The 18th and final race of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season will be a 95-lap affair around Laguna Seca. After a two-year spell in Nashville, IndyCar returns to Monterey, California for the season finale. This will be the 12th time Laguna Seca has hosted a season finale, and it is the sixth time the championship has been clinched prior to Laguna Seca hosting the finale. Plenty of positions are still undecided in the championship, and there are a few close battles that will have our attention. This is also the final weekend for a drivers with certain teams, crew members as well. Some are moving on and know where there future will lead them. Others are not sure what exists beyond this weekend, make it a little more poignant.
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday September 6 with green flag scheduled for 3:05 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: 5:00 p.m. ET (75 minutes)
Saturday:
Second Practice: 1:05 p.m. ET (75 minutes)
Qualifying: 4:35 p.m. ET
Qualifying: 4:35 p.m. ET
Final Practice: 8:10 p.m. ET (30 minutes)
Sunday:
Race: 3:05 p.m. ET (95 laps)
Sunday:
Race: 3:05 p.m. ET (95 laps)
Palou's Encore
Álex Palou is already champion. Palou locked up the title in Milwaukee with a rather pedestrian weekend, but it was enough for the Catalan driver to take his fifth career title and his fourth consecutive. Palou joined Sébastien Bourdais as the only drivers to win four consecutive championships. With five championships, Palou sits third all-time behind only A.J. Foyt's seven championships and Scott Dixon's six championships.
When the checkered flag waves, Palou will have led the IndyCar championship after 69 of his 116 career starts. That is 59.482% of his career. Only A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti have led the championship after more races, 81 and 71 respectively. When it comes to percentages, Palou is essentially alone at the top. Among drivers who started at least 30 races, the next closest is Nigel Mansell, who led the championship for 45.161% of his 34-race IndyCar career. If you increase the minimum starts to 50, Juan Pablo Montoya is second to Palou, having led the championship for 30.927% of his 97-race career.
This historic season extends beyond the championship lead. Palou has six victories and, with his victoy at Portland, he became the third driver in IndyCar history to win at least six races in consecutive seasons, joining Mario Andretti and Sébastien Bourdais. This season Palou became the 18th driver to reach 25 career victories. He is on 51 podium finishes, the 22nd driver to reach the half-century mark. With 673 laps led this season, Palou has led 2,402 laps in his career, and he surpassed Juan Pablo Montoya for 24th all-time in laps led in the Sunday afternoon race from Milwaukee.
Palou's pole position for the Sunday afternoon race from Milwaukee was his eighth of the season. It is the most pole positions for a driver since Will Power had eight pole positions in 2011. One more pole position would make Palou only the fourth driver to win at least nine pole positions in a season. A.J. Foyt had ten pole positions in 1965. Mario Andretti and Danny Sullivan won nine pole positions in 1966 and 1988 respectively. His pole position from Milwaukee was also the 20th of his IndyCar career, the 16th driver to reach said milestone.
Where will Palou cap off his fifth championship season? His best track.
Nobody has come close to Palou's record at Laguna Seca. In five starts, Palou has finished second, first, third, first and first. He has led 250 laps out of a possible 475 laps. The last two years has seen Palou win from pole position, though he was shuffled out of the lead for a fair portion of the 2024 race due to pit strategy. He still went on to lead over half the race.
Another victory would be Palou's third consecutive and fourth overall at Laguna Seca. He would join Bobby Rahal as the only drivers to win at least three consecutive Laguna Seca races, and Palou would match Rahal's record of four Laguna Seca victories. Rahal won four consecutive years from 1984 to 1987, all on the original perimeter Laguna Seca track configuration. Of the 16 tracks on the schedule, Palou is at least tied for the most victories at four circuits (Barber Motorsports Park, Detroit, Road America and Portland).
Coincidentally, the only time Palou has won the season finale in his career was 2022 at Laguna Seca, the last time Palou has not ended as champion. He has finished in the top five in four of the last five season finales. In 2024, Palou was 11th at Nashville.
A Battle For Second
The title has been decided but the good news is the battle for second is incredible tight with 23 points covering four drivers entering the final race, and four points cover second, third and fourth in the championship.
Christian Lundgaard enters the finale in second. Off the back of five consecutive top ten finishes and eight top ten finishes in the last nine races, Lundgaard has taken second on 507 points, 100 points behind Palou. Lundgaard had the best oval weekend of his career, and it could not have come at a better time. Lundgaard was third in the Sunday afternoon race, his first career top five finish on an oval let alone his first podium finish. In the conclusion of the race that started Saturday, Lundgaard took sixth place. It is the first time Lundgaard has had consecutive top ten finishes in oval races.
Lundgaard snagged second from Kyle Kirkwood, but the Dane is only two points clear of the American. Kirkwood's Sunday afternoon race was encouraging with a sixth-place finish from 24th on the grid. In the resumption of the Saturday race, Kirkwood did not have the same speed and he ended up 15th. In the last six races, Kirkwood only has two top five finishes while also having two results outside the top ten. No matter what happens at Laguna Seca, Kirkwood will end the season not having consecutive top five finishes since he opened the year with five consecutive top five results.
A doubleheader sweep in Milwaukee has put Patricio O'Ward in play for second in the championship. After Road America, O'Ward was fifth in the championship, 57 points off of second, 117 points off of Palou in the championship lead. Entering the Laguna Seca finale, O'Ward is a spot better in the championship, but he is only four points out of second. He has won three of the last six races, and three victories matches his most in a season.
Twenty-three points behind Lundgaard is David Malukas, who had a pair of top five finishes in Milwaukee buck a rough run of form. Malukas had three consecutive results outside the top ten prior to the Milwaukee weekend. Not only has Malukas remained in play for second, but last weekend clinched Malukas a top five championship finish, and it clinched him top Team Penske driver for the 2026 season. Scott McLaughlin is a spot behind Malukas, but McLaughlin is 56 points back with only 54 points on the table. Josef Newgarden is eighth, a further 20 points behind Malukas.
Among these four drivers at Laguna Seca, O'Ward has the best record. Five starts, five top ten finishes, five times starting in the top ten, and he has an average finish of 6.8. Lundgaard has finished in the top six three times in four starts, including finishing second last year to Palou. Kirkwood and Malukas have struggled at Laguna Seca. Malukas has never finished better than 13th in four starts at the circuit. While Kirkwood was fifth in 2024, he has finished 16th or worse in his other three starts.
Battles Elsewhere
Second isn't the only place where drivers are fighting for championship positions.
Malukas has locked up the top Penske driver, but the other two Penske drivers would like to finish sixth. McLaughlin is 20 points ahead of Newgarden. McLaughlin went fourth and second in Milwaukee, the first time McLaughlin has had consecutive top five finishes since a three-race running spanning the end of last season and the start of this season. He was third in the final two races last year and then opened 2026 in second at St. Petersburg.
Newgarden has not had a top five finish since he was second at Nashville, a five-race drought without a top five finish. His only top five finish on a road or street course was fourth at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May. He hasn't had a podium finish on a road or street course since he was third in the 2025 St. Petersburg season opener.
Marcus Ericsson has thrown his hat into the ring for a sixth place championship finish. With six consecutive top ten finishes, Ericsson is only 21 points behind McLaughlin for sixth and a point behind Newgarden. With 11 top ten finishes, it is Ericsson's most since he had 14 in 2023. One more top five finish would be his fifth of the season, matching Ericsson's most in a season. He had five top five results in 2022.
McLaughlin is on track for a four-spot improvement in the championship from last season. It will be his fifth consecutive season finishing in the championship top ten. Newgarden missed out on the championship top ten last season. This will be his 11th time finishing in the championship top ten. Ericsson has finished 15th and 20th the last two seasons. The best Ericsson has finished in the championship is sixth, where he finished in three consecutive seasons from 2021 to 2023.
Rinus VeeKay is sitting in tenth, and the Dutchman is on the verge of his career-best championship finish and Juncos Hollinger Racing's first championship top ten finish. VeeKay is on 364 points, 13 points ahead of Will Power, and only 13 points behind Felix Rosenqvist for ninth. VeeKay has four top ten finishes in the last five races. Power had three consecutive third-place finishes before suffering two finishes outside the top ten at Milwaukee.
Rosenqvist has a 28-point cushion to being outside the championship top ten, but the Swede has not finished better than 20th in the last four races. Season finales are not Rosenqvist's strong suit either. In seven season finales, he has only two top five finishes and an average finish of 13.285 with three results of 18th or worse. Rosenqvist is hoping to hold on for this second consecutive finish in the championship top ten.
VeeKay's previous best championship finish was 12th in 2021 and 2022. He cannot finish worse than 11th. Power has finished in the championship top ten in 16 consecutive seasons. Andretti Global has not had three cars finish in the championship top ten since 2020.
Dixon's Ganassi Goodbye
We arrive to Laguna Seca on the verge of Scott Dixon's final start with Chip Ganassi Racing. A 25-year member of the organization, Dixon agreed to join Arrow McLaren for the 2027 season in July.
Dixon signed with Chip Ganassi Racing on May 29, 2002 after PacWest Racing, the home for his first 23 starts, closed due to financial difficulties. His first Ganassi race was June 2, 2002 at Milwaukee driving the #44 Target Lola-Toyota. He qualified fourth and finished sixth. Four drivers entered this weekend were not born when Dixon made his first Ganassi start (Dennis Hauger, Louis Foster, Kyffin Simpson and Nolan Siegel).
It took Dixon 17 starts to score his first victory for the team, but it came in Dixon's Indy Racing League debut as Ganassi fully committed to the IRL ahead of the 2003 season. At the end of that season, Dixon had his first championship.
Five more championships followed, as did 57 more race victories. His six titles and 59 victories are both second all-time behind only A.J. Foyt. Dixon's 434 starts is the all-time record. Laguna Seca will be Dixon's 412th start at Ganassi. He hasn't missed a race in over 22 years, a record streak of 371 consecutive starts. Dixon has led the second-most laps in IndyCar history (6,991), he has most podium finishes (146), and he is the only driver to surpass the 200 top five finish milestone, sitting on 218 entering this weekend.
This exit is not coming at a high point. It is actually a historic low for Dixon.
There is a great chance Dixon will finish outside the championship top ten. He had finished in the top six of the championship for 20 consecutive seasons prior to 2026. For Dixon to crack the championship top ten, he must win the race with Rinus VeeKay finishing last with no bonus points and Will Power finish 12th or worse with no bonus points. If Dixon takes a maximum points victory, it opens up some wiggle room. It would allow VeeKay to finish no better than 22nd and Power could finish as well as tenth.
Dixon has yet to win a race this season, and his streak of 21 consecutive seasons with a race victory is on the verge of ending. Dixon's lone podium finish was third at Long Beach. In 2002, 2004 and 2005, Dixon had only one podium finish, but Dixon has finished at least first or second in every season he has been in IndyCar.
After the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Dixon ranked sixth in the championship, tied with Patricio O'Ward on 148 points, 89 points off the championship lead, but Dixon held the tiebreaker thanks to that third in Long Beach. His average finish in the first six races was ninth. In the last 11 races, Dixon has one top ten finish, seventh at Washington, D.C., and his average finish is 15.363.
Since IndyCar returned to Laguna Seca in 2019, Dixon has the third-best average finish at 6.667 behind only Álex Palou (1.667) and Romain Grosjean (6.25). Dixon was the winner of the 2023 Laguna Seca race. He won from 11th and led the final 20 laps. In the last four Laguna Seca races, Dixon has started no better than tenth.
The $1.7 Million Dollar Rookie Battle
The 2026 season has ended up with a rather unexpected rookie of the year fight, and it is more valuable than anyone likely expected. Any of the three rookies that started this season could finish as the top rookie. Whichever one does end up on top will likely clinch his team a Leader Circle spot for the 2027 season, a $1.7 million share of the championship prize money that goes to the top 22 teams in the championship. For the other two, no additional funding will be rewarded.
Dennis Hauger has been the top rookie since the very start of the season. Hauger opened 2026 qualifying third at St. Petersburg, and on debut he finished tenth. No one else has been the top rookie in the championship since. However, Hauger's results never quite matched his start of the season. While he had two top ten finishes, including an eighth at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and four top fifteen finishes in the first six races, Hauger has not finished in the top ten since. He has only four finishes in the top fifteen in the last 11 races.
This has dropped Hauger to 22nd in the championship, the final driver in a Leader Circle spot with one race remaining.
Eighteen points behind Hauger is Mick Schumacher, who started the season suffering a wrist injury in an opening lap accident at St. Petersburg. Schumacher has carried that injury throughout he season, and his form was atrocious through the first four-plus months. In the first 11 races, his best finish was 16th. He had an average finish of 20.181. In the last six races, Schumacher has an average finish of 14.1667 with four finishes in the top fifteen, including his first career top ten finish, an eighth at Nashville.
Caio Collet had been the driver on the cusp of a Leader Circle spot for most of the last two months. While Collet scored his first career top ten finish with a ninth place finish at Washington, D.C., he has finished 19th or worse in five of the last six races. The Brazilian has dropped to 24th in the championship, and he is 30 points outside the Leader Circle entering the final race.
Hauger has a healthy margin. While clinching the final Leader Circle spot regardless of what the other two competitors does would require the Norwegian to score at least 37 points, third place with at least two bonus points, that would mean Schumacher would have won the race with the maximum 54 points. Schumacher has stated in the top ten only once on a road or street circuit. That was tenth at Markham.
Head-to-head this season, Hauger has finished ahead of Schumacher nine times, but Schumacher has gotten the better of Hauger in the last three races. The most spots Schumacher has finished ahead of Hauger was nine at Gateway and nine at Milwaukee. Five of the eight races Schumacher has bested Hauger were ovals. The other three were by three spots at Road America, by one spot at Mid-Ohio and by four spots at Washington, D.C.
Collet must finish third to have any shot at the Leader Circle spot. He did start eighth at Road America, his best starting position of the season.
Last season, Hauger's Dale Coyne Racing entry and Schumacher's Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry were two of the three cars to finish outside the Leader Circle spots. Collet's A.J. Foyt Racing entry was 11th in the entrants' championship last year. The #77 Juncos Hollinger Racing entry missed out on the Leader Circle last year, and it will miss out this year as well.
Hauger could become the third Dale Coyne Racing driver to win rookie of the year. Alex Lloyd did it in 2010 and Ed Jones did it in 2017. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing could claim its second consecutive rookie of the year and its third in five seasons with Schumacher. A.J. Foyt Racing has never produced a rookie of the year.
Indy Lights
We have reached the final round for the Indy Lights season, and all that remains is a doubleheader at Laguna Seca. With 108 remaining on the table, it is technically a six-driver battle for the championship in the final weekend, but it will likely be one of three drivers.
Only 29 points cover Nikita Johnson, Enzo Fittipaldi and Tymek Kucharczyk with two races remaining.
Johnson re-took the championship lead with a fifth-place finish at Milwaukee while Fittipaldi finished seventh. This put Johnson on top with 505 points, three more than Fittipaldi. Kucharczyk dropped to 12th in the final results and he is 29 points behind with two races to run.
Johnson has not won a race since the third race of the season at Barber Motorsports Park. However, he hasn't finished worse than eighth this season. While Johnson has seven podium finishes, four of those came within the first five races. Fittipaldi leads the series with four victories, including sweeping the Mid-Ohio doubleheader. However, Fittipaldi has also finished outside the top ten in four races this season. Kucharczyk opened the season with seven consecutive top five results and 12 consecutive top ten finishes. In the last three races, the Polish driver has finished 18th, fourth and 12th.
Max Taylor is still alive at 77 points back. Taylor has three consecutive top five finishes, but his only victory remains at Arlington. Alessandro de Tullio is riding eight pole positions into the season finale, but de Tullio is 99 points behind Johnson. De Tullio has two victories but he has also been outside the top ten in four races. Lochie Hughes is 103 points behind Johnson and he will be eliminated the moment Johnson or Fittipaldi takes the green flag for the first race this weekend. Hughes won the first Road America race this season.
Myles Rowe is seventh in the championship on 353 points, two ahead of Jack Beeton. Juan Manuel Correa is ninth on 339 points after finishing runner-up at Milwaukee. Milwaukee winner Max Garcia rounds out the championship top the on 337 points, 20 points clear of two-time winner this season Matteo Nannini.
Johnson could become the first Indy Lights champion for Cape Motorsports in its fifth season of competition. Cape's previous best championship finish was fifth with Salvador de Alba in 2024. Fittipaldi or Kucharczyk could become the third champion for HMD Motorsports. Linus Lundqvist and Christian Rasmussen won the title for HMD in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
The penultimate race of the Indy Lights season will be at 6:38 p.m. ET on Saturday September 5, and it is scheduled for 35 laps or 55 minutes. The final Indy Lights race will be at 12:38 p.m. ET on Sunday September 6, and it is scheduled for 30 laps or 50 minutes.
Fast Facts
This will be the 17th IndyCar race to take place on September 6, but the first since Dario Franchitti won at Vancouver in 1998.
That was Franchitti's second career victory and it came three weeks after Franchitti scored his first career victory at Road America.
Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden are the only active drivers with multiple season finale victories. Dixon won the finales in 2010 and 2015. Newgarden won the 2020 finale and last year's finale.
Simon Pagenaud is the most recent champion to cap off his season with a victory in the final race. Pagenaud did that in 2016 at Sonoma. Pagenaud is also the most recent driver to win consecutive season finales. He won the final race of 2017 as well, which was also held at Sonoma.
Álex Palou's only victory in 2022 came in the final race from Laguna Seca. This is the most recent time a driver had their first victory of the season come in the finale.
Since 1946, 13 times has the season finale produced a first-time winner. The most recent was Ed Carpenter at Kentucky in 2011.
Bobby Rahal has the most victories in IndyCar history to have never won a season finale. Rahal won 24 races in his career. Emerson Fittipaldi won 22 times, but Fittipaldi never won a season finale either. Patricio O'Ward has the third-most victories all-time without a season finale victory with 12.
The average starting position for a Laguna Seca winner is 3.035 with a median of first.
Eighteen of 28 Laguna Seca races have been won from pole position.
Twenty-four of 28 Laguna Seca races have been won from a top three starting position.
The average number of lead changes in a Laguna Seca race is 3.428 with a median of three.
Four of the six Laguna Seca races since 2019 have had at least six lead changes. Prior to this stretch, only three of the first 22 Laguna Seca races had at least six lead changes.
Last year's race had two lead changes. Álex Palou led the first 25 laps, Nolan Siegel led the next 11 laps, and Palou re-took the lead and led the final 59 laps.
The average number of cautions in a Laguna Seca race is 2.178 with a median of 1.5. The average number of caution laps is 8.535 with a median of eight.
The last three Laguna Seca races have had at least five caution periods. Prior to 2023, only once in the first 25 races at the track had more than four cautions. That was the 2001 race, which had eight cautions.
The 2023 Laguna Seca race had a record-tying eight cautions and a record-breaking 35 caution laps.
There have been six caution-free races at Laguna Seca, most recently in 1997.
This season, there has been an average of 12.4705 lead changes per race with a median of eight.
This season, there has been an average of three cautions per race with a median of three. The average number of caution laps this season has been 22.294 with a median of 23.
This season, the average starting position for a race winner is 3.705 with a median of third.
Predictions
Álex Palou, and it will be Álex Palou with the Alex Zanardi tribute livery. It could be Álex Palou with 95 laps led from pole position and let's throw the fastest lap in there to boot. Scott Dixon ends his Chip Ganassi Racing tenure with a top ten finish. Josef Newgarden will start outside the top ten and finish at least six spots better than where he started. Will Power will take tenth in the championship. Marcus Ericsson keeps his top ten finish streak going into 2027. Dennis Hauger wins rookie of the year and he will gain a spot in the championship. There will be fewer than three cautions. Sleeper: Romain Grosjean.
