Race On: A Look at Most Competitive Events of 2026 Season

In a season in which reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou won six races, eight NTT P1 Awards and secured a record-tying fourth consecutive championship, it would seem it wasn’t the most competitive of seasons. Not so.

Yes, Palou put a number on his rivals in the overall standings, winning his fifth title in a six-year span by 86 points, but compelling races ran through the 18-race schedule.

Seven races saw a margin of victory of less than a second. One of those – the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge – was won by a driver who was in third place heading to the final lap. Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian won the “500” in the most dramatic fashion ever, using a pass within yards of the checkered flag to record the closest 1-2 finish in event history (.0233 of a second over Team Penske’s David Malukas).

There were eight instances where this year’s race winner didn’t lead the most laps, and in the first 10 races the winner’s average starting position was 5.5. Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard had the season’s lowest starting position among the race winners: 12th in the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America.

A look at five of those competitive races in order of when they were staged:

Newgarden Surges Late to Win at Phoenix

Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden earned the 33rd victory of his career – the 19th on ovals – by chasing down and passing race leader Kyle Kirkwood with seven laps remaining in the Good Ranchers 250. Team Penske standout Newgarden, who started 11th, went on to win by 1.7937 seconds.

Although clearly a dominant oval racer, Newgarden (photo, above, front) led only eight of the 250 laps, benefiting from a set of new tires on the final pit stop. He said he was surprised to win the series’ first race at the track since 2018, a race he also won.

This race featured 565 on-track passes, an INDYCAR SERIES race at the 1-mile desert oval.

Andretti Global’s Will Power and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen looked like possible winners until their ferocious battle for the lead ended with the left front wing end plate of Rasmussen’s car making contact with the right rear tire of Power’s car. The impact in Turn 2 cut Power’s tire, triggering the final caution period as both cars were damaged.

Power had led 10 laps, Rasmussen 69. They were among the eight drivers who led as many laps (or more) than Newgarden. Malukas, who finished third, led a race-high 73 laps from the pole.

Rasmussen, who had made several daring passes, tried to hang on to the lead during the final restart, but his damaged car was no match for Andretti Global’s Kirkwood and, later, Newgarden. Rasmussen faded to 14th place.

Kirkwood Passes Palou To Win New Arlington Race

The first of three new street races during the season was fun on so many levels.

To begin with, the three-day spectator turnout was sensational, and the circuit delivered action aplenty.

Five drivers led the 70-lap main event, and how’s this for competitive balance: Three drivers led a race-high 16 laps, and another led 15 laps. Those drivers were Kirkwood, Palou and Power with 16 laps led, and pole winner Marcus Ericsson led 15 laps. They also were the top four finishers, respectively.

Rosenqvist also led the race for seven laps. All five of the leaders started in the top five except Kirkwood (photo, above), who was disappointed with his qualifying run and settled for the seventh starting position. His charge through the field was impressive.

Palou had the lead over Kirkwood when they each made their final pit stops on the preferred three-stop strategy on Lap 49. Palou’s crew got him away in 7.7 seconds while Kirkwood’s service was 9.5 seconds due to a slow change of the right rear wheel.

Palou exited with a 2.2-second lead, but Kirkwood used his speed to close, and he dove to the inside in Turn 13 near the end of Lap 55 and made the daring pass attempt stick.

Kirkwood pulled away to a 5.5-second lead, but that advantage evaporated when a caution came out on Lap 68. That set up a one-lap shootout, which Kirkwood mastered for his first of two victories on the season.

Rosenqvist Delivers All-Time Last Lap To Win Indy 500

Epic is the best word to describe the ending of this year’s “500” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Rosenqvist (photo, above) capped his magical May by edging Malukas in a last-lap drag race to the Yard of Bricks, but Malukas was not Rosenqvist’s only last-lap obstacle. First, he had to clear teammate Marcus Armstrong, who had the lead coming to the white flag and then after being passed by Malukas spent 20-plus seconds – and most of four corners – on the inside of Rosenqvist in a stirring side-by-side duel.

The Swede finally cleared Armstrong coming out of Turn 4, then darted into Malukas’ draft for a slingshot pass as the checkered flags awaited. The margin of victory was a scant .0233 of a second, breaking the record for the previous closest finish in event history: Al Unser Jr. held off a charging Scott Goodyear by .043 of a second in 1992.

Rosenqvist’s pass was one of an event-record 70 lead changes over 200 scintillating laps, breaking the previous mark of 68 set in 2013.

Armstrong’s lost momentum in the final charge dropped him to fifth place behind Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward in a three-wide finish. An incredible .4360 of a second separated the top five finishers.

Rosenqvist’s pass was one of 629 in the race, including 567 for position.

Lundgaard Recovers To Win at Road America

The XPEL Grand Prix at Road America was so competitive that three drivers led more laps than Lundgaard, who won the race.

The Arrow McLaren driver (photo, above, front) led the final four laps of the 55-lap contest to secure his third career series victory. But what made the win sweet was how far he came to achieve it.

Starting 12th, Lundgaard took contact on the opening lap, which knocked him to last place in the 25-car running order. He and his team used a combination of strategy, speed and a bit of good fortune to scramble all the way to the top spot.

The race proved to be another strong showing for Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian, which won the “500” with Rosenqvist and finished fifth with Armstrong. They combined to lead 18 and 14 laps, respectively, with Palou leading 13. Armstrong was poised to win his first series race – he led by nearly three seconds with five laps to go – before a mechanical failure cruelly robbed him of that. His stricken machine finally lost power in Turn 5 on Lap 53, triggering a caution period and a one-lap race to the checkered flag.

That final lap saw a tangle for third place between Power and Graham Rahal. The latter’s car got the worst of it, hitting the outside wall before sliding into Canada Corner’s gravel.

That was the climax to a thrilling race filled with varying tire strategies and fierce competition for nearly every position. But nothing was more exciting or improbable than Lundgaard’s charge to the front.

Ericsson’s Late Charge Takes New Markham Race

New street circuits come with questions about how well they’ll race. This first event answered them.

The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham offered one of the best shows of the season, with five drivers exchanging the lead in the 90-lap affair. Three of those drivers led 20 or more laps each. Second-year driver Louis Foster of Rahal Letterman Lanigan led the first 32 laps from the pole, shuffled back to the 12th position due to pitting under the first caution.

Foster came charging back, advancing eight positions and stalking Ericsson for third place when they approached Turn 3 on Lap 43. Foster went to the inside of Ericsson but clipped the left-side wall, contact which shot him straight into the concrete barrier on the right. The impact was virtually head-on, a major shunt. That spot in the track similarly claimed Kirkwood, who was running third behind his two teammates (Power and Ericsson). His impact was just as fierce.

The second half of the race featured a showdown between Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean, who led 28 laps, and Ericsson (photo, top). For a time, it appeared Grosjean was poised for his first series victory as Ericsson had pitted for new tires.

With Ericsson just 10 days from being confirmed to return to Andretti Global for a fourth season, the drama was rich. Ericsson’s pit stop had dropped him to seventh place, but his speed was undeniable. He caught and passed Grosjean five laps from the finish to send him on his way to his first series win 63 races dating back to his 2023 season-opening victory in St. Petersburg.

The margin of victory was a deceiving 7.5305 seconds.