The final race of the 2026 IndyCar Series season may not have been the most exciting or spectacular race of the season, but despite only having one full course yellow, it produced more passes than last year! Scott McLaughlin ended a 735-day winless streak, while Scott Dixon said goodbye to Chip Ganassi Racing after 414 races with the team, finishing 17th. What else stood out? We analyze the race weekend based on a series of numbers!

735 - The relief must have been huge for Scott McLaughlin after finally winning another race in the 2026 season finale. The last race he won was the Sunday race at the Milwaukee Mile in 2024 - 735 days ago!

414 - For Scott Dixon, this was his 414th and final race for Chip Ganassi Racing. He could not have been satisfied with the race, finishing 17th after a failed four-stop strategy. The now 46-year-old Dixon will move to Arrow McLaren next year.

250 - Scott McLaughlin's pole position was Chevrolet's 250th IndyCar pole in the history of the brand.

146 - Although the race was certainly not packed with excitement and featured four fewer full course yellow's than last year, there were more passes: 146 passes for position, compared to 113 in 2025.

71.65 - Rinus VeeKay set the fastest lap of the race on lap 38: 1:11.650, or 71.650 seconds. This was the third time the Dutchman has set the fastest lap of a race, following the Harvest GP in 2020 and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in 2021.

17 - The unwanted honor of being the driver who was passed the most went to Nolan Siegel. The American was passed 17 times in total. Caio Collet finished second in this classification, ahead of Louis Foster.

15 - Josef Newgarden was the most productive driver in terms of passes; he made a total of 15 passes. Rinus VeeKay finished second in this classification with 12 passes, ahead of Romain Grosjean, Nolan Siegel, Kyffin Simpson, Marcus Ericsson and Christian Lundgaard, who shared third place.

9 - Santino Ferrucci was the driver who gained the most positions from his starting position. He started the race 21st and finished 12th after an aggressive strategy that saw him stay out longer - a gain of nine positions!

9 - Among the drivers who finished the race, Mick Schumacher and Nolan Siegel suffered the biggest drop in position; both lost nine spots compared to their starting positions.

8 - For Scott McLaughlin, the victory at Laguna Seca was his eighth IndyCar win. On the all-time Indy Car winners list, the Penske driver is now tied for 47th place. He shares that position with, among others, Rex Mays, Bruno Junqueira, Ryan Briscoe and Alexander Rossi.

8 - With an eighth-place finish, Alex Palou finished off the podium at Laguna Seca for the first time. In each of his previous five races at this circuit, he had finished on the podium.

5 - Laguna Seca was already the fifth consecutive race that Alex Palou failed to win. The last time this happened was in 2024, when he went winless in the final eight races of the season.

4 - Only four different drivers led at least one lap: Scott McLaughlin (87 laps), Alexander Rossi (4 laps), Felix Rosenqvist (2 laps) and Marcus Armstrong (2 laps).

4 - It was clear that a three-stop strategy was the faster option. Alex Palou was the highest-finishing driver on a four-stop strategy in eighth, but he lost six positions compared to his starting position. The other drivers on a four-stop strategy fared even worse, finishing 15th or lower.

2 - For Kyle Kirkwood, his second-place finish at Laguna Seca was an improvement on his best finish on a permanent road course. Earlier this year, he reached the podium at Mid-Ohio for the first time after a race on this type of circuit, finishing third.

1 - Race control had another relatively easy day, handing out just one penalty: Sting Ray Robb received a 10-second stop-and-hold penalty for his collision with Dennis Hauger.

1 - Alexander Rossi scored his first podium finish at Laguna Seca with ECR. The last time he stood on the podium was also at Laguna Seca, in 2024, when Rossi was still driving for McLaren - 804 days ago!