June 22, 2025 | By IndyCar PR

Palou Reaches Sweet Six After Strategic Win at Hot Road America

ELKHART LKAE, Wis.—After 55 laps of ferocious, frantic uncertainty, about the only certain thing in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES happened again Sunday at Road America – Alex Palou and his Chip Ganassi Racing crew standing in victory lane.

Palou stretched the available fuel in his No. 10 SOLO Cup Chip Ganassi Racing Honda at the end to earn his sixth victory in nine starts this season in the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR, becoming the first INDYCAR SERIES driver to take the checkered flag at least six times in a season since Will Power in 2011.

“It was a crazy race,” Palou said. “There were moments I thought we were losing a ton of positions. It was a tough race for everybody. Kudos to the team for the amazing strategy and Honda for giving us the fuel mileage we needed at the end to make it.”

Three-time series champion Palou expanded his lead to 93 points over Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood with the victory in a race of varying fuel and tire strategies as the season passed its halfway point, with eight races remaining on the 17-race schedule.

Felix Rosenqvist was unshackled from a fuel-saving strategy over the closing laps in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian but fell 2.1725 seconds short to finish second. Santino Ferrucci had just enough Shell 100% Renewable Race Fuel to hang on to third in the No. 14 Sexton Properties/AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, his fourth straight top-five finish this season.

Kirkwood, winner of the last two races entering this event, stayed almost as hot as the air temperatures in the mid-90s by finishing fourth in the No. 27 Siemens Honda of Andretti Global. Marcus Armstrong recorded a season-best result of fifth in the No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda, as Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian placed both its cars in the top five.

There were a race-record nine leaders today, with Palou taking the top spot for good on Lap 53 of the 55-lap race when teammate and leader Scott Dixon couldn’t pull off another miraculous fuel save and was forced to pit in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Dixon previously had pitted at the end of Lap 38, with about 15 laps maximum between stops unless there was a caution period to reduce speeds and save fuel. Dixon’s gamble didn’t pay off, as there were no cautions in the last 24 laps despite yellow flags flying five times in the first 30 laps.

Two-time reigning series champion Palou made his final stop at the end of Lap 40. Those two fewer laps on his final tank of fuel than Dixon – and saving fuel by running second in leader Dixon’s aerodynamic draft – proved pivotal in Palou making it to the finish with authority.

Rosenqvist made his final stop at the end of Lap 42 and pushed at his maximum toward leaders Dixon, Palou and Alexander Rossi in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet. Rossi, sipping fuel like Dixon, also was forced to stop at the end of Lap 51, creating more clean air and open space for Rosenqvist to charge.

But Rosenqvist – who showed his speed by leading the morning warmup – was nearly four seconds back when Rossi pitted. Rosenqvist turned the quickest lap of the race on the final trip around the 14-turn, 4.014-mile circuit, but it wasn’t enough to trim the margin and challenge Palou at the front.

“It was going back and forth there, comers and goers through the race,” Rosenqvist said. “We had great speed, had really good pace. We’ve had bad luck the last few races, haven’t really had a good go. Good comeback now. It’s been a while since I’ve been on the podium.”

It was Rosenqvist’s first podium finish in a points-paying race since finishing second in September 2023 at Portland International Raceway.

NTT P1 Award winner Louis Foster finished 11th to tie his career best set in May in the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

The spate of caution periods in the first half of the race led to divergent strategies up and down the pit lane. It also bred intense competition on a scorching day in central Wisconsin. There were 348 on-track passes (including 345 for position), 96 passes in the top 10 and 29 passes in the top five – all those numbers second all-time among INDYCAR SERIES races at this beloved facility.

Palou’s win also continued a historic duopoly this season in the series. Palou (six wins) and Kirkwood (three wins) are the only victorious drivers in 2025, and the last time two drivers so dominated the first half of an INDYCAR SERIES season came in 1980, when Bobby Unser and Johnny Rutherford were the only winners through nine races.

Honda also stayed perfect, as its engines have powered all nine race winners this season.

The next race is The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the all-new 2026 Passport on Sunday, July 6 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.



XPELGRAND PRIX AT ROAD AMERICA RESULTS

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Results Sunday of the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 4.014-mile Road America road course, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (2) Alex Palou, Honda, 55, Running
2. (12) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 55, Running
3. (18) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 55, Running
4. (3) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 55, Running
5. (15) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 55, Running
6. (23) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 55, Running
7. (7) David Malukas, Chevrolet, 55, Running
8. (13) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 55, Running
9. (25) Scott Dixon, Honda, 55, Running
10. (22) Rinus VeeKay, Honda, 55, Running
11. (1) Louis Foster, Honda, 55, Running
12. (4) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 55, Running
13. (24) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 55, Running
14. (8) Will Power, Chevrolet, 55, Running
15. (9) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 55, Running
16. (16) Colton Herta, Honda, 55, Running
17. (11) Pato O'Ward, Chevrolet, 55, Running
18. (20) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 55, Running
19. (19) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 55, Running
20. (6) Graham Rahal, Honda, 55, Running
21. (14) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 55, Running
22. (21) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 55, Running
23. (27) Jacob Abel, Honda, 55, Running
24. (5) Christian Lundgaard, Chevrolet, 55, Running
25. (10) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 30, Contact
26. (26) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 9, Contact
27. (17) Robert Shwartzman, Chevrolet, 3, Contact

Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 116.696 mph
Time of race: 01:53:30.5917
Margin of victory: 2.1725 seconds
Cautions: 5 for 12 laps
Lead changes: 11 among 9 drivers


Lap Leaders:
Foster, Louis 1 - 3
McLaughlin, Scott 4 - 11
Dixon, Scott 12 - 20
Simpson, Kyffin 21 - 22
Lundgaard, Christian 23 - 26
Kirkwood, Kyle 27
Dixon, Scott 28 - 37
Palou, Alex 38 - 40
Rosenqvist, Felix 41 - 42
Malukas, David 43 - 44
Dixon, Scott 45 - 52
Palou, Alex 53 - 55

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings:
Palou 386, Kirkwood 293, O'Ward 275, Rosenqvist 231, Dixon 231, Lundgaard 228, Power 197, McLaughlin 190, Ferrucci 184, Herta 184, Armstrong 183, Malukas 174, Rossi 161, VeeKay 157, Rasmussen 150, Simpson 141, Newgarden 137, Rahal 133, Daly 133, Siegel 128, Ericsson 123, Shwartzman 104, Foster 102, Robb 93, DeFrancesco 89, Ilott 78, Abel 56, Takuma Sato 36, Helio Castroneves 20, Ed Carpenter 16, Jack Harvey 12, Ryan Hunter-Reay 10, Kyle Larson 6, Marco Andretti 5