Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou controlled the lion’s share of the contest, leading 71 laps of the 100-lap race distance on his way to victory. Behind him, there was chaos aplenty.
On Lap 78, fourth-placed Power went down the inside of McLaughlin into Turn 3 and overshot the exit of the corner to allow the Team Penske driver back up the inside.
McLaughlin left Power no room exiting the turn and they made wheel-to-wheel contact, which launched the Andretti Global driver into the air.
It appeared Power’s right rear suspension had collapsed when he and McLaughlin made contact a second time a lap later at Turn 7, which spat the Kiwi into the outside wall.
There would be one more clash entering Turn 8.
Power pitted to retire while McLaughlin lost out in the melee, dropping from fourth to seventh.
Secure your spot today.
The irate Australian was seen mouthing off at a camera operator, telling them to “F*** off” before the broadcast cut away.
Damn, we were having a great day.
Really sorry to Fox and the audience, but #$@&%*! pic.twitter.com/Jy5jKquSIZ
— Will Power (@26WillPower_) May 31, 2026
With 11 laps to go, McLaughlin reported a failure and pitted with a damaged toe link. That took him out of contention and he ultimately finished 19th, four laps down.
“I don’t know if I pissed Will off,” said McLaughlin post-race.
“We were side-by-side out of [Turn] 3 and I got a little sideways, which made me press into the wall a lot more aggressively than I wanted, which closed the hole.
“I don’t know whether he’s pissed off because of that, I’m not sure.
“Then, after that, he got me – and I was pretty happy. I thought, it’s still a good result right now, he’s faster than me on restarts, I’ll let him have it.
“Then going into [Turn] 3 he locked the right front, I got up the inside of him, and then honestly, I was going to go to the outside and he just kept turning in and basically gave me no option.
“The whole way, no option. I went beside him, no option. Just turned into the side of me and drove me into the right side fence, another fence.
“I didn’t want to do that to him, I didn’t want to do that to my day.
“We’ll talk about it. I have so much respect for Will Power, he’s been my teammate for so many years and helped me so much. We’ll talk about it.
“I regard him as a guy I have a lot of respect for, but today I felt like he gave me no option, and I really didn’t want to see that happen for either of us.
“I’m super frustrated because I think we had a great car, but I don’t know what else I could have done. That’s just it.”
Power was classified 22nd and 21 laps down.
He had qualified second and led 18 laps in the opening phase of the race.
“It was a disappointing race to say the least,” Power said in the team’s post-race press release.
“We were in a good position there near the end and had a shot at a podium.
“Unfortunately, the contact caused suspension damage and that was it.
“It’s frustrating, but I have no doubt that our time on the top step of the podium is coming soon.”
Palou held off a spirited challenge from Andretti driver Kyle Kirkwood in the closing stanza, winning by three seconds.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal was the quiet achiever in third for his third podium of the season.
IndyCar returns on June 8 at Gateway.
Results: IndyCar Series Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix
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