Palou & CGR toppling Andretti’s IndyCar street-course standard: “That used to be our one thing”
- Archie O’Reilly
- 16 minutes ago
- 8 min read
For many years, nobody has excelled more consistently on the bumpy surfaces within tight city confines than Andretti Global. They have become IndyCar’s resounding benchmark.
Across last year’s four street-course events, the now-departed Colton Herta achieved two pole positions and Kyle Kirkwood a further P1 Award and two race victories. With the three other powerhouse outfits only claiming either a solitary win or pole apiece, no other team really came close to a regular breaking of Andretti’s urban monopoly.
But in 2026, there has been a shift initiated by an individual who continues to move the needle. Andretti have not so much regressed as they have been usurped by Álex Palou, who through four street events this season - on Andretti’s supposed turf - has now won three times.
“They’re a good team and he’s a phenomenal driver. It’s kind of expected,” Kirkwood conceded of Palou and his No.10 Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) squad. “They’ve struggled at street courses in recent years and they don’t now. They’re clearly one of the best and they’re a group that we’re trying to catch up to now, almost, on street courses.
“Can you say it’s frustrating? I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating. It just makes us work harder and want to drive to do better in all aspects because they’re doing everything right. They have for many years now.”
Thus far in 2026, a sole street-course win has come for Andretti through Kirkwood in Arlington, a race for which Marcus Ericsson was on pole and Will Power also finished third.
On Sunday, after winning March’s season-opening race in St. Petersburg and breaking his Long Beach duck in April, a Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) USA-liveried Palou deflated Andretti again by reigning in Detroit for his season street-track hat-trick.
Sweeping the Motor City event, having taken pole position on Saturday, it was the weekend of the ‘Honda Honda’ in Chevrolet heartland. But where Palou has so often dominated by control, he was forced to slog somewhat to victory in a race disjointed by six caution periods, including four inside the final 35 laps, all of which he led the field to green on the restart.
“Tough. Very tough,” Palou reacted. “It didn’t really feel like we were leading that much… I know we were leading but, man, it was a lot of work with the restarts. It was not an easy day at all. There’s races where it’s just straightforward - and whatever it looks like it’s going to be, it is. But [Detroit] was plenty of action, struggling a lot on restarts.”
After a comfortable start to Sunday’s race, Palou ceded the lead to Power with little contest on Lap 17, content to bide his time and not over-push on his softer alternate tyres. But as Power’s surge started to subside and an opportunity arose for him to retake the lead, a rare misstep dropped Palou below both Scott McLaughlin and Christian Lundgaard too.
In some ways, though, dropping to fourth opened up the opportunity to opt for a more aggressive undercut strategy, pitting early, out of the close-fought lead traffic.
“Got myself into trouble,” Palou reflected. “We started losing pace on the alternates; Will was struggling a little bit more. Tried to overtake him but made a bad decision and put myself in a bad scenario and lost two places instead of gaining one.
“That was not great but the team reacted super quick.”
The middle stint was always bound to be the most painful for Palou, forced to turn to worn alternate tyres under IndyCar’s mandate that drivers must use two sets of the softer compound. But given the option by strategist Barry Wanser, the Spaniard was always keen to leave his primary-tyre stint - his major speciality - until the race-ending exchange.
It was theorised by Wanser that the crossover point at which new primary tyres exceeded the performance of fresh alternate tyres was after around 15 laps. Starting his used-alternate stint on Lap 34, Palou would take 30 laps of pain before stopping for a final time.
Ultimately, his final stop at the end of Lap 63 was timed perfectly, as a caution - under new rules that yellow periods would not be delayed to allow drivers to pit - was thrown on Lap 66 for AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci spinning Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rinus VeeKay. Kirkwood was trapped, unable to stop and falling to seventh once the pits reopened.
“Of all the variables that happen in IndyCar street course racing, I think we had them all,” Wanser said. “It was a very challenging race, certainly, even on the strategy, when to pit.”
With a lunge Turn 3 on the restart, Kirkwood immediately made back two positions to fifth. By the end of that lap, an error from Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Mick Schumacher, sending both himself and Team Penske’s David Malukas deep in Turn 5, promoted him to third. Second on the road, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi ahead had a penalty to serve.
As the race resumed again for its final quarter, Palou was harried by Kirkwood, who was sporting the softer tyre for the closing exchanges. But as it appeared that pressure was coming to a head, the race was neutralised again as Ferrucci suffered a mechanical issue.
From there, with another caution for Rossi hitting Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean in Turn 3 with 10 laps remaining, Kirkwood’s charge was gradually quelled.
“[Kirkwood] had a small advantage on the first two [late-race] restarts but then at the end I think he just didn’t have enough grip on the tyres,” Palou assessed. “The alternates helped him getting up to speed for like three laps, then once my tyres were up to temperature on the primaries, I was able to control a little bit more the pace and the grip of the car.
“On the last restart, I think we had like 25 or 30 [seconds of push-to-pass] and I started burning it on the back straight. We were pretty equal. Then I just saved 11 [seconds] in case we had to fight or we had to do another restart.”
By that final restart, any duress from Kirkwood was fended off. On a day where Palou had often been forced to be resolute and gritty, he was finally able to cruise a little more familiarly to a three-second advantage at the chequered flag, marking a fourth win in eight races this season for the Spaniard, one day after also claiming his fourth pole of the campaign.
After eight victories last season, winning the title by 196 points and with two races to spare, there remain to emerge any signs that Palou is even yet hitting a lofty plateau as his trajectory continues to, maybe inexplicably, trend in an upwards direction.
This is a modern great at the top of his own game - still increasingly so. But ever an exhibitor of humility, the work of his No.10 team continues to sit at the forefront of his mind.
“I feel very confident,” Palou admitted. “I feel that I’m in a great moment in my career where I feel super comfortable with what I’m capable of doing with the car. The car responds to me, talks to me the way I want.
“[But] I have an amazing group around me that whenever I struggle with the car, they can fix it for me. Here at Detroit, we were not super happy last year. [In 2026] we came with a car that was similar to last year and changed it to make it a lot better. And we were on pole, so we had the fastest car.
“Not only that, I did a couple of mistakes on track in the first stint and the team alone put me from fourth to first. And that was just with a strategy call, which is our first step. But then you need all the crew, as well, to execute and to give you a great pit stop.”
The successes can often look seamless. Detroit was somewhat the antithesis; Palou and his team were made to visibly graft for the win. But where it may not always be visible, that level of grind and relentless hard work is constant behind the scenes to bring such a sense of normality to such an abnormal level of success, which Palou does not want to be lost.
Just because, as a collective, they make things look so easy, it does not mean what himself and his team are achieving is straightforward or the sport is not still extremely challenging.
“For sure, we have a great package,” Palou explained. “[But] you need so much to go right for you. We’ve seen that at Indy Road Course; we had a super fast car but it’s very tough to win races. I wish we were in a league of our own but we [have] struggled a lot.
“We have to work so much and everybody in the team has to work so much to be here.”
As three-time defending champion with four titles in five years, Palou has been the series’ overall benchmark for some time now. But ever more so, he is setting most of IndyCar’s micro-benchmarks too, whether that be qualifying - with 10 poles in 25 races since the start of last season, which he started with his personal tally at six - or now on street courses.
This past weekend, there was even an extra layer of satisfaction at ending his first two-race run without a podium since last June - such are the standards he has set - having fallen from pole to fifth and seventh in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Indianapolis 500.
“I was happy with how we performed at Indy but not happy with the result,” he recounted. “Only Felix [Rosenqvist, winner] was happy; the rest, we left with our hearts broken. But this helps recover a lot our hearts and our feelings.
“It feels great to be back here on Victory Lane. The past couple years, we were not that strong on street courses. It just feels incredible. Also the way we won it, being on pole, then putting myself in a bad spot and the team recovering it, was a great race for us.”
For the gaggle attempting to bridge the gap to Palou, especially those whose prior benchmarks continue to be toppled, it is hard not to be disheartened.
“It’s a little disappointing to see that they have pace on street courses now because that used to be our one thing that we’d be like: ‘Okay, we’re better than everyone at street courses. We’re okay,’” Kirkwood disclosed. “Can’t really say that’s the case anymore.
“That part hurts. But we found pace on all the other circuits. In some ways, I think I’d rather take a little hit at street courses and be good at all circuits. So there’s an argument to both.”
Kirkwood has not yet lost hope on the championship front, sitting 62 points adrift of Palou’s lead but with 10 races remaining across the next three-odd months. There is a sense that, heading down the stretch, the scale of Andretti’s bigger weaknesses has been reduced.
“There’s a lot of good races on our schedule that I still think we can catch up,” Kirkwood rallied. “It’s not done and lost, by any means. It’s very possible still. There’s a crazy amount of races left.”
But Palou already holds an advantage eight points in excess of the maximum able to be scored on any given race weekend, having already scored minimum points in the second round of the season at Phoenix Raceway after colliding with VeeKay.
“I don’t want to be in another position,” Palou affirmed. “It’s incredible. It’s super good, especially knowing that I did a mistake in Phoenix with a race car that was really good and capable. It’s a good start.”
While hope is not lost, the order is unquestionably tall for the competition, for Palou and his ‘Perfect 10s’ are continuing to elevate the standard in IndyCar.
