record both in qualifying performance and consistency, so in a tie with four races to go, I'll give a slight edge to the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing rookie, although I think this very much could be alive until the finale — at an oval, where Prema has gotten the bulk of their strong results this year. IndyCar Series schedule for Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca (All times ET; all IndyCar sessions are on IndyCar Live, IndyCar Radio and Sirius XM Channel 218) IndyCar Series schedule for Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca on Sunday, July 27 Noon: IndyCar warmup, FS2 3 p.m.: IndyCar race, Fox Where to watch IndyCar race at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca on? TV: Coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET, Sunday, July 27, 2025, on Fox. Green flag is scheduled for 3:22 p.m. Will Buxton is the play-by-play voice, with analysts James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell. Kevin Lee and Jack Harvey are the pit reporters. Where to stream the IndyCar race today at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca? Streaming IndyCar race at Laguna Seca Fox Sports app. Watch free with a Fubo trial How to listen to IndyCar race at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca IndyCar Nation is on SiriusXM Channel 218, IndyCar Live and the IndyCar Radio Network (check affiliates for each race) What is the IndyCar race weather forecast at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca? Sunday: Partly cloudy skies and highs in the 60s. IndyCar drivers for 2025 (Team and drivers; *-Indianapolis 500 only) : Santino Ferrucci, David Malukas : Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood, Marcus Ericsson, Marco Andretti* : Pato O'Ward, Nolan Siegel, Christian Lundgaard, Kyle Larson* (with Rick Hendrick) : Kyffin Simpson, Scott Dixon, Alex Palou : Jacob Abel, Rinus VeeKay : Ryan Hunter-Reay*, Jack Harvey* : Alexander Rossi, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter* : Conor Daly, Sting Ray Robb : Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Armstrong, Helio Castroneves* : Callum Ilott, Robert Shwartzman, Romain Grosjean (reserve) : Graham Rahal, Louis Foster, Devlin DeFrancesco, Takuma Sato* Toby Sowery (reserve) : Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Will Power IndyCar points system: IndyCar points leaders (Through 13 of 17 races) Alex Palou, 536 points Pato O'Ward, 437 Kyle Kirkwood, 363 Scott Dixon, 362 Christian Lundgaard, 317 Felix Rosenqvist, 309 Marcus Armstrong, 283 Colton Herta, 278 Will Power, 263 David Malukas, 259 Rinus Veekay, 252 Santino Ferrucci, 240 Scott McLaughlin, 239 Kyffin Simpson, 226 Christian Rasmussen, 217 Josef Newgarden, 213 Conor Daly, 199 Alexander Rossi, 199 Marcus Ericsson, 195 Graham Rahal, 195 Nolan Siegel, 168 Robert Shwartzman, 159 Louis Foster, 159 Callum Ilott, 135 Sting Ray Robb, 133 Devlin DeFrancesco, 123 Jacob Abel, 95 Takuma Sato, 36 Helio Castroneves, 20 Ed Carpenter, 16 Jack Harvey, 12 Ryan Hunter-Reay, 10 Kyle Larson, 6 Marco Andretti, 5 This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar complete race results today: Alex Palou wins at Laguna Seca
Fox Sports
2 hours ago
- Fox Sports
Instant Recall: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
INDYCAR If there was any doubt about Alex Palou on Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, he erased it early in and throughout the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey. Get used to it, folks. Palou not only has set the standard for this sport; he is the standard. Palou would have led all 95 laps from the pole if there wasn't that pesky business of needing to stop for fuel. Nolan Siegel had pitted much earlier in the race, on Lap 12, and that's why his Arrow McLaren machine was a few paces ahead of Palou for 11 laps. After that? Well, it was all Palou. Again. The driver of Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 10 DHL Honda has now won three of the past four races on the Monterey Peninsula, and he finished third last year. Palou has competed there five times. His average finish is a ridiculous 1.6. And, he has won the past two poles. Palou gapped fellow front-row starter Pato O'Ward so quickly Sunday that it might have seemed the Arrow McLaren driver had an issue. He did, of course. His name is Alex Palou. The Spaniard now has eight wins in 14 races this season, and guess what: His second-best track is next on the schedule. Palou has won two of the past four races at Portland International Raceway, site of the Grand Prix of Portland on Sunday, Aug. 10 at 3 p.m. ET (FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). He finished second to Team Penske's Will Power there a year ago. He might have another absurd average finish at that track had he not finished 12th there in 2022. By now, Palou's third consecutive series championship and fourth in five years is virtually a foregone conclusion. We can save that analyzation for another day, but his lead is 121 points with only 162 points available the rest of the way. He should officially be handed the Astor Challenge Cup on Sunday, Aug. 31 at Nashville Superspeedway. While everything at Laguna Seca featured Palou, there were other shining drives. Arrow McLaren's Christian Lundgaard drove from seventh to finish second. That's now five podium finishes for the Danish driver who had only three in his first three full seasons. Lundgaard and Colton Herta of Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian had a spirited battle, and Lundgaard used a mid-race shoulder to uproot Herta for the position mid-race. Herta continued his family's run of Laguna Seca success, but Palou's dominance makes it seem like forever ago that a Herta was the talk of this track. O'Ward finished fourth, but he never seemed in the game. Yet, that added to his career year, already the ninth top-five finish which includes two wins. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the Mexican will finish a career-best second in the standings. (It should be noted that O'Ward trails Palou by 121 points, but he leads Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon by 77 points, so it's unlikely he moves out of the second position.) Dixon gained 14 positions in Sunday's race to finish fifth, and that enabled him to overtake Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood for third in the standings. Assuming Dixon holds the position, he will finish in the top three in points for the 16th time in his Hall-of-Fame career. Kirkwood, meanwhile, had a July to forget. There were five races, and he posted an average finish of 14.8. Sunday, he finished 16th with a drive-through penalty for contact with Dale Coyne Racing's Rinus VeeKay. He has lost 120 points to Palou this month. PREMA Racing's Callum Ilott had another strong weekend at Laguna Seca. The only front-row qualifying effort of his career in this series came in 2022. In 2023, he tied his career-best finish by coming home fifth. Sunday, he drove from 24th to finish sixth. One more performance to single out: Ed Carpenter Racing's Christian Rasmussen finished ninth, his third top-10 result in the past four races. This has been a breakout season for the second-year driver who won the INDY NXT by Firestone championship in 2023. Beyond that it was all Palou as it has been all season. He is poised to go wire to wire in this historic season. recommended Item 1 of 2
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
Chip Ganassi Relishes Alex Palou's Incredible Season: 'You're Seeing History Made'
MONTEREY, Calif. — Even Chip Ganassi, with his trademark line of "I Like Winners," couldn't have predicted such a dominating season like the one Alex Palou has put together in 2025. Fourteen races into the year, Palou has eight victories. In two other races, he has finished second. He has won five poles and led the most laps in five races this year. Oh, and one of those victories was the Indianapolis 500. "This guy is in a league of his own," Ganassi told me on Sunday after another win at Laguna Seca. "There are a lot of great drivers out there, and we've been fortunate to have a lot of them. "And this guy's right at the top." No driver has won more than 10 races in a year, and Palou still has a chance to break that record with races at Portland (road course), Milwaukee (1-mile oval) and Nashville (1.33-mile oval). Can he get to 11? "I don't know many people who would bet against that," Ganassi said. "Who knows?" What is not up for debate is the monumental season Palou has had, as he has all but clinched his fourth series title. He just needs to average a 16th-place finish over the final three races. Ganassi has had seasons where his drivers have won more than eight races. Dixon and Dario Franchitti combined for 10 wins in 2009. Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya each had seven-win seasons during the time of the split of INDYCAR into two competing series (which many would consider diluted the field). "We're really, really, really pleased and excited and happy to be watching and being a part of history," Ganassi said. When a driver wins eight times in one season, the driver will need to have some good fortune. But Palou seems to have taken advantage of every opportunity, every mistake by another front-running driver. "It's not like we're lucking into these things," Ganassi said. "He's dominating. Today [at Laguna Seca], it looked like the red tire, the soft tire, was the preferred tire and he was on the hard tire running away from the field. "The entire field was on the red softs, and he was running away from them on the hard tire." That was by design. When a driver has the fastest car and is in the zone like Palou, the team finds the strategy that plays to its strengths. Palou has not been shy about not wanting to change strategy. He doesn't want to go the conservative route, and he doesn't want to throw away points at races. A week prior to Laguna Seca, that bit him when he finished 12th using a strategy that didn't pan out at Toronto. He lost 30 points to second-place Pato O'Ward in the process. "We talk about it every week," Ganassi said. "We've got people still breathing down our neck, and we want to remember how we got here. And that was racing the way we know how to race: Go for the wins." After that race, Palou took the blame for advocating for that strategy. "Alex wants to try to claim the responsibility," said his strategist Barry Wanser. "Myself and the race engineer were like you can't claim all the responsibility for what went wrong. "Part of it's on us. But that's just the type of guy he is." The type of guy Palou is remains one who continues to learn and perform. In just his second INDYCAR season, he won the title with three victories in 2021. He won just once in 2022 before a five-win season on his way to the 2023 championship. His 2024 crown came in a year when he earned just two wins but no driver had more than three. Palou's 2025 season has included his first oval wins and not just at Indianapolis. He also won on the Iowa oval, which is just short of a mile in length. "He had a great, great race in Iowa a few weeks ago, his first short oval win," Ganassi said. "These are not easy things to do, especially for a kid coming out of Europe." What has allowed him to do it? Ganassi said the same thing that made him pretty much an instant success story in the series. "I go back to his first race with us years ago down there [Barber Motorsports Park] in Alabama, when that was the first race of the season," Ganassi said. "He came out and just did really good. He had [Will] Power and [Scott] Dixon breathing down his neck all day and it didn't seem to bother him. "The wind in his sails hasn't let up yet. This guy is on a roll. We haven't seen the best of him yet. You're seeing history made right now, and it's incredible to watch." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
