How a rules rumbling and full-course caution call added edge to the IndyCar title fight

IndyCar’s annual race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course tends to vary between mild and wild. The 2026 Indianapolis Grand Prix swung toward the latter, featuring an early crash, a strategy-altering full-course caution, a spectacular pass for the lead, and a healthy dose of officiating controversy.

For once, the breaks didn’t go Alex Palou’s way as the reigning IndyCar champion (and three-time Indy GP winner) got hung out by the crucial full-course caution for Alexander Rossi’s lap 21 engine failure and had to work hard to rally back to a fifth-place finish. Palou still extended his championship lead to 27 points because his closest competitor Kyle Kirkwood lost time in another Andretti Global pitstop disaster and could only recover to ninth place.

It was Christian Lundgaard who made the decisive race-winning pass on lap 68 of 85. With one lap of heat in his tyres, Lundgaard was able to run outside David Malukas (who had just exited the pits) through Turns 3 and 4 to hold the inside line into the fast Turn 5-6 chicane. Malukas was the one who flinched and backed off, and Lundgaard went on to win by 4.67 seconds, with Graham Rahal taking third at a track where he historically runs very well.

Lundgaard broke a 47-race winless streak dating to July 2023 and became only the third driver along with Johnny Rutherford and Pato O’Ward to win a race for the McLaren IndyCar team. O’Ward qualified on the outside of the front row for the Indy GP but was swept into a multi-car fracas triggered by a spinning Felix Rosenqvist. Six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon was also an innocent victim, but he managed to work back to sixth by the chequered flag, while O’Ward was down in 18th.

The victory was important in several ways to Lundgaard as he continues to strengthen his role in a team that has long been viewed as the domain of O’Ward. Lundgaard ranks fourth in the standings, 55 points behind Palou but 34 points ahead of O’Ward, who is tied for sixth with Dixon.

“First of all, it’s a lot of unfinished business for me around here, being competitive here pretty much every year except last year,” Lundgaard said. “I really wanted to get some redemption for that. It just feels awesome, and I hope that it doesn’t take another three years for another one, right?

“I’m sure 95% of the field will say the same thing, but I know the task that I was hired to do, and that’s to win races. To finally get it, obviously it took a year and a half [since joining McLaren]. We’ve come close many, many times. I think we’ve unlocked the door now. I’m pretty confident many more will come.”

He credited Malukas for racing him cleanly while downplaying what looked like a pretty spectacular pass to the crowd of about 50,000.

O'Ward and Dixon were innocent victims in the Turn 1 pile-up

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

“I knew I had one chance, maybe two,” Lundgaard said. “I had so much unfinished business here. For me, I wanted to win. I have enough second places in the past year and a half. I wanted a win. I was kind of willing to do what it took. I also knew that it was going to be respectful.”

Once the early wreck had been cleared, Palou and Kirkwood (from ninth on the grid) gapped the field until Rossi’s Chevrolet suffered an apparent hybrid system failure and his car came to a stop near the start-finish line. For nearly two laps he sat there under a local caution while cars flashed past at upwards of 150mph. After muttering a sarcastic “Thanks, Honda” over the radio, a furious Rossi finally scrambled out of the car and jumped over the pitwall, at which point the full course caution that ruined the leaders race finally flew. He blasted the spec hybrid system “a product we didn’t ask for that doesn’t improve the racing” and the officials, who were concerned enough about the safety of the drivers the day before to postpone the wet qualifying session.

IndyCar’s technical operations and officiating were already in the spotlight heading into the Indy GP weekend because it was revealed that an IndyCar software glitch had accidentally opened up use of Push-to-Pass for the final restart in the recent Long Beach race. Twelve drivers (the most egregious being Palou and Rosenqvist) had used it at a time when it was supposed to be inoperative.

The series of events sparked a heated debate during a pre-race press conference between Kirkwood, O’Ward, and Palou, who appeared to strongly defend his use of the button three times for more than 15 seconds during the Long Beach restart

Unlike the 2024 scandal when Team Penske was found to be using it in a fully illegal fashion, this time the fault was on IndyCar. In response, the rule was written to allow use of Push-to-Pass on restarts and the burden of compliance will now be placed on competitors for all restricted Push-to-Pass times.

The series of events sparked a heated debate during a pre-race press conference between Kirkwood, O’Ward, and Palou, who appeared to strongly defend his use of the button three times for more than 15 seconds during the Long Beach restart in question. Rosenqvist, who finished second to Palou at Long Beach, used 18 seconds of Push-to-Pass.

O’Ward, Kirkwood, Dixon, Lundgaard, and Newgarden (who had a race win stripped away in the 2024 Team Penske scandal) were notable among the 14 drivers who did not attempt to use the extra boost at the restricted time.

“Someone in IndyCar fucked up, and it’s my fault?” Palou said. “Then they say, ‘Sorry, we’re going to change the rule now.’ We’re talking about someone pressing a button or not pressing a button. It’s not on us to know if it’s active or not. I press it.”

The fascinating exchange was another demonstration of the steely resolve and killer instinct that lies beneath Palou’s mild-mannered exterior. It also showed that this year’s IndyCar title chase may feature a greater degree of edginess than those in the recent past. Which is no bad thing.

Focus now switches to IndyCar's main event: the Indy 500

Photo by: Penske Entertainment