Palou wins in dominating fashion for sixth victory of 2026

PORTLAND, Ore. — Chip Ganassi was short on words after Alex Palou won for the sixth time this season and 25th time since taking over the No. 10 DHL Honda.  

“I mean, the guy’s a generational talent. What do you say?” the owner of Chip Ganassi Racing said in victory lane at Portland International Raceway after Palou’s win Sunday.  

The victory pushed Palou’s lead in the IndyCar championship to 110 points with five races remaining in the Spaniard’s quest to win a fourth consecutive series title and fifth in six seasons.  

Even as he inches closer to a fifth title – if accomplished Palou would rank third in the IndyCar record books behind A.J. Foyt (seven titles) and Scott Dixon (six) – the team isn’t comfortable talking about another potential championship.  

Barry Wanser, the strategist for Palou and CGR’s team manager, said the overall focus is on securing the best possible finishes in every race. 

“We’re trying to win races, doing the best we can in each race and if we can’t finish first, we try to finish second. If we can’t finish second, finish third,” Wanser said. “We’re still making decisions to win the race and if we’re running up front and get caught out by a yellow, well, so be it, it wasn’t our day. Our goal is to run up front and make calls to win the race, and we’ll see where that puts us in the championship.” 

It was a strong day for the CGR organization as Kyffin Simpson grabbed his sixth top 10 of the season in the No. 8 Sunoco Honda. Simpson, in his third season, has shown tremendous progress this year and Portland was another big step in his IndyCar career. 

Simpson’s previous two finishes at Portland were 16th and 21st.  

“Kyffin had a great day, really pleased with how he’s coming along,” Ganassi said.  

Dixon finished 14th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. The No. 9 team was fastest on pit road, pushing them back to the top of the pit stop performance standings.

Palou, who led 60 laps on Sunday, was appreciative of the CGR organization for helping him collect his 25th victory since joining in 2021. All of his IndyCar wins are with CGR and he’s been to victory lane 14 times over the past two seasons.  

“I’m very proud, it’s incredible. I feel like you don’t really realize when you are just going week in and week out, but when you look back and see those numbers, they are incredible,” Palou said. “But I could not do it without the team, without everyone who is around me, they give me the chance every weekend, the preparation that we have every weekend is tremendous.”

UP NEXT: INDYCAR heads north to Canada for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham. Coverage of the race begins at 12:00 PM ET Sunday, Aug. 16, live on FOX.