Alex Palou claimed his fourth victory of the IndyCar season by winning the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. In an action-packed race, the Spaniard kept his cool and crossed the finish line first despite heavy pressure from Kyle Kirkwood. Kirkwood finished second, while Graham Rahal completed the podium in third.

Palou holds on to the lead at the start

When the green flag waved, the entire field made it through the opening turns without incident, with polesitter Alex Palou maintaining the lead while Scott McLaughlin moved past Will Power for second place.

It took nine laps before the first caution of the race was required. The cause was Christian Rasmussen, who threw away a strong qualifying performance early in the race after hitting the wall in Turn 1 and subsequently parking his car on the racing line at the exit of Turn 2.

Palou retained the lead on the restart, but on Lap 16 Power began his charge through the field. He first passed McLaughlin for second place before overtaking Palou a lap later to take the lead.

By the end of the opening stint, it became clear why Power had been so fast: he had pushed his alternate tires too hard and suffered a dramatic drop-off in pace. As a result, the top four bunched up, and on Lap 32 Palou launched an attack on Power. Power managed to fend him off, but both McLaughlin and Christian Lundgaard were able to get past Palou.

Palou then chose to break away from the slow-moving train and, like Kirkwood, made his first pit stop relatively early. On track, McLaughlin and Lundgaard both managed to pass Power, but once the first round of pit stops had cycled through, it was Palou who emerged in the lead, ahead of Kirkwood in second.

The race was neutralized for a second time on Lap 39 after Kyffin Simpson ran into the rear of Graham Rahal in the hairpin. Rahal spun as a result but was able to continue under his own power.

Palou then maintained the lead and made his final pit stop with 35 laps remaining, becoming the second driver to do so. In hindsight, it proved to be an excellent decision, as the caution came out one lap later after Santino Ferrucci spun Rinus VeeKay around. Ferrucci received a drive-through penalty for the incident.

Multiple cautions in final phase of the race

The entire field that had not yet made a pit stop headed to pit lane under caution, allowing Palou to regain the lead. Behind him were Alexander Rossi, Mick Schumacher, David Malukas, Graham Rahal and Josef Newgarden, all of whom had pitted just before the yellow flag and had therefore moved ahead of Kirkwood.

The restart immediately saw drivers attacking the slower cars in the top five, with last-place starter Malukas suddenly looking like a contender. However, that opportunity was short-lived, as Schumacher went straight on while defending against Malukas and collected him in the process, bringing out another caution.

A fierce battle broke out after the next restart as well. McLaughlin even forced Power hard into the wall in an attempt to pass him, and the pair made contact again later in the lap. The incidents caused so much damage that Power angrily retired to the pits.

With 20 laps remaining, the pace car returned to the track after Ferrucci came to a stop on the circuit. At that point, Kirkwood was running second behind Palou. While Palou was on the primary tires during his final stint, Kirkwood was running on the alternates.

Once again, the race failed to stay green to the finish. With eight laps to go, Rossi was caught out by the earlier braking of Romain Grosjean, making contact with the Dale Coyne Racing driver and sending Grosjean into the wall.

Following the restart, the final laps were run under green, and it became apparent that Kirkwood had pushed his alternate tires harder than Palou. That allowed Palou to build a small gap and secure his fourth victory of the season.

Full results of the race on Detroit