The eighth round of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season officially closes the month of May, but it is not in Speedway, Indiana, rather it is on the streets of Detroit for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The midway point of the season is approaching quickly and we have had five winners already this season. Ten drivers have stood on the podium and 13 drivers have finished in the top five. Twenty-two drivers have scored a top ten finish already. This will be the fourth year back on the downtown Detroit course. There has yet to be a repeat winner. Dating back to the final races on Belle Isle, there have been six different winners in the last six Detroit races.
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday May 31 with green flag scheduled for 12:52 p.m. ET.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 3:00 p.m. ET (75 minutes)
Saturday:
Second Practice: 9:00 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 1:00 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Warm-up: 9:35 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 12:52 p.m. ET (100 laps)
Qualifying: 1:00 p.m. ET
Sunday:
Warm-up: 9:35 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 12:52 p.m. ET (100 laps)
Where Do We Stand?
Through seven rounds, Álex Palou continues to lead the championship but with fewer points than expected after the Indianapolis 500. In post-race inspection, it was found Palou's front wing height was not within regulation in terms of minimum and maximum heights. IndyCar officials determined the result of this violation was due to assembly errors and not an intentional modification. Instead of disqualification, Palou and the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing team each lost five points in the drivers' and entrants' championships, and the team was fine $10,000.
The points penalty does not hurt Palou that much as he was seventh in the race with 12 points for pole position plus an additional three points for leading the most laps in the Indianapolis 500. Instead of leaving with 41 points, Palou scored 36 points in the "500," the fifth-most points scored in the race. Without the penalty, Palou would have scored the third-most points in the race, behind only Felix Rosenqvist and David Malukas, the top two finishers in the race.
Palou sits on 273 points, and he has a 37-point lead over Malukas. With his worst two finishes in the last two races, Kyle Kirkwood has dropped to third in the championship. Kirkwood's top ten finish streak ended at seven consecutive races, dating back to last season's Nashville finale, as he was 16th in the Indianapolis 500. He trails Palou by 49 points.
Arrow McLaren rounds out the top five in the championship. Despite an anonymous Indianapolis 500, Christian Lundgaard is fourth in the championship 78 points back. Patricio O'Ward is fifth in the championship, 85 points behind Palou. Scott McLaughlin's surge to third in the Indianapolis 500 has him 92 points off the championship lead in sixth.
An Indianapolis 500 victory lifts Felix Rosenqvist from 11th to seventh in the championship and he is 97 points behind Palou. There is a tie for eighth between Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon, two drivers who likely know they could have finished better at Indianapolis than where they wound up in the final result. Newgarden owns the tiebreaker thanks to his Phoenix victory, but both drivers are 106 points for the top of the championship. Marcus Armstrong remained tenth in the championship after his fifth-place finish. Armstrong is 119 points from the top spot.
Graham Rahal dropped to 11th in the championship on 151 points, but there is some breathing room to Marcus Ericsson in 12th, who has 129 points. Seven points cover Ericsson in 12th to 15th and 18 points covers 12th to 18th.
Alexander Rossi is on 127 points, two more than Rinus VeeKay while Santino Ferrucci is 15th on 122 points. Kyffin Simpson sits on 116 points, four more than Will Power. Dennis Hauger is the top rookie in 18th on 111 points.
From Hauger, there is another 16 points back to Louis Foster and Nolan Siegel, who are tied for 19th. Foster owns the tiebreaker as his best finish is seventh to Siegel's tenth. Despite finishing ninth at Indianapolis, Romain Grosjean is still 21st in the championship on 92 points.
Another 16-point gulf opens to the bottom four drivers in the championship. Caio Collet has 76 points while Christian Rasmussen is on 71 points. Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Mick Schumacher is off the very bottom of the championship, but he is still only on 66 points. Sting Ray Robb rounds out the top 25 on 62 points.
Turning a New Leaf
Felix Rosenqvist heads to Detroit with the wind beneath his wings. Rosenqvist's 98-race winless streak is over. It is the second-most starts between victories in IndyCar history. At five years, ten months and 13 days between victories, it is the 17th-longest stretch between victories in IndyCar history. With 120 starts under his belt and coming off the greatest triumph of his career, Rosenqvist can look forward to rising to another level.
Prior to Indianapolis, this had not been the greatest start to the season. Rosenqvist had not finished in the top ten in the first four races. He lost a potential top ten at Arlington for passing early on the final restart and was relegated to 19th. He did win pole position in Long Beach and led the most laps before finishing second to Álex Palou. However, in next race at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Rosenqvist's day was derailed from the opening corner when he earned an avoidable contact penalty for contact in turn one with Patricio O'Ward. Contact in the penultimate corner later in the race with Kyffin Simpson ended Rosenqvist's day and placed him 23rd.
This was the third time in his eight IndyCar seasons Rosenqvist failed to score a top ten finish in the first four races of the season. However, things have been turning around. The Swede has started in the top five in four of the last five races. At Long Beach, he and Meyer Shank Racing were plain beat but made no mistakes. Palou was just better.
At Meyer Shank Racing, Rosenqvist has found good form. While in his first season he was 12th in the championship, level to where he was in his final season with Arrow McLaren, Rosenqvist improved to sixth in the championship last year. His four top five finishes were his most since he had six in his rookie season in 2019. His ten top ten finishes in 2025 matched his best in a single season.
This Detroit circuit has been a reasonably good place for Rosenqvist, but it has provided some difficult moments. While he started ninth and finished third in 2023, he had to start 22nd in 2024 and he suffered a tire puncture on the opening lap. However, the cautions kept him in the fight and he was able to secure an eighth-place finish. Last year, he had an early spin but had no damage. He climbed his way back into position for a top ten finish until Louis Foster had a suspension failure directly behind Rosenqvist entering the hairpin and collided with the back of the Swede. This left Rosenqvist 21st in the final results.
Rosenqvist has scored at least one podium finish in seven of his eight IndyCar seasons. The 2021 season is the one outlier. However, Rosenqvist has never had consecutive podium finishes in his career. This is only the third season in which he has had multiple podium results. He had two in his rookie season in 2019 and he had two in 2023, his final year with McLaren.
The last driver to win the Indianapolis 500 and the following race was Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000. Since 2001, only four times has the Indianapolis 500 winner finished on the podium in the next race, and all four of those drivers finished second. Dario Franchitti was second to Tony Kanaan at Milwaukee in 2007. Scott Dixon was second to Ryan Briscoe at Milwaukee in 2008. In 2012, Franchitti was second at Belle Isle to Dixon. Takuma Sato was runner-up to Dixon at Gateway in 2020.
Only twice in Rosenqvist's career has he had consecutive top five finishes. He ended his rookie season in 2019 with finishes of second and fifth at Portland and Laguna Seca respectively. Last season, he was fifth at Thermal Club and then fourth at Long Beach.
Malukas' Close Calls
As much as we basked in Felix Rosenqvist's celebration, the anguish in David Malukas' face when he finally stepped out of his car after the Indianapolis 500 left an indelible mark on how we will remember the 110th Indianapolis 500.
Malukas was second after starting second. He led 30 laps, the third-most in the race behind only Álex Palou's 59 and Scott Dixon's 32. Malukas had made a pass for the lead at the start of the final lap on Marcus Armstrong, only to be 0.0233 seconds short of victory when it came time to take the checkered flag, the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history. It was the 17th-closest finish in IndyCar history. This was the second consecutive year Malukas finished second in the Indianapolis 500. He became the seventh driver to have consecutive runner-up finishes in the famed race.
For all the pain Malukas expressed, it should not cloud out what has been an excellent start to the 2026 season. In his first year with Team Penske, Malukas has been the best Team Penske finisher in four of seven races, and he has been the best Penske starter in six consecutive races.
Entering this season, Malukas has three career podium finishes. He has had three podium finishes in the last six races. Malukas has six consecutive top ten finishes. His most top ten finishes in a single season was six in 2023. He has led 130 laps through the first seven races this season. He had led 128 laps in his first four seasons in IndyCar.
Is victory coming for Malukas?
The Indianapolis 500 runner-up has respectable results in the subsequent race in recent years. Over the previous five years, the runner-up has finished in the top ten three times and has finished no worse than 15th. However, the only top five finisher was Patricio O'Ward, who was fifth at Belle Isle after being second at Indianapolis in 2022.
The most recent Indianapolis 500 runner-up to respond with a victory in the next race was Scott Dixon in 2020. He was second at Indianapolis and then he won at Gateway. Prior to that, the next most recent runner-up to win the next race was... Scott Dixon in 2012, who won at Belle Isle after finishing second to Dario Franchitti at Indianapolis.
Since 1996, there have been two other occasions where the "500" runner-up responded with a victory. Paul Tracy did it in 2002, but his victory came in CART at Milwaukee. Tony Kanaan was second to Buddy Rice in the 2004 Indianapolis 500 and Kanaan followed it with a victory at Texas.
Generally, the Indianapolis 500 runner-up has done well in the next race. Since 1996, that driver has an average finish of 8.333 in the following race, and only twice has the Indianapolis 500 runner-up finished outside the top twenty in the following race during that span. Those drivers were Vitor Meira in 2008, who was 22nd at Milwaukee, and J.R. Hildebrand in 2011, who was 23rd in the first Texas race of a doubleheader weekend.
This will be Malukas' 69th career start. The most recent driver to have a first career victory come after a second place finish was Robert Doornbos in 2007. Doornbos was second at Cleveland and then won at Mont-Tremblant the following weekend.
Starting Over
It is not quite the halfway point, but seven races is a healthy chunk of the season and results have become trends. The best teams are the best teams and the ones finishing at the back are no longer just having poor days. A few teams will be looking for a reset after Indianapolis, even the teams that have been doing somewhat adequate.
Andretti Global is not entirely in the gutter, but it is hoping to turn things around after the two race weekend in Indianapolis, specifically Will Power.
Power has finished outside the top ten in six of seven races. A third in Arlington is his only saving grace this season. His race results are not being helped by his qualifying results either. Four times he has started 19th or worse this season. In those four races, his average finish is 17.5. This includes his 29th-place result in the Indianapolis 500 after suffering a gearbox failure.
In the one race Power has started in the top five, he was on the podium. He has not started on the front row since he was on pole position for Gateway last June, a 16-race streak.
Marcus Ericsson has been better than Power, but the last three races have been rather rough on the Swede. After opening the season with three top ten finishes in the first four races, including a fourth from his first career pole position in Arlington, he has finished outside the top ten in three consecutive races. Mechanical issues took him out at Long Beach and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Ericsson had a good drive in the Indianapolis 500, and could have finished in the top ten, but the pit strategy shuffled him back to 13th.
Kyle Kirkwood is looking to stop the bleeding. A 16th in the "500" isn't the end of the world, but it stings when his two main championship rivals have both finished ahead of him in the last two races. Like Ericsson, Kirkwood had a good drive into the top ten during the "500" but the way pit strategy shook out, it left Kirkwood mired back in 16th when a top ten was achievable.
The good news for Kirkwood is he has finished in the top five of all three street races this season, and he has 12 consecutive top ten finishes in street races dating back to his victory in Nashville in 2023.
Though he has a victory this season, Josef Newgarden is likely smarting after his accident while running in the top five of the Indianapolis 500. Newgarden's Team Penske teammates finishing second and third are not helping him either. It was the second consecutive year Newgarden has retired from the "500." While he is eighth in the championship, results have not exceptional.
Newgarden won at Phoenix, but he has been the worst Penske finisher in three races. Phoenix is the only time he has been the top Penske driver. He has not had a top five finish on a street course since he was third at St. Petersburg in 2025. His most recent street course victory was over four years ago at Long Beach in 2022. He has not had consecutive top five finishes since he was third in the 2024 Nashville finale and then third in the 2025 St. Petersburg season opener. The last time Newgarden had consecutive top five results within the same season was first at Gateway and third at Portland in 2024.
The Andretti drivers and Newgarden are four drivers who want to be better but haven't been bad, except for Power. A few teams really could use a great result.
Christian Rasmussen is outside the Leader Circle spots through seven races. Though few drivers have been closer to victory this season than Rasmussen was at Phoenix, his multiple glances with the wall dropped him to 14th in the final result. It remains his best finish of the season. Mechanical issues took him out of both races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Mick Schumacher has still not finished better than 17th this season. While he ran ever lap at the Indianapolis 500, he is the worst rookie in the championship, and he is ten points outside a Leader Circle spot. Sting Ray Robb is the only one spot beneath Schumacher, and Robb has finished outside the top twenty in six of seven races. Schumacher's entry and Robb's entry are two of the three charter entries that finished outside the Leader Circle money in 2025, making it imperative they get back in the money this season.
The Leader Circle scrap is quickly becoming a four-driver fight for those final three spots. For all the praise Caio Collet received for his Indianapolis performance prior to his accident, Collet has still finished outside the top fifteen in four consecutive races and in six of seven races this season. Three of his last four results have been finishes outside the top twenty.
Collet is on the Leader Circle bubble, but he is 16 points from breathing room in 21st and only five points out of the cellar.
Indy Lights
After two weeks off, Indy Lights is back in action for its seventh round of the season from the streets of Detroit.
Finishes of third and sixth on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course was enough for Nikita Johnson to retain the championship lead. Johnson will have a busy weekend on his hands as he is also competing in the IMSA race driving the #59 McLaren for RLL Team McLaren.
Johnson has 231 points and he is 11 points ahead of Tymek Kucharczyk, who has yet to finish worse than fifth this season and who scored his first victory in the second IMS road course race. Kucharczyk spent last weekend competing in the USF Pro 2000 race from Indianapolis Raceway Park to gain oval experience. He was third in that race.
Max Taylor dropped to third in the championship, but Taylor is only 14 points off the championship lead. He was fifth and second on the IMS road course. Enzo Fittipaldi won the first race of the IMS road course doubleheader, and he was third in the second race. Fittipaldi is 16 points behind Johnson.
A gulf is opening between the top four in the championship and the rest of the field. Lochie Hughes is fifth on 167 points. Hughes was second and fourth at IM. Alessandro de Tullio started on pole position for the fourth time this season in the first IMS race, but he was ninth in that race and fifth in the second. De Tullio is on 162 points.
Neither Juan Manuel Correa nor Jordan Missig had a top ten finish at IMS, but they are still seventh and eighth in the championship. Correa has 134 points and Missig has 125 points. Myles Rowe was seventh in the first race, but brake issues ended his second IMS road course race and placed him last. Rowe is ninth in the championship on 119 points, one ahead of Sebastian Murray.
Indy Lights will race at 10:30 a.m. ET on Sunday May 31. The race is scheduled for 45 las or 55 minutes.
IMSA
As is tradition in Detroit, IMSA joins IndyCar in the Motor City and headlines the Saturday action with a 100-minute sprint race. The GTP and GTD Pro classes will be on track and feature 21 cars.
With three victories from the first four races, Laurin Heinrich leads the GTP championship on his own. After winning the first two races with Porsche Penske Motorsport, Heinrich and Tijmen van der Helm won at Laguna Seca with the #5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche. Heinrich has 1,396 points while van der Helm is sixth on 1,159 points.
In second is Jack Aitken, who has four podium finishes from the first four races, including three runner-up results. Aitken is 21 points behind Heinrich in the #31 Whelen Racing Cadillac. Earl Bamber missed the Long Beach round due to FIA World Endurance Championship responsibilities, and he is 11th in the championship.
After winning the first two races, the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche of Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer is 73 points behind their third driver. Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor are fourth on 1,250 points in the #6 Porsche.
Meyer Shank Racing won in Detroit last year with the #93 Acura of Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly, and the #93 Acura is on 1,242 points in fifth thanks to victory in Long Beach. The #60 MSR Acura of Tom Blomqvist and Colin Bruan are on 1,126 points and has finished fourth in two races this season.
Each BMW has a third-place finish this season. The #24 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor is on 1,139 points while the #25 BMW of Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann has 1,035 points.
It has been a rough season for Wayne Taylor Racing. Its best finish this season was sixth with the #40 Cadillac of Louis Delétraz and Jordan Taylor. The #10 Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor has finished 11th in three of four races with its best result being tenth.
The #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn is coming off its best finish of the season, eighth in Laguna Seca.
Corvette enters as the GTD Pro championship leaders with Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner on 971 points. The #4 Corvette has not won yet this season, but it has finished fourth, third and second in the first three races. Daytona winners Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen are 51 points behind the Dutch-American duo in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW. AO Racing has the #77 Porsche in third with Harry King and Nick Tandy on 908 points after a pair of podium finishes in the last two races.
Ford Racing is coming off a victory in Laguna Seca with the #65 Mustang of Christopher Mies and Frédéric Vervisch. Mies and Vervisch sit on 897 points, 70 points ahead of the #3 Corvette of Antonio García and Alexander Sims. Pfaff Motorsport is sixth on 785 points with Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell in the #9 Lamborghini. Max Esterson and Nikita Johnson have scored 734 points in the #59 RLL Team McLaren. Ben Barker and Dennis Olsen have scored 731 points in the #64 Ford. The #64 Ford won this race last year with Mike Rockenfeller and Sebastian Priaulx.
VasserSullivan Lexus is last in the championship with the #14 Lexus on 720 points, but Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth have starting on pole position in the last two races. VasserSullivan is entering an extra car for this round. Aaron Telitz and Chaz Mostert will share the #15 Lexus.
The 100-minute IMSA race will take place at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday May 30.
Fast Facts
This will be the 14th IndyCar race to take place on May 31, and the first since Sébastien Bourdais won the second Belle Isle race in 2015.
The first seven races to take place on May 31 were Indianapolis 500s.
This race falls on the 40th anniversary of Bobby Rahal's only Indianapolis 500 victory.
This race alls on the 23rd anniversary of Michel Jourdain, Jr.'s first career victory at Milwaukee, setting the record for most starts before a first career victory in IndyCar history at 129 starts.
Santino Ferrucci will turn 28 years old on race day.
There have been nine birthday winners in IndyCar history, most recently Dan Wheldon won on his 30th birthday at Iowa on June 22, 2008.
In three races on this Detroit street course configuration, the average starting position for a winner is third. Álex Palou won from pole position in 2023, Scott Dixon won from fifth in 2024, and Kyle Kirkwood won from third last year.
Seventeen consecutive street races have been won from a top ten starting position. The most recent street course race won from outside the top ten was Nashville in 2022. Scott Dixon won from 14th.
Thirty consecutive IndyCar races have been won from a top ten starting position. The most recent race won from outside the top ten was the second Iowa race in 2024. Will Power won from 22nd.
In the last two Detroit races, at least one podium finisher started outside the top fifteen. Marcus Armstrong went from 19th to third in 2024. Santino Ferrucci went from 21st to second in 2025.
Last year, Kyle Kirkwood won after making three pit stops. The first two Detroit races were won with two-stop strategies. Last year, no driver made fewer than three pit stops.
In 2023, the top five finishers and eight of the top ten finishers made it on two stops.
In 2024, three of the top four finishers made it on two stops, but the rest of the top 13 finishers made at least four pit stops, and the only other of the 17 lead lap finisher to make only three pit stops was Rinus VeeKay in 14th.
In each race on this Detroit configuration has the winner led the most laps.
Honda has won all three races on this Detroit configuration, and Honda has won all three street course races this season.
The average number of lead changes at Detroit is 8.667. There were ten lead changes in 2023, five lead changes in 2024 and 11 lead changes in 2025.
The latest lead change that has occurred in the last three Detroit races was last year on lap 79 when Kyle Kirkwood took the lead from Santino Ferrucci
The average number of cautions at Detroit is 6.667. There were seven cautions in 2023, eight cautions in 2024 and five cautions in 2025. The average number of caution laps is 29.333. There were 32 caution laps in 2023, 47 caution laps in 2024 and 19 caution laps in 2025.
Last year was the first time IndyCar avoided an opening lap caution in three runs on this Detroit course. Last year, the first caution did not come out until lap 14.
The longest green flag run to complete a race was 27 laps in 2024.
Predictions
Álex Palou, but if it isn't Álex Palou, though it might really be Palou, Kyle Kirkwood will be tough to beat for his second consecutive Detroit race, and if it isn't Kirkwood, the only other driver to finish in the top five of all three street course races this season is Patricio O'Ward. Felix Rosenqvist will make the Fast Six, but he will only finish in the top ten. We will see the fewest caution laps on this Detroit course configuration for the second consecutive year. There will not be any pit lane shenanigans where someone makes up ten spots and suddenly is running much better when previously being unrecognized. Sleeper: Marcus Armstrong.
