Starting from pole Car 10 Alex Palou won the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear for his 23rd NTT Indycar Serires win. This is is 4th win & 6th Top 5 of 2026. 2nd Place Car 27 Kyle Kirkwood, started from 6th place posted his 6th Top 5 of 2026. 3rd Place Car 15 Graham Rahal, started from 12th place posted his 3rd Top 5 of 2026.
4th Place Car 5 Pato O’Ward, started from 7th place followed by 5th place Car 7 Christian Lundgaard, started from 5th place. 6th Place Car 60 Felix Rosenqvist, started from 16th place followed by 7th place Car 45 Louis Foster, started from 11th place. 8th Place Car 28 Marcus Ericsson, started from 10th place followed by 9th place Car 8 Kyffin Simpson, started from 17th place. Lastly in the Top 10 was Car 2 Josef Newgarden, in 10th place, started from 21st place.
The race had 5 Caution Lapsfor 23: 1st Caution on lap 10 for Contact: Car 21 in Turn 1. 2nd Caution on lap 39 for Contact: Cars 8 and 15 in Turn 3. 3rd Caution on lap 66 for Contact: Cars 14 and 76 in Turn 5. 4th Caution on lap 73 for Contact: Cars 12 and 47 in Turn 5. 5th Caution on lap 80 for Mechanical: Car 14 in Turn 4.
The race had 7 Lead Changes among 6 drivers. Lead Change Summary: On Lap Car Leader: 1 10 Palou, Alex, 17 26 Power, Will, 35 7 Lundgaard, Christian, 38 66 Armstrong, Marcus, 40 60 Rosenqvist, Felix, 41 10 Palou, Alex, 64 27 Kirkwood, Kyle, 69 10 Palou, Alex. Leader Summary: 10 Palou, Alex 71, 26 Power, Will 18, 27 Kirkwood, Kyle 5, 7 Lundgaard, Christian 3, 66 Armstrong, Marcus 2, 60 Rosenqvist, Felix 1.
Photo Courtesy of INDYCAR
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Statement:
Palou Prevails Amid Chaos, Varying Tire Strategies in Detroit
DETROIT (Sunday, May 31, 2026) – Four-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou prevailed in a full-contact race filled with various tire strategies, winning the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear on Sunday for his fourth victory in eight races this season.
Pole sitter Palou drove his No. 10 HRC Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to a 3.0584-second victory over the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda of Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood. It was the 23rd victory of Palou’s career in 106 starts, a remarkable strike rate of 21.7 percent, and he has won 12 of the last 25 races (48 percent win rate) dating to the start of the 2025 season.
“It feels like the first time, honestly” Palou said. “It was a tough one, a very tough one. But the team did an incredible job once again with the strategy. The pit stops were incredible. Incredible run, incredible start of the year, but it was tough.”
The victory extended Palou’s championship lead to 62 points over Kirkwood, more than a race’s worth of margin. The Spaniard is aiming for an INDYCAR SERIES record-tying fourth straight title.
Graham Rahal finished third in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, his third podium finish of the season.
Arrow McLaren teammates Pato O’Ward and Christian Lundgaard finished fourth and fifth in the No. 5 and No. 7 Chevrolet-powered cars, respectively, at General Motors’ home event.
Palou led 71 of the 100 laps, but this wasn’t a stroll down Easy Street. He took the lead for good on Lap 69 when Kirkwood pitted from the lead for the last time and stayed out front on restarts on Laps 72, 76, 83 and 93 after full-course yellows bunched the field.
The move to the front was paved a few laps earlier when strategist Barry Wanser and Palou decided to make their final pit stop at the end of Lap 63, switching from the faster but less durable Firestone Firehawk alternate tire to the primary tire. Wanser saw a variety of jousts for position unfolding on the tight, nine-turn, 1.645-mile street circuit and wisely didn’t want Palou to get caught on track under caution and lose track position.
Wanser’s decision proved prescient on Lap 66 when Santino Ferrucci’s No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet of AJ Foyt Racing nudged the rear of Rinus VeeKay’s No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet into a spin in Turn 5. Kirkwood was leading but still had to make his final stop, which he did under yellow on Lap 69 and was forced to use a set of Firestone Firehawk alternates per INDYCAR rules that require at least two sets of the softer rubber to be used in street-circuit events.
Palou rocketed away from Alexander Rossi’s No. 20 Java House Chevrolet of ECR on the restart on Lap 72. Rookie Mick Schumacher and David Malukas were engaged in an intense duel for third on the restart, with Schumacher missing the corner in Turn 5 and nosing into the barriers in his No. 47 ENVE Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Malukas had nowhere to go and ran wide in his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, with the incident triggering another full-course caution on Lap 73.
By this point, Kirkwood had worked his way back to third after his final pit stop and had to make the most of the added early grip of the alternate tire before the increased durability of Palou’s primary tires prevailed in the closing laps. Kirkwood passed Rossi and then set sail for Palou, knowing this was his best chance to win.
Kirkwood pulled to within two car lengths of Palou on Lap 79 and appeared to be ready to pounce for the lead when Ferrucci’s car slowed in Turn 4 with a mechanical problem, triggering the fifth full-course yellow of the race on Lap 80.
“We took a little bit of a gamble on tires there, being the only guy on reds (alternates) at the end,” Kirkwood said. “It nearly paid off. It was so, so close. There were two untimely yellows.
“We almost covered Palou when we were on primes, which would have been phenomenal, and then we had that other yellow where I had him lined up. I was ready to make a dive on him, and, of course, (the yellow) comes out after I burned 10 seconds of overtake. From there, we just didn’t really have another shot at it. I think I just used up my tires too much to make that one pass.”
Palou kept the lead on the restart on Lap 83, but Kirkwood continued to push and forced Palou into a flat-spotting tire lockup on Lap 88. But Palou gathered himself and his car and started to pull away, building a lead of 1.8929 seconds by Lap 91.
But there was one more restart for Palou to manage after Rossi clipped the rear of the No. 18 BMax Honda driven by Romain Grosjean of Dale Coyne Racing and sent Grosjean into the outside wall approaching Turn 3 on Lap 91. That triggered the last of six full-course yellows, but Palou pulled away from Kirkwood and the field on the Lap 93 restart and was never threatened despite the 173 on-track passes today, a high for a street circuit this season.
“Being able to be up front was key,” Palou said. “On the first stint, I started struggling and kind of put myself in a bad spot and lost two positions with Lundgaard and (Scott) McLaughlin. I lost us positions there, but the team made a great call to be safe with the yellow. It kind of worked out for us.”
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on Sunday, June 7. Live coverage of the night race starts at 9 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls.
Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Race Results
Streets of Detroit May 31, 2026
Position Starting Position Car Driver Lap Status
1. 1. Car 10 Palou, Alex D/H/F 100 Running
2. 6. Car 27 Kirkwood, Kyle D/H/F 100 Running
3. 12. Car 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/F 100 Running
4. 7. Car 5 O’Ward, Pato D/C/F 100 Running
5. 5. Car 7 Lundgaard, Christian D/C/F 100 Running
6. 16. Car 60 Rosenqvist, Felix D/H/F 100 Running
7. 11. Car 45 Foster, Louis D/H/F 100 Running
8. 10. Car 28 Ericsson, Marcus D/H/F 100 Running
9. 17. Car 8 Simpson, Kyffin D/H/F 100 Running
10. 21. Car 2 Newgarden, Josef D/C/F 100 Running
11. 8. Car 66 Armstrong, Marcus D/H/F 100 Running
12. 18. Car 76 VeeKay, Rinus D/C/F 100 Running
13. 15. Car 19 Hauger, Dennis (R) D/H/F 100 Running
14. 24. Car 77 Robb, Sting Ray D/C/F 100 Running
15. 13. Car 6 Siegel, Nolan D/C/F 100 Running
16. 19. Car 4 Collet, Caio (R) D/C/F 100 Running
17. 14. Car 20 Rossi, Alexander D/C/F 100 Running
18. 25. Car 12 Malukas, David D/C/F 96 Running
19. 3. Car 3 McLaughlin, Scott D/C/F 96 Running
20. 20. Car 18 Grosjean, Romain D/H/F 91 Contact
21. 23. Car 47 Schumacher, Mick (R) D/H/F 91 Running
22. 2. Car 26 Power, Will D/H/F 79 Contact
23. 22. Car 14 Ferrucci, Santino D/C/F 78 Mechanical
24. 4. Car 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 69 Mechanical
25. 9. Car 21 Rasmussen, Christian D/C/F 9 91 Contact
Stats:
Time of Race: 01:59:08.5542
Avg Speed: 82.842
Lead Changes: 7
Caution Laps: 23
Fastest Lap: 93.882 mph ( 63.0794 sec) on lap 8 by 10 – Alex Palou
Next Event: Sunday, June 7 World Wide Technology Raceway FOX 9 p.m.
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