Palou Continues IndyCar Title Push In Laguna Seca Romp

Alex Palou (10) leads the field Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. (Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment photo)

MONTEREY, Calif. – Alex Palou continued his march toward Indy car immortality Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, inching ever closer to surpassing some of the all-time greats.

Palou dominated 84 of 95 laps from pole to win the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey, notching his eighth NTT IndyCar Series victory of the season and his third win in his last four visits to the historic 2.238-mile natural road course.

Now tied with four other drivers for the third-most wins in a single season, the Spaniard has set himself up for only history-making headlines for the rest of the year if he continues racking up victories.

His next targets in the record books are the likes of Mario Andretti (nine wins in 1969), and then unthinkable ground with A.J. Foyt and Al Unser (10 wins in 1964 and 1970, respectively).

The day was distinctively in the hands of the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing DHL Honda, with perfectly timed restarts after a handful of competitors that veered into tire barriers brought out the yellow flag – consequently bringing the field back together.

Palou only surrendered the lead under one of the race’s five caution periods, where Arrow McLaren rookie Nolan Siegel assumed the top spot for 11 laps before peeling off to pit lane.

When it was all said and done, Palou checked off his 19th career win in just 95 starts by 3.796 seconds over Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard.

Even with a near perfect season already, Palou continued to show Sunday just how much further he may be able to go.

“Awesome weekend, awesome year overall, but yeah, today was super fun. To be here, one of my favorite tracks for sure, I’ll be happy right now,” Palou said.

The 28-year old racer maintained an impressive 1.6 average finish at Laguna Seca after Sunday’s victory.

Palou also padded his lead in the championship standings to 121 over Toronto winner Pato O’Ward with three races remaining on the schedule.

Lundgaard finished runner-up, earning his fifth podium of the season. The Danish driver wheeled his No. 7 Velo Chevrolet up five positions on the grid from seventh, and held off a crafty Colton Herta to do it.

“[We] knew that the pit sequences are really key around here, and we went into this race not knowing that there was going to be a red [tire compound] or prime [tire compound] race. So, it ended up a red race, and I just can’t thank this team enough,” Lundgaard said.

“Apparently, this is the most podiums we’ve had in a year, so I’m very proud of the No. 7 Velo Arrow McLaren Chevrolet team.”

The second-place finish for Lundgaard made it 11 total podiums for Arrow McLaren in 2025.

Third place went to Herta, who kept his No. 27 Gainbridge Andretti Global Honda constant from his starting spot en route to his fifth top five of the season.

The Valencia, Calif., native acknowledged his family history at Laguna Seca, through both father Bryan and his own success, winning from the pole in 2019 and again in 2021.

“It is good. I’m so happy whenever we get to come back here,” the 25-year-old Herta admitted. “This place has been great to me, it’s been great to my family, and it’s a real treat. It’s a real driver’s track. To come out here, especially in an Indy car, to try to get everything out of it, it’s difficult. So, always happy to be on the podium.

“The Gainbridge Honda was super fast, and we’ll carry this momentum into Portland in two weeks.”

Two recent winners, Arrow McLaren’s O’Ward and six-time Indy car champion Scott Dixon, completed the top five.

The biggest mover of the race was Prema Racing’s Callum Ilott, who improved a blistering 18 positions on the grid to sixth, another indicator of the steady improvements of the world-renowned organization in their maiden Indy car season.

Will Power had a much-needed positive result for both himself and Team Penske in seventh. Marcus Armstrong, Christian Rasmussen, and Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top 10.

Devlin DeFrancesco, Robert Shwartzman, Santino Ferrucci, Rinus Veekay, and Felix Rosenqvist finished off the lead lap.

Marcus Ericsson fell out of the running due to mechanical issues on lap 78, and Jacob Abel and Kyffin Simpson both fell prey to crash damage Sunday.

The NTT IndyCar Series takes a weekend to regroup before the final three-race stretch toward the Astor Cup, a title that Palou could easily clinch for the fourth time.

Portland (Ore.) Int’l Raceway will play host to the Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland on Sunday, Aug. 10 at 2 p.m. ET, live on FOX, the IndyCar Radio Network, and SiriusXM IndyCar Nation, channel 218.