The victory puts the two-time champion into the IndyCar Series lead while Team Penske’s Power retains second place in the standings.
Christian Lundgaard finished third, ahead of the three New Zealanders in the field; Scott Dixon, Marcus Armstrong, and Scott McLaughlin, on a day when it could have worked out much worse for the latter.
Palou (#10 Honda) and Lundgaard (#45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) started on the front row, on reds and blacks respectively, but the former went defensive into the first corner.
It did not help when he ran wide and Lundgaard swept into the lead at Turn 2, with Power (#12 Chevrolet, blacks) taking up third and Dixon (#9 CGR Honda, blacks) fourth, while Josef Newgarden (#2 Penske Chevrolet, reds) prised fifth from Pato O’Ward (#5 McLaren Chevrolet, blacks) at Turn 7.
McLaughlin (#3 Penske Chevrolet) plummeted from 13th to outside the top 20 after he was caught up in a typical mid-pack mess at Turn 1, during which he could not avoid tagging Felix Rosenqvist (#60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda) into a half-spin.
Pre-race series leader Colton Herta (#26 Honda) fared worse on the opening lap, elbowed off the road at Turn 4 by Andretti Global team-mate Marcus Ericsson (#28 Honda), who copped a five-position drop penalty as a result.
Secure your spot today.
The top five ran as you were in the opening 16 laps, Lundgaard leading by almost one second.
O’Ward, who was forced into a post-Warm Up engine change and reported a clutch issue on the formation lap, was into the lane to swap his blacks for reds from eighth position.
Power, whose strategy was being called by Race Engineer David Faustino due to Ron Ruzewkski’s suspension, was into the pits on Lap 17 for the gamble of an early change to his last set of new reds.
Newgarden stopped on Lap 18 and then Lundgaard, Palou, and Dixon were all in on Lap 19.
A black-shod Palou exited the pits just ahead of Power but the Queenslander hit the button down Hulman Boulevard and lunged past Car #10 at Turn 7.
Once Pietro Fittipaldi (#30 RLL Honda) took service on Lap 23, the cycle was done and Lundgaard (used reds) led by about 1.5s from Power, Palou, Dixon, Newgarden, Armstrong (#11 CGR Honda), and O’Ward, with an early-stopping Herta 13th (reds) and McLaughlin (reds) 14th.
Newgarden had slipped to 12th by the time he pitted on Lap 35 to discard his blacks for used reds, while Power caught Lundgaard on Lap 38 as they both caught traffic.
Lundgaard was expected to pit shortly but then Power dived into the lane with a very late call on Lap 39 for a used set of reds.
RLL responded by bringing #45 in a lap later, for a set of blacks, and though Lundgaard was slow exiting his box, he retained the effective lead because Power was stuck behind Ericsson.
Palou and Dixon stopped a lap later again, the former handed used reds so a new set could be saved for the run home.
This time, traffic hurt Lundgaard because Palou was able to exit the pits one position ahead in a change of the effective lead.
It became the official lead, by 1.1s, on Lap 45, with Power third, from Dixon (reds), Armstrong (reds), Alexander Rossi (#7 McLaren Chevrolet, blacks), Rahal (blacks), Linus Lundqvist (#8 CGR Honda, reds), Herta (reds), and O’Ward (reds), with McLaughlin (blacks) 12th and Newgarden (reds) 17th.
Palou’s margin was beyond three seconds on Lap 51, although it ebbed and flowed as he and Lundgaard negotiated the backmarkers.
Herta pitted from 11th for new reds on Lap 60, as Palou’s lead grew to five seconds and Lundgaard came under pressure from Power.
Those three and Dixon were all into the lane on Lap 62 for new reds, except in the case of Power as he only had a used set left.
The good news for the two-time champion, though, was that he jumped Lundgaard for an effective second place.
McLaughlin pitted from the official lead on Lap 65, seconds before a Caution was called in response to Luca Ghiotto (#51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda) spinning and stalling at Turn 10.
Palou led under yellow from Power, Lundgaard, Dixon, Armstrong (reds), the fortunate McLaughlin (reds), Rossi (reds), Herta, Rahal (reds), and O’Ward (blacks), with Newgarden (reds) 14th.
Green flags flew on Lap 69, Power looking to the outside of Palou but hung wide when the Spaniard locked a brake at Turn 1 and barely held off Lundgaard for second place.
Rossi and Herta became embroiled in a big battle for seventh which was resolved in favour of the present-day Andretti driver.
Palou’s lead had inflated to 5.0s with three laps to go, with Lundgaard just over a second further back, and Dixon being kept honest by Armstrong in the fight for fourth.
Palou won by 6.106s in the end, with Dixon beating Armstrong to fourth by less than half a second, and McLaughlin even closer to Car #11.
Herta was seventh, from Rossi, Rahal, and Rosenqvist, with O’Ward 13th and Newgarden 17th.
Practice for the Indianapolis 500 starts on Tuesday (local time).
Results: Race, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course
| Pos | Num | Driver | C/E/T | Race time/Split | Pit stops | Status | Grid pos |
| 1 | 10 | Alex Palou | D/H/F | 1:45:27.2320 | 3 | Running | 1 |
| 2 | 12 | Will Power | D/C/F | +6.6106 | 3 | Running | 3 |
| 3 | 45 | Christian Lundgaard | D/H/F | +8.0900 | 3 | Running | 2 |
| 4 | 9 | Scott Dixon | D/H/F | +13.4262 | 3 | Running | 6 |
| 5 | 11 | Marcus Armstrong | D/H/F | +13.8978 | 3 | Running | 8 |
| 6 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | D/C/F | +14.2746 | 3 | Running | 13 |
| 7 | 26 | Colton Herta | D/H/F | +18.8554 | 3 | Running | 24 |
| 8 | 7 | Alexander Rossi | D/C/F | +20.1638 | 3 | Running | 7 |
| 9 | 15 | Graham Rahal | D/H/F | +22.1556 | 3 | Running | 9 |
| 10 | 60 | Felix Rosenqvist | D/H/F | +26.3424 | 3 | Running | 10 |
| 11 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | D/H/F | +27.4572 | 3 | Running | 14 |
| 12 | 77 | Romain Grosjean | D/C/F | +29.3108 | 3 | Running | 23 |
| 13 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | D/C/F | +31.2388 | 3 | Running | 5 |
| 14 | 30 | Pietro Fittipaldi | D/H/F | +31.8872 | 3 | Running | 11 |
| 15 | 4 | Kyffin Simpson | D/H/F | +32.2895 | 3 | Running | 25 |
| 16 | 28 | Marcus Ericsson | D/H/F | +34.6582 | 3 | Running | 21 |
| 17 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | D/C/F | +36.9649 | 3 | Running | 4 |
| 18 | 18 | Jack Harvey | D/H/F | +38.0124 | 3 | Running | 17 |
| 19 | 6 | Theo Pourchaire | D/C/F | +38.0679 | 3 | Running | 18 |
| 20 | 20 | Christian Rasmussen | D/C/F | +39.4219 | 3 | Running | 20 |
| 21 | 78 | Agustin Canapino | D/C/F | +1 lap | 3 | Running | 15 |
| 22 | 41 | Sting Ray Robb | D/C/F | +1 lap | 3 | Running | 27 |
| 23 | 66 | Tom Blomqvist | D/H/F | +1 lap | 3 | Running | 26 |
| 24 | 8 | Linus Lundqvist | D/H/F | +1 lap | 3 | Running | 19 |
| 25 | 51 | Luca Ghiotto | D/H/F | +1 lap | 3 | Running | 22 |
| 26 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | D/C/F | +1 lap | 4 | Running | 12 |
| 27 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | D/C/F | +30 laps | 2 | Mechanical | 16 |
Race winner: 85 laps
Series points
| Pos | Driver | Pts |
| 1 | Alex Palou | 152 |
| 2 | Will Power | 140 |
| 3 | Colton Herta | 127 |
| 4 | Scott Dixon | 127 |
| 5 | Felix Rosenqvist | 107 |
| 6 | Pato O’Ward | 88 |
| 7 | Scott McLaughlin | 88 |
| 8 | Kyle Kirkwood | 86 |
| 9 | Christian Lundgaard | 84 |
| 10 | Alexander Rossi | 78 |
| 11 | Marcus Armstrong | 76 |
| 12 | Graham Rahal | 71 |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | 68 |
| 14 | Linus Lundqvist | 68 |
| 15 | Santino Ferrucci | 63 |
| 16 | Marcus Ericsson | 63 |
| 17 | Josef Newgarden | 61 |
| 18 | Kyffin Simpson | 60 |
| 19 | Rinus VeeKay | 58 |
| 20 | Agustin Canapino | 48 |
| 21 | Jack Harvey | 47 |
| 22 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 45 |
| 23 | Tom Blomqvist | 41 |
| 24 | Theo Pourchaire | 38 |
| 25 | Christian Rasmussen | 32 |
| 26 | Sting Ray Robb | 31 |
| 27 | Callum Ilott | 19 |
| 28 | Luca Ghiotto | 14 |
| 29 | Nolan Siegel | 10 |
| 30 | Colin Braun | 10 |
Discussion about this post