IndyCar Preview: Grand Prix of Monterey
- Dan Jones
- 6 hours ago
- 10 min read
For one last time in 2026, it is time for all 25 IndyCar drivers to do battle, and although the championship may be decided, there is still plenty on the line in IndyCar's season finale. as the show hits WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Round 18 of 18 of the 2026 IndyCar season.
What happened in Milwaukee?
Double-header weekends are usually chaotic, but the events at the Milwaukee Mile produced one of the most uniquely chaotic weekends in recent memory.
After Saturday's race had to be called off after 90 laps due to inclement weather, Sunday featured 410 miles of racing, as the series crammed one-and-a-half races into the space of a few hours. It also uniquely saw the second race of the weekend completed before the first - creating one of the most confusing situations in IndyCar history.
Thankfully, there was no confusion over which driver won which race as Pato O'Ward romped home to two victories on Sunday, taking Arrow McLaren's fourth and fifth victories of 2026. He beat out a despondent David Malukas in Race 1, as he saw another victory falling by the wayside due to a plenum event late on, whilst Juncos Hollinger Racing's Rinus VeeKay earned a first podium of the year in third.
Race 2 saw O'Ward followed by Scott McLaughlin while Christian Lundgaard earned his first podium on an oval in third, just two races after he was dropped by McLaren due to underperformance on ovals.
While all that was going on, it was a relatively quiet day for Álex Palou, who did exactly what he needed to do to seal a fifth IndyCar championship as he further cemented his name among the all-time greats, once again sealing the title before the season finale.
FOX Sports averaged 509,000 viewers in the Saturday portion of Race 1, and 309,000 in the Sunday portion of the race. Race 2 saw an average of 950,000 viewers. It means FOX's 2026 average currently stands at 1.731 million viewers, a 27% increase on the number they achieved in the 17-race season last year.
You can read the full race report here and here, the DIVEBOMB IndyCar Podcast's race review here and my gradebook here.
Although the championship may be over, the results at Milwaukee significantly changed the pecking order within the top 10, as Lundgaard jumped to second and O'Ward jumped to fourth creating a particularly intruiging battle for second in the championship at the season finale. The top 10 are currently as follows:
Palou - 607
Lundgaard - 507
Kirkwood - 505
O'Ward - 503
Malukas - 484
McLaughlin - 428
Newgarden - 408
Ericsson - 407
Rosenqvist - 379
VeeKay - 364
All you need to know about Laguna Seca
IndyCar will round out it's six races in five week stretch, as well as it's 2026 season at the iconic Laguna Seca Raceway, a 2.238 mile (3.602 km) road course located in Monterey, California. The circuit has been hosting IndyCar racing since 1983 and returned to the calendar in 2019 after a 15-year hiatus.
The circuit features 11 turns, seven to the left and four to the right, and is seen as a driver's favourite due to it's dramatic elevation changes, blind corners and technical nature.
This season also sees the circuit return to it's spot as the season finale, as it did in 2019 and between 2022 and 2023, and is set to continue to do in future years, after Nashville Superspeedway's date was moved to the summer.
Laguna Seca is most famously the home of 'the Corkscrew', a corner which features a blind apex followed by an 18m drop, as drivers swing left and then right on one of the most challenging corners on the schedule. The Corkscrew will have added significance this year though as the corner will be renamed the Zanardi Corkscrew in tribute to two-time CART champion Alex Zanardi, who passed away earlier this year.
It also marks the 30th anniversary of Zanardi's final-lap pass on Bryan Herta at the Corkscrew, which is still seen today as one of the most iconic moments in the sport's history. Palou will also be running a tribute livery to Zanardi this weekend, which features the lightning bolt that Zanardi's paint scheme heralded for so many years.
The best overtaking opportunity on the circuit lies in the run down to the double-apexed Andretti hairpin at Turn 2 (with Turn 1 being a flat-out kink on the approach to the corner), before two medium-speed right-handers follow at Turns 3 and 4. Turn 5 is a medium speed left-hander before drivers have to face the tricky blind entry left-hander at Turn 6.
The Rahal Straight takes drivers down to the Zanardi Corkscrew, before the off-camber left-hander at Turn 9 follows. Turn 10 is another medium-speed right-hander before the hairpin at Turn 11 brings drivers back onto the main straight.
Being such a technical circuit, there is no surprise that recent success has all centered around Palou, who is a three-time winner at Laguna Seca, having done so in 2022, 2024 and 2025. Palou has incredibly never finished off the podium at the circuit, holding an average finish of 1.6. The only other active winner at the circuit is Palou's teammate Scott Dixon who won a particularly chaotic race in 2023.
Palou has the most poles of any active driver at the circuit with two, which he earned in his last two Laguna Seca visits, with Will Power and Felix Rosenqvist also haven taken poles in the California desert.
Sunday's race will take place over 95 laps, with drivers having access to 150 seconds of push-to-pass with a maximum of 15 seconds per deployment. As usual, drivers will have five sets of primary and five sets of alternate tyres available throughout the weekend, with series rookies having another set of of tyres available for the opening practice session.
In career milestones, Josef Newgarden will make the 250th start of his IndyCar career.
What to look out for at Laguna Seca
The IndyCar championship may be done and dusted, but that does not mean there is is not anything to look out for throughout the Laguna Seca weekend. Here's three things that are still on the line in the final race of the season:
The battle for second in points
After Lundgaard's best weekend on an oval and O'Ward's double victory, just four points separate second, third and fourth in the championship, with Kyle Kirkwood the filling in a McLaren sandwich.
A second-place finish in the championship would be very significant for each driver. Lundgaard embarks on his final race with McLaren this weekend, after he was dropped from the team in surprise fashion. A second-place in the standings would be quite the statement to the team, who dropped him citing performance reasons, believing there was an unlikelihood of them winning an IndyCar championship or Indianapolis 500 with Lundgaard at the team.
2026 has been the best year of Kyle Kirkwood's IndyCar career, and he has often held the second-place position in the championship throughout this season. A second (or third)-place finish in the championship would mark Kirkwood's best effort across the course of the season and continue to certify his standing as one of the very best drivers in the series.
It has not been an easy year for O'Ward but his outstanding Milwaukee weekend gives him a realistic chance of finishing runner-up in the championship for the second year in a row. It would be quite the turnaround from O'Ward, considering the Mexican did not have a podium until the 11th round of the season and has had several off-weekends this year.
Lundgaard is currently in the best seat in the house, with a two point gap to Kirkwood and four point gap to O'Ward, and has been the best of the three on road courses this season. Lundgaard finished runner-up to Palou at Laguna Seca last year while neither Kirkwood or O'Ward have stood on the podium at Laguna Seca.
Rookie of the Year (and the Leaders' Circle)
You only get one chance of winning Rookie of the Year and Dennis Hauger, Mick Schumacher and Caio Collet all head into Laguna Seca with a chance of claiming that title.
Hauger currently sits 18 points ahead of Schumacher and 30 ahead of Collet and already has one hand on the trophy, but cannot afford a significant slip-up this weekend.
For Schumacher to have a shot, he would need to finish at least eighth, which could be a tall order considering his best finish on a road course this year lies at just 16th. Collet on the other hand would require a podium finish to have any chance and hope that results go his way. His best finish on a road course this year is 11th.
Of note though, Collet did win both Indy NXT races at Laguna Seca last year and earned a pair of runner-up finishes the year prior. Although IndyCar is a very different kettle of fish, it provides him a some hope heading into the weekend.
Coincidentally, it also ties into the Leaders' Circle - the additional prize funding given to the top 22 entries, a reward of approximately $1 million. Hauger currently sits in 22nd, with Schumacher and Collet being his two closest competitors. It means that exactly the same permutations apply results-wise as the Rookie of the Year battle.
Trying to avoid winless seasons
There are several drivers who head into the weekend attempting to avoid going 2026 winless, with Laguna Seca marking the final chance for them to find themselves in Victory Lane. It was the same situation Josef Newgarden found himself in at Nashville last year, until he won at the finale to prevent a winless year at the death.
Most notably, Dixon's 21-year streak with a victory could come to an end this weekend should he be unable to replicate the win he took in 2023. The weekend also holds further significance for Dixon, as he races for Chip Ganassi Racing for the very last time after 25 seasons together. It would be quite the fitting farewell if Dixon was to end his Ganassi career with a victory, and continue that incredible winning streak.
Team Penske have two drivers who head into Laguna Seca winless this year. Milwaukee was yet another case of Malukas just missing out on a maiden victory but he has another chance to make amends in Laguna Seca - with a victory being the cherry on the cake in what has been an excellent first season with Team Penske.
It has been two years since McLaughlin last won an IndyCar race, but he had been in within a shot in both of the recent rounds at Washington and Milwaukee. McLaughlin has made it clear that he is not bothered about where he finishes in points, and is instead aiming solely for race victories, as he hopes to finally break that win drought.
The final driver of significant note is Power, who has had a turbulent first season with Andretti Global. What has been undeniable though is that Power has had very strong pace at the majority of races this season, as shown by the fact he has stood on the podium five times this year. However, small execution issues, like at Milwaukee, have generally cost Power this year, but he has the chance to put those all behind him as he aims to end his first season with Andretti on the perfect note.
Indy NXT Preview
There may be nothing on the line in the IndyCar season finale in regards to crowning a champion, but there is plenty on the line in Indy NXT's final round of the season, with six drivers still in mathematical contention for the championship.
As has been the case on the majority of road courses this year, Indy NXT will race twice this weekend, once on Saturday and once on Sunday, meaning that there is 108 points up for grabs over the weekend.
It is worth noting though that Max Taylor, Alessandro de Tullio and Lochie Hughes are really only in contention mathematically, with the main championship battle centering around Nikita Johnson, Enzo Fittipaldi and Tymek Kucharczyk.
Here's how the points standings currently look heading into this weekend (driver denoted with an R are eligble for Rookie of the Year):
Johnson (R) - 505
Fittipaldi (R) - 502
Kucharczyk (R) - 476
Taylor - 428
de Tullio (R) - 406
Hughes - 402
Rowe - 353
Beeton (R) - 351
Correa - 339
Garcia - 337
The gap between Fittipaldi and Johnson has often been next-to-nothing throughout this year and that remains the case heading into Laguna Seca, with three points seperating the season-long rivals. Kucharczyk lies further back, 29 points off the championship lead and will likely need Fittipaldi and Johnson to falter should he have an opportunity.
The championship is important for all three, with the champion earning a scholarship prize to help their ambitions of reaching IndyCar, with the prize money including the funding to compete in next year's Indianapolis 500.
Fittipaldi has been the strongest of the three on road courses this season, having taken three victories and a further two podiums, whilst Johnson has taken one victory on a road course with a further four podiums. Kucharczyk has one road course victory and another three podiums, but was the strongest on the last road course at Portland.
It makes the outcome of the championship very hard to predict in what will be a fascinating weekend.
As previously announced, Bart Harrison will return to the No.17 HMD Motorsports entry this weekend, whilst Nolan Allaer will return to the No.76 Juncos Hollinger Racing entry. Jacob Abel will also return to the No.48 Abel Motorsports entry that he has been in since Portland.
Race 1 will take place over 35 laps whilst Race 2 will be marginally shorter at 30 laps. Drivers will have access to 65 seconds of push-to-pass and can make use of three sets of tyres.
Timings
Indy NXT Practice 1: 13:00 PT (21:00 BST) Friday
IndyCar Practice 1: 14:00 PT (22:00 BST) Friday
Indy NXT Practice 2: 15:35 PT (23:35 BST) Friday
IndyCar Practice 2: 10:05 PT (18:05 BST) Saturday
Indy NXT Qualifying: 12:00 PT (20:00 BST) Saturday
IndyCar Qualifying: 13:35 PT (21:35 BST) Saturday
Indy NXT Race 1: 15:38 PT (23:38 BST) Saturday
IndyCar Warm-up: 17:10 PT (01:10 BST Sunday) Saturday
Indy NXT Race 2: 09:38 PT (17:38 BST) Sunday
Grand Prix of Monterey: 12:05 PT (20:05 BST) Sunday
The IndyCar championship may be over but the storylines are not. Who will finish second in the championship? Who will claim Rookie of the Year? Can any driver prevent a winless 2026 season? Who will be crowned Indy NXT champion? DIVEBOMB will bring you all the news and updates throughout the weekend as well as post-race analysis.
And although this may be the final preview of the year, that does not mean there will not be content on the DIVEBOMB website and on the DIVEBOMB IndyCar Podcast throughout the off-season. We'll keep up to date with weekly episodes and all the stories throughout the six-month break. I would
like to thank all of you who have read the previews this season - always a pleasure to write and I hope you all enjoy them too. It's time to say goodbye, but certainly not time to say farewell. See you in St. Petersburg!
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