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Motorsport

Joey Barnes

Alex Palou beats three Penske drivers to win IndyCar race at Nashville

Alex Palou David Malukas Scott McLaughlin Kyle Kirkwood Josef Newgarden Louis Foster Christian Lundgaard Ericsson (Person) Felix Rosenqvist Scott Dixon

Reigning and four-time IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou continued his assault on the 2026 season by winning the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Speedway.

After starting fourth in the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, the Spaniard took control just past halfway and went on to win by 0.8731s over Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden at the 1.33-mile concrete oval. It marks Palou’s fifth win of the season.

He increased his championship lead and Spain won the FIFA World Cup. Things are good for Alex Palou. pic.twitter.com/vY9ydugNY7
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) July 20, 2026

Team Penske’s David Malukas, who started 25th (last), went off-strategy early in the shortened 225-lap race to finish third.

And completing a Team Penske 2-3-4 was Scott McLaughlin, who charged on a late restart to finish just off the podium in fourth. Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist took fifth.

With the win Palou extends his championship lead, exiting Nashville with an 83-point gap over Malukas (457-374), who retook second after his third-place finish. Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, who finished 10th on the day after starting on pole, fell to third in the overall standings and 87 points behind Palou.

The Race

The initial start was waved off due to the field being too strung out, but Kirkwood led the field to the green flag from pole on Lap 2.

Newgarden fell back briefly but surged back to run side-by-side with Kirkwood, with Palou in third a few car lengths back.

Through the opening 14 laps, Kirkwood continued to lead Newgarden and Palou, but it was Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong dropping dramatically; falling from sixth down to ninth. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon dropped the most spots (five) from fifth down to 10th.

The caution came out on Lap 19 after AJ Foyt Racing rookie Caio Collet got loose in Turn 4 and pounded the outside wall.

OUT IN THE EARLY GOING 😳

Caio Collet's day is over after this Lap 18 incident in Turn 4. pic.twitter.com/XxDXUJHua3
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 20, 2026

The likes of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s (RLL) Louis Foster, along with Team Penske’s David Malukas and Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard opted to not pit and elevated up to run first-third. Meanwhile, McLaughlin won the race off pit road, narrowly beating Kirkwood, Palou, and then Newgarden.

Foster led the field to the restart on Lap 32, with McLaughlin, Kirkwood and Palou able to quickly get around Lundgaard, who eventually faded out of the top 10. Malukas climbed to the lead over Foster a lap later, with Foster dropping down to seventh.

Despite being on used tires, Malukas began to widen the gap over teammate McLaughlin to 2s by Lap 44.

By Lap 50, Malukas held a 3.7s lead as he caught the rear of the field in RLL’s Graham Rahal. However, Malukas continued to struggle to get around Rahal, which allowed McLaughlin to close to within 1.5s over the next seven laps.

Malukas dove to pit lane on Lap 61, handing the lead to McLaughlin. Malukas cycled out to 23rd, a lap down and looking for the race to stay under green flag conditions until the rest of the field made their next round of pit stops.

McLaughlin also struggled to get by Rahal, instead hanging behind but holding a 0.7s lead over Kirkwood. McLaughlin was finally able to get by Rahal on Lap 72.

The biggest mover since the restart was Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rinus VeeKay, who was up 10 spots and running fifth by Lap 78. He dove to pit lane the following lap.

McLaughlin pitted on Lap 82 from the lead, and cycled out well-behind Malukas as the cycle continued. Malukas sat 2.5s ahead,

The top five through 100 laps, Malukas held a 1.4s lead over McLaughlin, with Kirkwood in third, VeeKay in fourth, and Palou in fifth.

By Lap 107, Armstrong was on pit lane after encountering a mechanical issue.

The lead for Malukas was 2.1s by Lap 110 laps.

ECR’s Christian Rasmussen was following teammate Alexander Rossi for ninth but found the wall that resulted in a broken rear toe link, forcing him to pit lane after 115 laps. With Rasmussen’s issue, RLL rookie Mick Schumacher moved up to 10th.

Malukas dove to pit lane on Lap 119, handing off the top spot to teammate McLaughlin once more.

Moments later, however, the caution came out on Lap 122 after Dixon rear-ended an abruptly slow Rossi as the two came together in Turn 3.

CRASH for Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon! Here’s what happened. pic.twitter.com/oQVtZWTjst
— Motorsport (@Motorsport) July 20, 2026

Despite the significant damage, Dixon was able to get brief repairs and was sent back out. Palou stayed out when the pits opened on Lap 130, with McLaughlin and everyone else coming to pit lane.

Palou led the field to the green flag restart on Lap 140, with McLaughlin under fire by Kirkwood for second. Despite the caution, Malukas restarted 13th and on the lead lap.

Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist was up from 17th to seventh on Lap 147 since the restart, while Andretti Global’s Will Power was on pit lane for repairs after making contact with the Turn 2 wall on the restart.

With 60 laps to go, Palou held a 1.4s lead over McLaughlin, with Kirkwood in third, Newgarden in fourth, and VeeKay in fifth.

Malukas climbed up to eighth by Lap 167, directly ahead of Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson and Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel.

The first among the top five to make a pit stop was VeeKay, who came in on Lap 175, with McLaughlin coming in two laps later.

While Kirkwood was on pit lane, the caution came out on Lap 180 as Dale Coyne Racing’s Dennis Hauger made contact with the Turn 2 SAFER Barrier and ended up stopped on the backstretch.

Following the cycle, Palou was able to remain in the lead, ahead of Newgarden, Rosenqvist, Malukas, and Ericsson. Kirkwood and McLaughlin were able to get back on the lead lap, but lined up 11th and 12th, respectively.

Palou led the field to the restart with 31 laps to go, with Newgarden behind. However, the man on the move was McLaughlin, who was up five spots since the restart and running seventh.

Malukas got around Ericsson for third with 27 laps to go; Ericsson then fell to fifth as Rosenqvist got by due to the loss of momentum.

On Lap 200, Palou led Newgarden by 0.207s.

With 20 laps to go, the lead for Palou stood at 0.4s. At the same time, McLaughlin moved by Ericsson to take fifth. McLaughlin moved up to fourth a few laps later.

The running order remained unchanged with 10 laps to go, with Newgarden unable to make up ground.

Palou’s lead widened to 0.7s with five laps to go, with only Newgarden and Malukas within range for the win.

Palou worked around the lapped car of Foster and set off to a comfortable win, his fifth of the season.

Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Pits
1	A. PalouChip Ganassi Racing	10	225		4
2	J. NewgardenTeam Penske	2	225	0.8731	4
3	D. MalukasTeam Penske	12	225	1.2198	3
4	S. McLaughlinTeam Penske	3	225	5.4435	4
5	F. RosenqvistMeyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	60	225	6.0746	4
6	M. EricssonAndretti Global	28	225	6.9916	4
7	P. O'WardArrow McLaren	5	225	7.9795	4
8	M. SchumacherRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	47	225	8.7447	4
9	K. SimpsonChip Ganassi Racing	8	225	9.3648	5
10	K. KirkwoodAndretti Global	27	225	10.1497	4
11	N. SiegelArrow McLaren	6	225	11.1337	4
12	R. van KalmthoutJuncos Hollinger Racing	76	225	11.7236	4
13	S. FerrucciA.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	225	13.0012	4
14	R. GrosjeanDale Coyne Racing	18	225	16.6682	4
15	R. Robb StingJuncos Hollinger Racing	77	225	19.0542	4
16	C. LundgaardArrow McLaren	7	225	23.8636	4
17	L. FosterRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	223	1 lap	5
18	S. DixonChip Ganassi Racing	9	218	6 laps	7
19	G. RahalRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	209	15 laps	9
20	W. PowerAndretti Global	26	209	15 laps	6
21	D. HaugerDale Coyne Racing	19	178	46 laps	4
22	C. RasmussenEd Carpenter Racing	21	127	97 laps	3
23	A. RossiEd Carpenter Racing	20	121	103 laps	2
24	M. ArmstrongMeyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	66	104	120 laps	2
25	C. ColletA.J. Foyt Enterprises	4	17	207 laps