Paddock Buzz: Alex Palou Salvages Fifth After Pit Call Goes Wrong

Alex Palou led the opening 23 laps of Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix from pole position.

The last two years, Palou started on pole for this race on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and won. He won from third in 2023.

The four-time and reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion also topped both practice sessions this weekend and every round of NTT P1 Award qualifying, and the 85-lap race appeared headed toward another decisive victory for the driver of the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Then everything changed.

Alexander Rossi suffered a mechanical failure in the No. 20 Java House Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing and stopped on the Yard of Bricks on Lap 22, bringing out a full-course caution.

Palou and second-place driver Kyle Kirkwood had yet to pit. Even with pit lane initially remaining open to allow the leaders to pit, neither driver came in immediately, a decision that cost both significant track position once they eventually stopped on Lap 24.

Palou restarted 17th on Lap 26.

He eventually rallied to finish fifth, ending his streak of three consecutive IMS road course victories.

“It was an interesting race,” Palou said. “We just made a mistake, made a bad call during that yellow. We stayed out when I don't know what really happened, but anyway, that put us in a really, really bad spot.”

During his charge back through the field, Palou narrowly avoided a crash (photo, top) before salvaging a top-five finish that extended his championship lead from 17 to 27 points over Kirkwood.

“Fifth place was really, really good,” Palou said. “We were only able to do it because the car was so fast.”

Malukas Comes Up Just Short

David Malukas led a race-high 27 laps and appeared poised for his first career victory before Christian Lundgaard made a daring outside pass through the chicane in Turns 5 and 6 for the lead.

“I could see he was trying to set up for the undercut,” Malukas said. “We ended up having a little issue and he managed to stick around the outside. Probably could have been maybe a little bit more aggressive, but I thought I had some fair racing.

“It was a proper move. It was very good.”

Malukas (photo, above) first grabbed the lead on Lap 30 and looked in position to win in his 67th career start. Instead, Lundgaard’s move in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet relegated Malukas to his third career runner-up finish -- and second at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after finishing second in the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge last May.

Malukas made his final pit stop on Lap 66. Despite a quicker stop than Lundgaard, 7.1 seconds compared to 7.6 seconds on Lundgaard’s final stop a lap earlier, he couldn’t hold him off.

“We keep getting close,” Malukas said.

Malukas added that the race’s circumstances repeatedly seemed to fall in his favor before Lundgaard’s pace proved too much to overcome.

“We were having so much luck,” Malukas said. “I said: ‘Wow, the IMS gods, they're with me. They gave me all this luck.’ Then at the end, Lundgaard was just so fast.”

Despite narrowly missing victory, Malukas called it an encouraging result entering Indianapolis 500 practice week that begins Tuesday.

“We came into this weekend thinking this was going to be our hardest race of the whole season, and it ended up being our best result yet,” Malukas said. “It's really good momentum going into the ‘500.’”

Malukas sits third in points entering Tuesday’s Opening Day for the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

Rahal Continues Strong IMS Form

Graham Rahal once again delivered at one of his best tracks, a place where he has 16 top 10 finishes in 18 tries.

Rahal (photo, above) finished third, driving the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for his 35th career podium and 70th top-five result in 315 starts.

It marked Rahal’s second podium in his last four IMS road course races and continued a strong start to 2026 after another podium finish March 29 at Barber Motorsports Park.

“It (IMS road course) definitely works for us as a team and for me,” Rahal said. “I thought we put a great race together, great strategy, great calls and great stops. We'll take it. We'll march on in the rest of May.”

Team co-owner Bobby Rahal praised both his son’s resurgence and the team’s recent improvement.

“What aggravates me is all the experts,” Bobby Rahal said. “I don't care if you're Alex Palou or Scott Dixon, if you don't have the right car, you're not going to be able to show it.

“Regrettably, we really haven't given Graham a good car on a regular basis. Now we're giving him the basis from which to compete, and that's what makes me happy.”

Bobby Rahal also said Graham appears rejuvenated after difficult recent seasons.

“I think he's kind of fired up about racing again,” Rahal said. “Because I think there was a period of time where he was kind of in a bad spot where he didn't think it was going to happen ever again to be competitive. Just goes to show what can happen when you give him a car.”

Bobby Rahal Happy To See Lundgaard Break Through

Lundgaard made his NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut at the IMS road course in August 2021 with RLL before joining the team full time in 2022. He earned his first career win with the organization in 2023 at Toronto before departing after 52 starts for Arrow McLaren in 2025.

"I'm happy for Christian,” team owner Bobby Rahal said. “He could have won that race for us. I like Christian a lot, and he is a hell of a young driver.

“I'm happy for him. I just wish he had stayed with us. But who knows, maybe we'll have him back in another year or two."

Dixon Turns Damage Limitation Into Sixth

Scott Dixon again found a way to recover from adversity.

Dixon started eighth but was caught in the opening-lap Turn 1 incident (photo, above) triggered when Felix Rosenqvist hit the back of second-place starter Pato O'Ward. The chain-reaction accident also involved rookie Caio Collet, who Dixon said he was pushed into from behind by Josef Newgarden.

“It's kind of frustrating,” Dixon said of his day. “The 2 car (Newgarden) totally wasted us at the start. They didn't get a penalty. So, that was kind of questionable.

“When I just reviewed it now with Race Control, I don't know how he didn't get a penalty, so that was pretty crazy. But then the car, I got hit so hard, man, we were just in recovery mode and trying to make something out of it.”

Dixon dropped to 25th before climbing back to sixth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

“Pit stops were awesome,” Dixon said. “We made a pretty good call on the last strategy, last pit sequence, to do a big undercut and just go as hard as possible.”

Newgarden Builds Momentum

Josef Newgarden (photo, above, right) climbed from 10th to fourth in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet for his first IMS road course top 10 since 2023.

The result marked Newgarden’s second top-five finish of the season and moved the two-time series champion to fifth in the standings, 75 points behind Palou entering Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge practice, a race he won in 2023 and 2024.

“The team did an amazing job,” Newgarden said. “I'm really proud of their pit stops and the strategy. We need a little bit more speed, but I think we were a top-five car today, so we probably finished about where our potential was.

“We’re chipping away at it. We're getting closer.”

Odds and Ends

• The eventual series champion has finished on the Sonsio Grand Prix podium in seven of the last eight seasons. The only exception came in 2019. Champions finished second in 2018, won in 2020, finished third in 2021 and 2022, then won from 2023-25. Can Lundgaard, Malukas or Rahal continue the trend?

• Team Penske won five of the first six Sonsio Grand Prix races but remains winless in the last six despite placing two cars in the top four Saturday with Malukas and Newgarden.

• Chevrolet earned its 10th IMS road course victory and first since Will Power won the August race in 2021 for Team Penske. That race also marked Lundgaard’s INDYCAR debut.

• Lundgaard received a new set of McLaren golf clubs earlier this week and played the Brickyard Crossing Golf Course before the race weekend. Starting on Hole 7 with a 7-iron, Lundgaard nearly made a hole-in-one – an omen for what became a breakthrough weekend.

• McLaren Formula One reserve driver Leonardo Fornaroli (photo, above) was an interested visitor in the Arrow McLaren pits this weekend. The Italian won the FIA Formula 2 championship in 2025 and the FIA Formula 3 championship in 2024.