Will Power at Laguna Seca. Image: Joe Skibinski
It was a relatively quiet day for the Team Penske trio. Power started fifth but was overhauled by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon who aced his strategy to surge from 19th to fifth. Prema Racing’s Callum Ilott was another surprise packet from 24th, finishing sixth.
McLaughlin started 13th and couldn’t make much headway in the race. Teammate Josef Newgarden started strong in fourth but fell to 11th.
Palou, meanwhile, led 84 laps of the 95-lap distance from pole position to take a step closer to clinching the IndyCar Series title.
With victory, the Spaniard moved to 589 points to go 120 points clear of nearest rival Pato O’Ward.
Just three races remain in the series across Portland, Milwaukee, and Nashville. There’s every chance the Chip Ganassi Racing driver takes the title with two races to spare.
Palou’s success accounts for more than half of the race wins this year. Victory in Laguna Seca marked his eighth win from 14 races.
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The record for the most wins in a season stands at 10, which is shared by AJ Foyt (1964) and All Unser (1970). Mario Andretti has the second-most with nine wins in 1969.
The race was a trouble-free one for Palou, who only lost the lead when he came to the pits.
“It’s been an awesome weekend, an awesome year. Today was something else,” Palou said.
“It’s super fun to be here – one of my favorite tracks for sure. I couldn’t be happier right now.”
“It was not easy. We had to push; we had to try to be ready for those (late caution periods).
“We knew that we were not on the (freshest) of tyres … but luckily we had enough pace to open a small gap and get the win.”
Christian Lundgaard was second in the leading McLaren ahead of Andretti Global’s Colton Herta.
Despite a controlled effort by Palou, the race wasn’t without drama.
Early trouble for Kyffin Simpson and Felix Rosenqvist. pic.twitter.com/ahX7affKEm
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) July 27, 2025
Conor Daly and Robert Shwartzman speared off at Turn 3 on the first lap. The race stayed green as they recovered, but just moments later there was carnage when Kyffin Simpson rear-ended Felix Rosenqvist.
Simpson speared into the concrete wall while Rosenqvist went spinning through the gravel trap. Simpson’s #8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was retired while Rosenqvist returned to the race, albeit several laps down in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda.
Racing resumed on Lap 6 with Palou ahead of Herta, O’Ward, Josef Newgarden and Will Power. Scott McLaughlin, meanwhile, was 12th.
The second Safety Car was drawn on Lap 11 when Dale Coyne Racing’s Jacob Abel suffered a brake failure and parked in the tyres at Turn 1.
The incident between Kyle Kirkwood and Rinus VeeKay. pic.twitter.com/ahBOF9B6DN
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) July 27, 2025
Kyle Kirkwood ended whatever slim hopes he had of winning the title when he rear-ended Rinus VeeKay in the #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda on Lap 25 and speared him into the Turn 2 gravel trap. The #27 Andretti Global driver was given a drive-through penalty for the incident and wound up finishing 16th while VeeKay was 23rd.
There was a lengthy green flag run until Lap 77 when Marcus Ericsson spun between Turn 6 and Turn 7 up the Rahal Straight and parked. There was a lengthy wait before the yellow flag was drawn for the stranded #28 Andretti Global machine.
The yellow cut Palou’s sizeable advantage to just a car length, but he need not worry with so much more pace than his nearest rivals.
Under caution for Marcus Ericsson. pic.twitter.com/kCltpsG5md
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) July 27, 2025
Santino Ferrucci brought out the final caution with 11 laps to go when he spun into the Corkscrew in the #14 AJ Foyt Racing car.
All told, Palou won by 3.7s over Lundgaard while Herta completed the podium.
IndyCar takes a one-week break before returning for three rounds in a row, beginning at Portland on Monday, August 11 (AEST).
Results: IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Monterey, Laguna Seca
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Engine
Laps/Diff
Gap
1
10
Alex Palou
Chip Ganassi Racing
Honda
95 laps
2
7
Christian Lundgaard
Arrow McLaren
Chevy
3.7965
3.7965
3
26
Colton Herta
Andretti Global w/Curb‑Agajanian
Honda
4.6340
0.8375
4
5
Pato O’Ward
Arrow McLaren
Chevy
6.6484
2.0144
5
9
Scott Dixon
Chip Ganassi Racing
Honda
7.3422
0.6938
6
90
Callum Ilott
Prema Racing
Chevy
8.9243
1.5821
7
12
Will Power
Team Penske
Chevy
11.5298
2.6055
8
66
Marcus Armstrong
Meyer Shank Racing
Honda
13.0055
1.4757
9
21
Christian Rasmussen
Ed Carpenter Racing
Chevy
14.0988
1.0933
10
3
Scott McLaughlin
Team Penske
Chevy
14.5960
0.4972
11
2
Josef Newgarden
Team Penske
Chevy
15.2224
0.6264
12
15
Graham Rahal
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda
16.5256
1.3032
13
4
David Malukas
AJ Foyt Enterprises
Chevy
16.9614
0.4358
14
76
Conor Daly
Juncos Hollinger Racing
Chevy
17.8336
0.8722
15
20
Alexander Rossi
Ed Carpenter Racing
Chevy
19.1194
1.2858
16
27
Kyle Kirkwood
Andretti Global
Honda
19.7294
0.6100
17
45
Louis Foster
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda
21.5898
1.8604
18
6
Nolan Siegel
Arrow McLaren
Chevy
29.3009
7.7111
19
77
Sting Ray Robb
Juncos Hollinger Racing
Chevy
30.4964
1.1955
20
30
Devlin DeFrancesco
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda
1 lap
67.4829
21
83
Robert Shwartzman
Prema Racing
Chevy
1 lap
6.5582
22
14
Santino Ferrucci
AJ Foyt Enterprises
Chevy
1 lap
25.2457
23
18
Rinus Veekay
Dale Coyne Racing
Honda
3 laps
1 lap
24
60
Felix Rosenqvist
Meyer Shank Racing
Honda
4 laps
68.0336
25
28
Marcus Ericsson
Andretti Global
Honda
Lap 78
2 laps
26
51
Jacob Abel
Dale Coyne Racing
Honda
Lap 10
0.6654