Grand Prix of Monterey Results: Scott McLaughlin Wins the IndyCar Finale at Laguna Seca
Welcome to the Happy Hour Racing Monday Race Recap - what actually happened on Sunday, in plain English, with the numbers to back it up.
The Short Version
The Grand Prix of Monterey results are about as simple as an IndyCar race gets. Scott McLaughlin put the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet on pole Saturday, led 87 of the 95 laps Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and beat Kyle Kirkwood by 1.3739 seconds. It was McLaughlin's first win since the Milwaukee Mile in September 2024, a drought of more than two years. Alex Palou had already locked up the championship a week earlier, so the finale was about pride, farewells, and one driver finally getting the monkey off his back.
How McLaughlin Won It
He won it on Saturday, honestly. McLaughlin's pole lap of 1:09.1363 beat Palou by 0.0177 seconds, which is about the length of a coffee cup at Laguna Seca speeds. It was his third pole of 2026 and Chevrolet's 250th in IndyCar history. His read on the car afterward was blunt: "Since the thing left the hauler, this thing has been unreal."
Sunday he backed it up. McLaughlin led into Turn 1 and stayed there. The only laps he gave up all afternoon were during pit cycles, and he made three stops without a wasted second. Kirkwood shadowed him move for move, pitting on the same laps in the No. 27 Sam's Club Honda, and late in the race Andretti Global rolled the dice on the softer alternate Firestone tires to try to reel him in. It got Kirkwood close. It never got him past. McLaughlin nursed the more durable primary tires home and took the checkered flag by a comfortable 1.3739 seconds, then did donuts on the front straight.
The line that stuck afterward had nothing to do with tires. "My little girl hasn't seen me win yet, and now she has," McLaughlin said.
WINLESS DROUGHT SNAPPED
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) September 6, 2026
Scott McLaughlin drives from pole to victory in the season finale at @WeatherTechRcwy! pic.twitter.com/qHm6IK4Xu5
The Race by the Numbers
One caution, and it came on the opening lap. Sting Ray Robb made contact with rookie Dennis Hauger in Turn 6, and Hauger spun into the tire barrier. He was the only retirement of the day. Everyone else made it to the flag, and 22 of the 25 starters were still on the lead lap at the end. For a road course finale, that is a remarkably clean afternoon.
Rossi Finally Gets a Podium
Third place went to Alexander Rossi in the No. 20 Java House Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, and it was the feel-good result of the weekend behind the winner. It was his only podium of 2026 and his first since he finished third at this same race in June 2024, back when he drove for Arrow McLaren. ECR spent most of the year fighting for scraps. On Sunday they qualified fourth and finished third on merit.
Felix Rosenqvist was fourth for Meyer Shank Racing, David Malukas fifth in the second Penske, and Christian Lundgaard sixth. That sixth was worth more than it looked: it locked Lundgaard into third in the final championship standings, the best season of his IndyCar career.
Palou's Gamble and the Final Standings
Alex Palou started second and could have made a race of it. Instead Chip Ganassi Racing rolled onto a set of double-used alternate tires during the first pit cycle, and the No. 10 fell all the way to 22nd. He carved back up to eighth, which is a good save and still a quiet end to a loud season.
He could afford it. Palou had already clinched his fifth NTT IndyCar Series title the previous Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile, wrapping it up with a 10th-place finish in the second race of the doubleheader. That is four championships in a row, matching Sebastien Bourdais' run from 2004 through 2007, and five overall at age 29. Only A.J. Foyt (seven) and Scott Dixon (six) have more.
The final top 10 in points: Palou 631, Kirkwood 545, Lundgaard 535, Pato O'Ward 522, Malukas 514, McLaughlin 482, Marcus Ericsson 429, Josef Newgarden 423, Rosenqvist 412, Rinus VeeKay 378. Kirkwood's runner-up finish at Laguna Seca sealed second in the standings, 86 points back. In the rookie race, Hauger held on for Rookie of the Year by 15 points over Mick Schumacher and 25 over Caio Collet, which he clinched from the tire barrier on lap 1.
The Dixon Goodbye
The other story Sunday was a quiet one. Scott Dixon ran his last race as a Chip Ganassi Racing driver and finished 17th. No fairytale, no podium, just a checkered flag and a long walk down pit lane.
The numbers behind that walk are absurd. Twenty-five seasons with one team. A record 417 races together. Fifty-eight wins, six championships in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2020, 28 poles, the 2008 Indianapolis 500, 373 consecutive starts and 21 straight seasons with at least one win. Dixon moves to Arrow McLaren for 2027, to a shop about a block from the one he has walked into for a quarter century.
"It's been fantastic, and it's been a lot of fun with all those people," Dixon said. "We'll continue to all be friends."
Statement from Chip Ganassi on Scott Dixon. pic.twitter.com/5VSG8HdrA4
— Chip Ganassi Racing (@CGRTeams) July 2, 2026
The Bottom Line
Palou owned 2026, but McLaughlin owned the last day of it. Two years without a win will make a driver question a lot of things, and he answered all of it in one afternoon by qualifying on pole, leading all but eight laps, and never letting the race become interesting. That is the version of Scott McLaughlin Team Penske signed. IndyCar is back on February 2027 at St. Petersburg.
See the full season results and the updated standings on the Happy Hour Racing IndyCar schedule and standings page.
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