Race recap: Alex Palou wins Indy Grand Prix race in dominating fashion
![Portrait of Scott Horner](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.usatoday.com/gcdn/-mm-/c4202ead3d553913a64fcd243cb31725df067ede/c=0-0-2844-2844/local/-/media/Indianapolis/USATODAY/2014/09/11/1410464812000-staffmugs_91.jpg?width=48&height=48&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
The IndyCar Series races on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course today. The race is 85 laps on a track features 14 turns over 2.439 miles.
Alex Palou earned pole position as he tries to win the race for the second straight year. Christian Lundgaard will join him on the front row.
Team Penske begins its month without some key team members in the wake of a push-to-pass scandal that also resulted in disqualifications for drivers Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin. Penske drivers qualified 3rd (Will Power), 4th (Newgarden) and 13th (McLaughlin) for today's race.
This is the 16th race on the IMS road course since the track debuted in 2014. Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Will Power and Graham Rahal have competed in all of those races. Power has won five of those races. Dixon has won twice, including the most recent race in August 2023. Newgarden has won once, and Rahal has three runner-up finishes.
Nathan Brown is your best IndyCar follow, and we will have highlights and updates here. Please remember to refresh.
Battle in the back?:Ferrucci, Grosjean bang wheels, flip birds in tense IndyCar warmup
Alex Palou wins IndyCar race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Alex Palou wins the race from the pole and takes the IndyCar Series points lead. He also won this race last season on the way to the series championship.
Palou has 152 points, 12 ahead of race runner-up Will Power. Colton Herta and Scott Dixon are 25 points back of the leader.
Power, a 5-time winner on this track, takes 2nd, 6+ seconds behind. Christian Lundgaard takes 3rd.
Biggest movers: Colton Herta finishes 7th after starting 24th, and leads with the field with 31 on-track passes. He had run out of fuel in the first round of qualifying on Friday. Josef Newgarden starts 4th but finishes 18th.
Chip Ganassi Racing has the best day among the teams: Palou, Scott Dixon (4th), Marcus Armstrong (5th), Kyffin Simpson (15th) and Linus Lundqvist (24th).
IndyCar results at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- Alex Palou
- Will Power
- Christian Lundgaard
- Scott Dixon
- Marcus Armstrong
- Scott McLaughlin
- Colton Herta
- Alexander Rossi
- Graham Rahal
- Felix Rosenqvist
- Kyle Kirkwood
- Romain Grosjean
- Pato O'Ward
- Pietro Fittipaldi
- Kyffin Simpson
- Marcus Ericsson
- Theo Pourchaire
- Josef Newgarden
- Jack Harvey
- Christian Rasmussen
- Agustin Canapino
- Sting Ray Robb
- Tom Blomqvist
- Linus Lundqvist
- Luca Ghiotto
- Rinus VeeKay
- Santino Ferrucci
IndyCar race updates at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Lap 75: With 10 laps left, Alex Palou is 2+ seconds up on Will Power. Christian Lundgard is fighting off Scott Dixon for 3rd. The rest of the top 10: Marcus Armstrong, Scott McLaughlin, Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi, Graham Rahal, Felix Rosenqvist.
Lap 69: Alex Palou holds off Will Power on the restart and leads by 1.1 seconds at the end of the lap. Jack Harvey, Josef Newgarden and Christian Rasmussen get into each other near the rear of the field. That incident is under investigation.
Lap 65, CAUTION: Luca Ghiotto stops on the track after spinning.
Lap 63: The top 3 pit at the same time. Alex Palou comes out ahead among that group, as Will Power gets the better of Christian Lundgaard.
Lap 60: Final round of pit stops is approaching. Alex Palou is 4+ seconds ahead of Christian Lundgaard, who is narrowly ahead of Will Power. There have been 0 cautions.
Lap 56: Santino Ferrucci pits with a mechanical issue and exits the car. He will finish last.
Lap 50: Alex Palou has extended his lead on Christian Lundgaard to 2+ seconds. Will Power, Scott Dixon and Marcus Armstrong complete the top 5. The rest of the top 10: Alexander Rossi, Graham Rahal, Linus Lundqvist, Colton Herta, Pato O'Ward.
Lap 42: Halfway through and mostly through the second round of pit stops, Alexander Rossi leads, but he has taken just one pit stop. Among the front runners, Alex Palou is narrowly ahead of Christian Lundgaard.
Will Power's team makes a last-micro-second decision to pit.
Lap 32: Christian Lundgaard remains 1.6 seconds up on Will Power. Alex Palou, Scott Dixon and Marcus Armstrong round out the top 5.
Lap 24: All the drivers have pitted. Christian Lundgaard leads Will Power by 1.7 seconds, with Alex Palou 3rd, Scott Dixons 4th and Josef Newgarden 5th.
Check out Colton Herta and Rinus VeeKay battling for position.
Lap 19: Leader Christian Lundgaard and 2nd-place Alex Palou pit at the same time. Lundgaard comes out in 8th place, ahead of Palou and Will Power. Power gets by Palou.
Lap 18: Will Power pits out of 3rd place.
Lap 12: Colton Herta is the first driver into the pits. The series points leader started 24th after running out of fuel during qualifying. He is trying an alternate strategy to move up the field.
Lap 7: Marcus Ericsson is penalized 5 track positions for illegal contact with Colton Herta on the opening lap. They are Andretti Global teammates.
Lap 6: Pietro Fittipaldi is penalized for the Turn 1 incident.
Lap 2: Romain Grosjean and Santino Ferrucci, who bumped and traded insults in the morning warmup, go side-by-side. Grosjean ends up momentarily off track and is livid. However, Ferrucci tells his team his car sustains damage.
Lap 1: Christian Lundgaard passes Alex Palou for the lead. Several cars near the back of the field leave the track in Turn 1, but they all return to racing.
IndyCar qualifying results from Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- Alex Palou
- Christian Lundgaard
- Will Power
- Josef Newgarden
- Pato O'Ward
- Scott Dixon
- Alexander Rossi
- Marcus Armstrong
- Graham Rahal
- Felix Rosenqvist
- Pietro Fittipaldi
- Rinus Veekay
- Scott McLaughlin
- Kyle Kirkwood
- Agustin Canapino
- Santino Ferrucci
- Jack Harvey
- Theo Pourchaire
- Linus Lundqvist
- Christian Rasmussen
- Marcus Ericsson
- Luca Ghiotto
- Romain Grosjean
- Colton Herta
- Kyffin Simpson
- Tom Blomqvist
- Sting Ray Robb
How to watch:IndyCar Series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course start time, TV, streaming, qualifying
When is the Sonsio Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
3:30 p.m. ET Saturday, May 11, 2024, scheduled green flag.
What channel is the IndyCar race at IMS on?
TV: NBC
Radio: IndyCar Radio (93.5 and 107.5 FM in Indianapolis)
Streaming: Peacock, SiriusXM Channel 218
2024 Indy Series schedule
Time listed is ET for TV
Date, time | Location | TV/winner |
March 10 | St. Petersburg, Fla.% | Pato O'Ward** |
March 24 | Thermal, Calif.*# | Alex Palou |
April 21 | Long Beach, Calif.% | Scott Dixon |
April 28, 1 p.m. | Leeds, Ala.# | Scott McLaughlin |
May 11, 3 p.m. | Indianapolis# | NBC |
May 26, 11 a.m. | Indianapolis@ | NBC |
June 2, noon | Detroit% | USA |
June 9, 3:30 p.m. | Elkhart Lake, Wis.# | NBC |
June 23, 6 p.m. | Monterey, Calif.# | USA |
July 7, 1:30 p.m. | Lexington, Ohio# | NBC |
July 13, 8 p.m. | Newton, Iowa@ | NBC |
July 14, noon | Newton, Iowa@ | NBC |
July 21, 1 p.m. | Toronto% | Peacock |
Aug. 17, 6 p.m. | Gateway, Ill.@ | USA |
Aug. 25, 3 p.m. | Portland# | USA |
Aug. 31, 6 p.m. | Milwaukee@ | Peacock |
Sept. 1, 2:30 p.m. | Milwaukee@ | USA |
Sept. 15, 3 p.m. | Nashville@ | NBC |