The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix lived up to its moniker with chaos, carnage and short tempers, with Alex Palou calmly navigating the 1.645-mile, nine-turn downtown street circuit to his fourth win of the IndyCar season.
After starting on pole in the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Palou was in control throughout and led 71 of 100 laps. He also showed poise and remained unflappable during the final three restarts – Lap 71, Lap 75, and Lap 82 – when fending off Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood despite being on the less preferred harder primary tire compound.
The victory further aided Palou’s quest for a fourth consecutive – fifth in six years – title, with his points advantage growing to 62 over Kirkwood through eight of 18 rounds.
Although the Spaniard was a winner last Sunday, there was a different cast of characters for this week’s run of winners and losers.
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
It’s easy to put Graham Rahal up in the top slot after rebounding to a podium finish when it looked all but officially lost when he was hit-and-spun out of the top 10 – and relegated to 23rd – after being hit by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson in Turn 3 on Lap 39. Although it made Rahal’s day longer, there was plenty of pace in his #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) Honda as he propelled to his third podium of the season – the most since 2020.
It was also a strong day for the rest of the RLL cast, with Louis Foster finishing seventh. Additionally, even though rookie Mick Schumacher is credited with a 23rd-place result, he found himself running third with less than 30 laps to go before a tight battle with Team Penske’s David Malukas ended with both stuffed into the Turn 5 tire barrier.
Scott Dixon – Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Penske Entertainment: Paul Hurley
“Yeah, just another joyous hybrid failure” is what Scott Dixon credited with not finishing the race. It was a shame for the six-time IndyCar Series champion, who was running solidly in the top 10 after making his first Fast Six appearance of the season and starting fourth. He ended up finishing 24th, which stands as his second outside the top 20 this year. Additionally, it’s his lowest result since finishing 28th at Portland in 2024.
WINNER: Honda
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
The Japanese engine supplier not only swept the podium, the gaggle of Palou, Kirkwood and teammate Will Power,, along with reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist, and his Meyer Shank Racing teammate Marcus Armstrong, combined to lead 97 of 100 laps.
To add insult to injury for rival Chevrolet, the Honda Racing Corporation (HRC US) colors and branding, of the “Honda Honda” as Palou calls it, was draped over the winner’s car this past weekend.
LOSER: Chevrolet
Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
It was a nightmare weekend for Chevrolet. Not only did the bowtie brigade once more watch Honda celebrate on its home turf for the fourth consecutive year, there were self-inflicted wounds that made it a steep uphill climb.
Several engines stretched over nearly every organization underwent swaps, with Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard getting two on the same day. In the end, there were at least seven teams that changed engines ahead of the race. It got to the point that Chevrolet General Motors president Mark Reuss confirmed the root cause of the issue during the morning warm-up show on FOX Sports 1, which ended up being “a coating issue.”
Only three of its cars finished in the top 10, with Pato O’Ward and Lundgaard leading the charge with fourth and fifth, respectively.
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
Josef Newgarden showed up wounded with a boot on his left foot and a crutch under his right arm. And it looked ominous after qualifying 21st and then fading in the early laps, running last and 2s behind Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Sting Ray Robb, his closest competitor at the time. Through a blend of strategy amid the frenzy of contact among rivals, though, the two-time Indy 500 winner found himself running as high as second briefly before hovering around the back end of the top 10. In the end, he finished 10th in the #2 Team Penske Chevrolet and took home the ‘biggest mover’ award.
LOSER: Mechanics
Will Power, Andretti Global, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Lumen via Getty Images
The fourth of five consecutive race weekends saw crew members continue the early wake-up calls and either convert cars from speedway to street course configuration, or prepare one of its chassis that ran prior to the Indy 500. And the ‘concrete canyon’ of the tight and twisty Detroit circuit didn’t help the workload after, with nearly every car – unless your name is Palou or Kirkwood – sustaining some element of contact. And now, the mechanics are left switching cars back to oval configurations for a Sunday night shootout at World Wide Technology Raceway for the final of the five-leg run. Additionally, though, testing looms for many during the bye-week that follows.
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