Scott McLaughlin Wins the IndyCar Finale at Laguna Seca, and Alex Palou Closes Out Title No. 5
Welcome to the Happy Hour Racing IndyCar Monday Race Recap - what happened, why it happened, and what it means for next season.
The Short Version
Scott McLaughlin started the IndyCar season finale on pole at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and turned it into a runaway. He led 87 of 95 laps and beat Kyle Kirkwood by 1.3739 seconds for his first win in 36 races. Alex Palou already had the championship locked up before the green flag, so Sunday was less about the title and more about goodbyes, with Scott Dixon running his last race for Chip Ganassi Racing after 25 seasons.
McLaughlin Finally Got One Back
McLaughlin had not won an IndyCar race since the 2024 season finale at Milwaukee. That is two full years and 36 starts of watching other people do burnouts. At Laguna Seca he removed all the drama from it. He took the pole on Saturday, cleared the field into Turn 1 on Sunday, and only gave up the lead during pit cycles.
It was the eighth win of his IndyCar career and the kind of drive that answers questions about whether a driver still has it. McLaughlin got emotional afterward about who was watching. His daughter Lucy was born in October 2024, right after his last win.
"My little girl hasn't seen me win yet, and now she has," McLaughlin said.
WINLESS DROUGHT SNAPPED. Scott McLaughlin drives from pole to victory in the season finale at @WeatherTechRcwy
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) September 6, 2026
Photo of McLaughlin's Laguna Seca celebration, via the official NTT IndyCar Series account on X.
The Only Caution Came on Lap 1
The race had exactly one yellow, and it happened before anybody had settled in. Sting Ray Robb clipped the back of Dennis Hauger's No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda in Turn 6 on the opening lap. Hauger went into the tire barrier and his day was over with zero laps completed.
That was rough luck for a rookie who had earned better. Hauger still walked away with Rookie of the Year on 228 points, 15 clear of Mick Schumacher and 25 clear of Caio Collet. He clinched it sitting in the medical center instead of on track, which is a strange way to win an award but it counts the same.
After the restart the race went green the rest of the way. That is why McLaughlin won by the margin he did. No late yellow ever bunched the field back up, and 24 of the 25 starters finished on the lead lap.
Strategy: Clean Stops and a Careful Second Place
With one caution and a green race, strategy came down to pit lane execution. McLaughlin made three clean stops and never lost track position through any of them. When the leader does not make a mistake and the field never gets bunched up, there is no window for anybody else to steal it.
Kirkwood ran the same basic strategy but made a different tire call at the end. On the last stint he took the harder primary tires instead of gambling on the faster alternates. That decision probably cost him a real shot at McLaughlin. It also protected the second place in the championship he had been chasing all year, which was the bigger prize on his board.
"We just played it super clean, super methodical," Kirkwood said. "We knew who we were fighting."
Alexander Rossi grabbed third for Ed Carpenter Racing, which was the surprise of the podium. ECR is not a team that shows up to Laguna Seca expecting a trophy.
"There was a lot of doubt coming into this event whether we could find a direction," Rossi said.
The Numbers
Palou's Fifth Title, and Kirkwood's Best Year Yet
Palou finished eighth on Sunday and did not need any more than that. He clinched his fourth straight championship a week earlier at Milwaukee with a race to spare. He won seven races in 2026 and finished the year on 631 points, 86 clear of Kirkwood.
That is Palou's fifth IndyCar title in six years. It moves him to third on the all-time list behind A.J. Foyt with seven and Scott Dixon with six. He is 29 years old. Do that math and it gets uncomfortable for everybody else in the paddock.
Kirkwood took second in the standings on 545 points, the best championship result of his career, backed by wins at Arlington and Washington, D.C. Christian Lundgaard was third on 535, Pato O'Ward fourth on 522 after sweeping the Milwaukee doubleheader, and David Malukas fifth on 514 in his first year at Penske. You can see the full year and the final order on the IndyCar Series schedule and standings page.
A new career-best finish for Kyle Kirkwood
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) September 7, 2026
Photo of Kirkwood at Laguna Seca, via the official NTT IndyCar Series account on X.
Who Is Hot and Who Is Not
Hot: McLaughlin, obviously, who leaves for the offseason with momentum he has not had in two years. Kirkwood, who turned a good car into a career year. Rossi and Ed Carpenter Racing, who found something late. And Felix Rosenqvist, who won the closest Indianapolis 500 in history back in May by 0.0233 seconds over Malukas and closed the year with a fourth at Laguna Seca.
Not hot: Josef Newgarden, who finished 15th on Sunday and eighth in points despite winning at Phoenix and Gateway. Will Power came home 13th. For a Penske team that had McLaughlin on pole and Malukas in the top five, that is a lopsided finish. O'Ward also had a quiet 11th one week after winning twice at Milwaukee.
The End of an Era for Scott Dixon
The biggest story of the weekend had nothing to do with the podium. Dixon ran his final race as a Chip Ganassi Racing driver and finished 17th, which is a flat ending to one of the great partnerships in American motorsport. He also finished the year 12th in points on 331 with no wins, his first winless season since 2004 and the end of a 21-year streak.
Twenty-five seasons. Six championships. Fifty-eight wins with the team and 59 in total, second all-time. Twenty-eight poles, the 2008 Indianapolis 500, and 417 races with one organization, which is a record for a driver and team. He moves to Arrow McLaren for 2027 alongside Pato O'Ward and Felix Rosenqvist, with Ryan Hunter-Reay in a fourth car for the Indy 500.
"Twenty-five years. It's been fantastic, and it's been a lot of fun with all those people," Dixon said.
Rosenqvist moving to Arrow McLaren also means Lundgaard is not in the team's announced 2027 lineup, so third in the championship was his last run in papaya.
The Bottom Line
Palou owns this era and nobody is close yet. But the finale was a reminder that IndyCar's veterans are not finished. McLaughlin proved a two-year drought does not mean much when the car is right, and Dixon walks into a new garage at 46 with six titles in his pocket. The offseason silly season is going to be more interesting than the title fight was.
Your take: Does Scott Dixon win a race for Arrow McLaren in 2027, or is the move a farewell tour? Tell us in the comments.
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