Alex Palou Wins Portland, Honda Sweeps the IndyCar Podium
Welcome to the Happy Hour Racing Monday IndyCar Race Recap - what actually decided the race, told the way fans talk about it.
The Short Version
Alex Palou won the OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland on Sunday, August 9, and he did it the way he has won most of this season. He beat pole sitter Felix Rosenqvist on pit strategy, drove away, and never gave the lead back. The margin was 4.1167 seconds over 110 laps. It was Palou's sixth win of 2026, his 25th career IndyCar win, and his third at Portland. Rosenqvist finished second and Will Power finished third, which made it an all-Honda podium. Palou now leads the standings by 110 points with five races left.
The Early Caution That Set Everything Up
Portland is famous for chaos in the Turn 1 complex on the opening lap. This year the whole field got through it clean. The first real drama came on Lap 7, when Graham Rahal ran off track and put his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda into the tire barrier. That brought out the only caution of the day, and it lasted two laps.
IN THE TIRE BARRIER
- NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 9, 2026
Full course yellow on Lap 7 for Graham Rahal.
One caution in 110 laps sounds boring. It was not. It meant the race turned into a pure strategy and tire-management fight, with no lucky yellow to bail anybody out. If you lost track position, you had to earn it back on pit road or on the racetrack. Nobody did either one better than the No. 10 team.
How Palou Took the Lead
Rosenqvist earned pole by 0.018 seconds and led the first 33 laps in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda. He was quick. He just was not quick enough to survive the first pit cycle.
Palou and strategist Barry Wanser played the overcut. Palou stayed out longer, ran hard on old tires while Rosenqvist was on pit road, and came out in front when he finally stopped. A slow stop for the Meyer Shank crew made the gap worse. Rosenqvist owned it afterward.
"Alex did a really good first stint, saving one more lap of fuel, and the overcut was so powerful," Rosenqvist said. "I didn't do a great launch in that pit sequence either."
ALEX PALOU JUMPS AHEAD
- NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 9, 2026
Felix Rosenqvist settles in behind the No. 10 after pit stops.
Rosenqvist switched to the softer alternate tires on Lap 59 and closed in. Palou had a slow stop of his own later, but by then he had enough cushion to absorb it. He took the lead for the final time on Lap 87 when Will Power made his last stop, and the last 23 laps were a formality. Palou led a race-high 60 laps.
"We had everything we needed today, lots of power, all the fuel mileage," Palou said. "My strategy and my car were incredible, once again."
The Podium, and the Traffic Complaint Behind It
Will Power scored his third podium of the year in his first season at Andretti Global, driving the No. 26. He admitted he missed a pit call late that likely cost him a shot at second.
Both Rosenqvist and Power spent their post-race time on something else, though: lapped traffic. Both lost real time stuck behind the lapped car of Louis Foster before the final stops, and neither was happy about how IndyCar handles backmarkers.
"When you work hard and all of a sudden you lose five seconds behind a lapped car, I don't think it's right," Rosenqvist said. Power went further. "It's kind of ridiculous we have a 1970's rule going on," he said. Both figured nothing will change. It is the same argument every year.
For Honda it was a very good Sunday regardless. The manufacturer swept the podium for the fourth time in 2026, after Arlington, Long Beach and Detroit, and powered five of the top six finishers. Honda now leads the manufacturers' championship 1,129 to 996.
Portland by the Numbers
A few more that did not fit on the card. Rinus VeeKay took fourth in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, his third fourth-place finish in five races. Marcus Ericsson was sixth. Josef Newgarden climbed to eighth on a four-stop plan while most of the field ran three. Christian Lundgaard passed six cars before Turn 7 on the opening lap. Scott Dixon came home 14th on a quiet day.
Who Is Hot, Who Is Not
Hot: Alex Palou. Back-to-back wins after Nashville, and six on the season. He is now the third driver in IndyCar history with back-to-back seasons of six or more wins. His personal best is eight in a year, and there are five races left to beat it.
Hot: Kyle Kirkwood. Fifth place does not sound loud, but it took second in the standings back, and he has finished in the top 10 in every race but one this season. He also finished 20th at Portland a year ago, so that is real progress.
Hot: Rinus VeeKay. Three fourth-place runs in five races is legitimate speed. He still needs track position to convert it into a podium.
Not: Graham Rahal. A Lap 7 trip into the tire barrier ended any chance of a result and left him 23rd.
Not: Marcus Armstrong. The only DNF of the race, out early with a mechanical problem in the Meyer Shank car.
Not: Pato O'Ward. Tire blistering forced an unscheduled stop and wrecked his afternoon. He sits fifth in points, 156 back.
What It Means for the Title
Palou has 510 points. Kirkwood is 110 back, David Malukas is 118 back after a 12th-place run, Christian Lundgaard is 135 back, and O'Ward is 156 back. With five races to go, a 110-point lead is roughly a two-race cushion. Palou is chasing a fourth straight championship and a fifth in six years, and right now the only thing that beats him is bad luck.
Next up is the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham on August 16, a new 2.19-mile, 12-turn street circuit north of the border that replaces Toronto this year. Nobody has a setup book for it, which is the best news the chasers have had in weeks. You can see the rest of the season and the updated points on the IndyCar Series schedule and standings.
The Bottom Line
Palou did not win Portland with a big move. He won it by being one lap smarter on the first stop and then never making a mistake. That is how this whole season has gone, and it is why the title race is basically over unless something breaks.
Your take: should IndyCar change the lapped-car rule, or is fighting through traffic just part of racing? Tell us in the comments.
Shop IndyCar Gear
We do not have Palou gear in stock right now, so here is what is actually on the shelf from the IndyCar side of the store:
- IndyCar Checkered Flag Sublimated T-Shirt
- 109th Indianapolis 500 Red Graphic Logo Tee
- Indianapolis 500 Snake Pit Tee
- 109th Indianapolis 500 Back Home Again Tee
- Colton Herta No. 26 Gainbridge Andretti 1:18 Diecast
More in the IndyCar collection.
