.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver closed out the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season as a five-time champion, adding another title to a remarkable run that has now produced four consecutive championships and five titles in six years.

Palou secured the championship before the season finale, but the final stop at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca provided the perfect stage for the celebration

.

A Season of Consistency

Palou’s 2026 campaign was defined not only by victories, but by consistency.

He finished the season with six wins, eight poles, 12 top-five finishes and 15 top-10s, leading 673 laps across 18 races. He ultimately finished 86 points clear of Kyle Kirkwood in the championship standings.

Those numbers tell only part of the story.

Palou has now joined an elite group of drivers with five or more IndyCar championships. Only A.J. Foyt, with seven, and Scott Dixon, with six, have more.

He is also the second driver in series history to win four consecutive championships, matching the achievement of Sébastien Bourdais from 2004 through 2007.

Laguna Seca

The season ended at one of Palou’s favorite circuits: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course has become closely associated with Palou’s recent dominance. He entered the 2026 finale having won the previous two races there and three of the previous four. (IndyCar (https://www.indycar.com/news/2026/08/08-30-palou-clincher-feature?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

This time, however, it was Scott McLaughlin who took the checkered flag.

Palou finished eighth, but the result mattered little to the championship story. The title had already been secured, and the weekend became a celebration of another extraordinary season.

After the race, Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing celebrated the championship with donuts on the front straight before the presentation of the Astor Challenge Cup

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Five Titles. And Counting.

Palou’s rise has been remarkably fast.

His five championships came in 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026, making him the youngest five-time champion in INDYCAR SERIES history.

At Laguna Seca, the championship celebration felt less like the conclusion of a story and more like another chapter in one still being written.

For a driver who has already climbed to third on the all-time championship list, the question is no longer whether Palou belongs among IndyCar’s greats.

It’s how much further he can climb.

⸻

Photography & Story: Anouar M.

The Production Nomad — Independent Sports & Visual Media

San Francisco, California

All photographs © The Production Nomad.

The 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season began on the streets of St. Petersburg and ended beneath the hills of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Between those two bookends came an Indianapolis 500 decided by 0.0233 seconds, breakthrough victories, championship challenges, veterans fighting back, young drivers establishing themselves and a late-season surge from Scott McLaughlin.

At the center of it all was Alex Palou.

But the 2026 season was much bigger than one driver.

It was a season defined by a group of drivers who repeatedly separated themselves from the field — Palou, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard, Pato O’Ward, David Malukas, Josef Newgarden, Marcus Ericsson, Felix Rosenqvist and Scott McLaughlin among them.

And when the final checkered flag fell at Laguna Seca, Palou had the championship.

The others had their own stories to tell.

Alex Palou: The standard everyone was chasing

There was no question who stood at the top when the season ended.

Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing produced another extraordinary championship campaign.

Palou won six races, eight poles, 12 top-five finishes and 15 top-10s, led 673 laps and finished the season with 631 points.

His championship margin was 86 points over Kyle Kirkwood.

More importantly, it was Palou’s fifth INDYCAR SERIES championship and fourth consecutive title, putting him alongside Sébastien Bourdais as the only drivers in series history to win four championships in a row.

Only A.J. Foyt and Scott Dixon have more championships overall.

Palou did not need to win the finale.

The championship had already been secured.

But his presence throughout the season had already established the benchmark everyone else was trying to reach.

From St. Petersburg to Barber, Long Beach, Detroit, Nashville and Portland, Palou repeatedly showed the combination that has become his trademark: speed without unnecessary mistakes and an ability to extract maximum points from almost every weekend.

By the time the championship arrived in Monterey, the question was no longer whether Palou could win the title.

It was whether anyone could stop him from building one of the greatest modern INDYCAR résumés.

Kyle Kirkwood: The closest challenger

If Palou was the class of the field, Kyle Kirkwood was the driver who came closest to disrupting his reign.

Kirkwood finished second in the championship with 545 points, collecting two victories, one pole, 10 top-five finishes and 15 top-10s.

He also won the inaugural race on the streets of Washington, D.C., adding another major victory to a season that established him as Andretti Global’s leading championship threat.

Kirkwood’s progression was one of the defining stories of the season.

INDYCAR had already identified him as a rising star, but 2026 was the year he began looking like a legitimate championship contender.

His greatest strength remained street courses, where he had already built a reputation as one of the series’ strongest performers.

But the biggest question was whether he could match Palou’s consistency across the entire calendar.

He came close.

Not close enough for the championship — but close enough to make it clear that the future of INDYCAR could include a serious Palou-Kirkwood rivalry.

Christian Lundgaard: The breakthrough at Arrow McLaren

Christian Lundgaard entered 2026 with something to prove.

By the end of the season, he had done it.

The Danish driver finished third in the championship with 535 points, his best career championship result.

He won twice, took one pole, collected eight top-five finishes and finished inside the top 10 in 14 of the 18 races.

His season was particularly impressive because of its consistency.

Lundgaard became one of the most reliable drivers in the field during the second half of the year, finishing sixth at Laguna Seca to close the season with his sixth consecutive top-10 finish.

He also finished in the top 10 in 10 of the final 11 races.

At Arrow McLaren, the balance of power also began to shift.

Pato O’Ward remained one of the fastest and most recognizable drivers in the series.

But Lundgaard increasingly looked like the team’s most consistent championship performer.

Pato O’Ward: Speed, victories and another Indy 500 near-miss

Pato O’Ward finished fourth in the championship, but his season was far from ordinary.

He scored three victories, more than any driver other than Palou, and finished with 522 points.

And then there was Indianapolis.

O’Ward produced one of the strongest runs of his career at the 110th Indianapolis 500, finishing fourth after executing an aggressive fuel strategy in a backup car.

The race itself became one of the defining moments of the season.

Felix Rosenqvist won after making a last-lap pass on David Malukas, with O’Ward just behind the fight for victory.

O’Ward’s fourth-place finish was another reminder that the Mexican driver remains one of INDYCAR’s most dangerous competitors on any given weekend.

His three wins also made Arrow McLaren one of the season’s strongest organizations.

David Malukas: The driver who came painfully close

David Malukas’ 2026 season could be described in one word:

frustrating.

Not because he was slow.

Because he was so close.

Malukas finished fifth in the championship with 514 points, nine top-five finishes and 13 top-10s.

But he never reached victory lane.

His biggest opportunity came at Indianapolis.

Starting near the front and fighting for the win, Malukas came within inches of winning the world’s most famous race.

Instead, he finished second.

For the second consecutive year, he had to watch someone else celebrate the Indianapolis 500 victory.

Yet his consistency throughout the season made him one of the strongest drivers in the field.

At Team Penske, Malukas emerged as one of the organization’s most dependable performers.

The victory never came.

But the speed was unmistakable.

Josef Newgarden: The oval specialist

Josef Newgarden’s 2026 season was another reminder that INDYCAR requires completely different skills depending on the circuit.

The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner remained one of the strongest oval racers in the championship.

He won twice and finished sixth in the final standings with 423 points.

Newgarden’s strength on ovals was particularly notable.

Since the beginning of the 2021 season, he had won 13 of 30 oval races entering the second half of 2026 — an extraordinary strike rate that separated him from the rest of the field.

While Palou became the benchmark on road and street courses, Newgarden continued to represent something different:

Pure oval excellence.

Marcus Ericsson: A strong second half

Marcus Ericsson quietly put together one of the more impressive seasons in the field.

The Swedish driver won at Markham, helping Andretti Global claim victory in the inaugural Canadian INDYCAR event.

He finished seventh in the championship with 429 points.

But his strongest stretch came late in the year.

Ericsson finished the season with seven consecutive top-10 finishes, demonstrating remarkable consistency during the final third of the championship.

His season was less spectacular than Palou’s or O’Ward’s.

But it was one of the most complete campaigns in the field.

Felix Rosenqvist: The man who owned Indianapolis

Some drivers define a season with a championship.

Others define it with one race.

For Felix Rosenqvist, that race was Indianapolis.

Rosenqvist delivered one of the greatest finishes in Indianapolis 500 history, passing David Malukas on the final lap to win by just 0.0233 seconds.

The margin was the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history.

The victory also made Rosenqvist only the third Swedish driver to win the race.

He finished ninth in the championship, but his Indianapolis victory will arguably remain his defining image from 2026.

Scott McLaughlin: The season-ending surge

Scott McLaughlin saved one of his best stretches for last.

The Team Penske driver entered the final races outside the championship’s top five, but a late-season surge changed the picture.

Then came Laguna Seca.

McLaughlin qualified on pole and controlled the season finale, leading 87 of the race’s 95 laps.

He won the Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey — ending a 36-race winless streak — while Kyle Kirkwood finished second.

It was an appropriate final chapter for a driver who had spent much of the year searching for that breakthrough.

The championship belonged to Palou.

The final race belonged to McLaughlin.

Will Power, Scott Dixon and the veterans

The 2026 season also showed how difficult it is for even established champions to remain at the very top of INDYCAR.

Will Power finished 10th in the championship.

Scott Dixon, one of the most successful drivers in INDYCAR history, finished 12th.

Neither driver disappeared from the competitive picture.

But the younger generation increasingly occupied the front of the standings.

Kirkwood.

Lundgaard.

Malukas.

Palou.

The changing of the guard that INDYCAR identified early in the season became one of its defining themes.

The rest of the field

Behind the headline names, the season featured a wide range of performances.

Rinus VeeKay finished 10th.

Kyffin Simpson was 13th.

Graham Rahal finished 14th.

Marcus Armstrong was 15th.

Alexander Rossi finished 16th.

Santino Ferrucci was 17th.

Romain Grosjean finished 18th.

Nolan Siegel was 19th.

Louis Foster finished 20th.

Dennis Hauger finished 21st and was named 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year.

Christian Rasmussen finished 22nd, tied with Caio Collet on points.

Mick Schumacher finished 24th, followed by Sting Ray Robb.

Conor Daly made one championship start.

Every driver contributed a different chapter to the season, whether through victories, qualifying performances, championship points, dramatic recoveries or simply the challenge of surviving 18 races at some of the most demanding circuits in North America.

The races that defined 2026

The championship was shaped by 18 races across the United States and Canada.

St. Petersburg — Alex Palou
Palou opened the championship with a victory.

Phoenix — Josef Newgarden
The oval specialist reminded everyone why Team Penske remains a force on short ovals.

Arlington — Kyle Kirkwood
A new street race produced a new winner.

Barber — Alex Palou
Another road-course victory strengthened Palou’s championship credentials.

Long Beach — Alex Palou
The championship leader continued his early-season control.

Indianapolis 500 — Felix Rosenqvist
The closest finish in Indy 500 history.

IMS Road Course — Christian Lundgaard
Another major victory for the Arrow McLaren driver.

Detroit — Alex Palou
Another street-course victory for the eventual champion.

St. Louis — Josef Newgarden
Newgarden added another win to his oval résumé.

Road America — Christian Lundgaard
Lundgaard continued establishing himself as a championship-level driver.

Mid-Ohio — Pato O’Ward
Another victory for Arrow McLaren.

Nashville — Alex Palou
Palou continued his march toward the title.

Portland — Alex Palou
A dominant performance brought him even closer to the championship.

Markham — Marcus Ericsson
Ericsson won the inaugural event.

Washington, D.C. — Kyle Kirkwood
Kirkwood added another major street-course victory.

Milwaukee — Pato O’Ward
O’Ward swept the Milwaukee weekend, winning both races.

Laguna Seca — Scott McLaughlin
The season ended with McLaughlin back in victory lane.

Laguna Seca: The final picture

And then there was Monterey.

The Corkscrew.

The hills.

The sound of INDYCAR engines echoing through the valley.

The final race of 2026 produced a fitting contrast.

McLaughlin was fighting for a victory.

Kirkwood was fighting for second.

The rest of the field was fighting for the final positions of the season.

Palou was simply celebrating a championship that had already been secured.

The Spaniard started on the front row but finished eighth after his team went off strategy with no championship points left to chase.

The result hardly mattered.

The trophy was already his.

A season with a changing face

The 2026 season offered a glimpse into where INDYCAR may be heading.

Palou remains the benchmark.

But behind him, a new generation is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Kirkwood finished second.

Lundgaard finished third.

O’Ward remained one of the series’ most dangerous winners.

Malukas continued to show front-running pace.

And drivers such as McLaughlin, Ericsson and Rosenqvist delivered some of the season’s most memorable victories.

At the same time, Newgarden, Dixon and Power demonstrated that experience still matters — particularly when the championship turns toward specific disciplines such as oval racing.

That combination made 2026 compelling.

The established stars were still there.

The next generation was catching them.

And at the very front was a driver who seemed to have mastered nearly everything the series could put in front of him.

Five championships. Eighteen races. One champion.

When the season began in St. Petersburg, the question was whether anyone could challenge Alex Palou.

By the time the series reached Laguna Seca, the question had changed.

How long can this run continue?

Palou finished the year with six wins, eight poles, 15 top-10 finishes and another championship.

Kirkwood finished second.

Lundgaard third.

O’Ward fourth.

Malukas fifth.

And behind them was a field filled with drivers who each left their own mark on the 2026 season.

Then McLaughlin took the final checkered flag.

The engines went quiet.

The paddock began packing for the offseason.

And the Astor Challenge Cup went home with the same driver who had spent the entire season setting the standard.

Alex Palou had done it again.

But the story of the 2026 INDYCAR SERIES was never only about one driver.

It was about a field that kept pushing him.

A championship that produced surprises at every type of circuit.

An Indianapolis 500 decided by inches.

And a final weekend at Laguna Seca that provided the perfect backdrop for the end of another extraordinary season.

Photography & Story: Anouar M. / The Production Nomad

Independent Sports & Visual Media
San Francisco, California

All photographs © The Production Nomad.

MONTEREY, Calif. — There are corners you drive.

And then there are corners you attack.

At WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the Corkscrew is one of the latter.

With its blind approach, dramatic elevation change and steep downhill drop, the legendary section of the circuit has become one of motorsport’s most recognizable challenges. During the hillclimb, André Musi brought something entirely different to it: an Audi, sideways and surrounded by smoke.

The Corkscrew, sideways

Musi approached the hillclimb section carrying speed before throwing the Audi into the corner, breaking traction and sending the car into a controlled slide.

The rear stepped out.

The tires began to work.

Smoke poured from the car as Musi held the drift through one of Laguna Seca’s most demanding sections.

It was less about simply getting through the corner and more about putting on a show.

And at the Corkscrew, the setting made the spectacle even bigger.

The famous sequence drops dramatically downhill after the crest, with the circuit’s Turns 8 and 8A creating one of the most distinctive pieces of asphalt in motorsport. WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca’s full circuit measures 2.238 miles and features 11 turns.

Precision in the chaos

From the outside, drifting can look uncontrolled.

From behind the wheel, it is anything but.

Keeping an Audi balanced while deliberately breaking traction requires precise throttle control, steering corrections and timing. At Laguna Seca, those demands are amplified by the elevation change and the blind nature of the Corkscrew.

Musi’s run turned that technical challenge into a visual spectacle.

The Audi rotated toward the corner, the tires fought for grip, and the car emerged from the slide pointed toward the next section of track.

For the spectators lining the hill, it was one of those moments that makes motorsport more than just lap times.

A different way to conquer Laguna

The Corkscrew has hosted countless memorable racing moments over the decades.

But the hillclimb offers a different interpretation of the legendary section.

Instead of chasing another car or defending a position, drivers can attack the course on their own terms—using the elevation, speed and character of Laguna Seca to showcase what both driver and machine can do.

Musi’s Audi fit perfectly into that equation.

Smoke in the air.

Engine noise echoing across the hillside.

A car moving sideways through one of America’s most famous corners.

One corner. One Audi. One unforgettable run.

At Laguna Seca, the Corkscrew already provides the drama.

André Musi simply added another layer to it.

The Audi came into the corner fast, went sideways, and left behind a cloud of tire smoke—and a scene that looked more like a motorsport photograph than a conventional hillclimb run.

Some drivers conquer the Corkscrew by finding the perfect racing line.

Musi found his own line.

Photography & Story: Anouar M. / The Production Nomad

Independent Sports & Visual Media
San Francisco, California

All photographs © The Production Nomad.

SAN FRANCISCO — February 21, 2026

For one afternoon, Marina Boulevard stopped looking like a San Francisco waterfront road and started looking like a piece of the Formula 1 world.

Red Bull brought its high-performance motorsport spectacle to the city for the Red Bull Showrun San Francisco presented by Ford Racing, putting Formula 1 machinery, racing vehicles and thousands of fans against the backdrop of the San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridge. At the center of it all was Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda, back behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car and giving the crowd one of its biggest attractions of the day.

Tsunoda drove Red Bull’s legendary RB7, the car that carried Sebastian Vettel to the 2011 World Championship. For a driver who had entered 2026 without a full-time race seat, the San Francisco demonstration offered something different: a chance to put himself back in the cockpit, in front of a city that had temporarily been transformed into a motorsport stage.

Formula 1 Meets the Marina

The idea was simple but spectacular.

Take a Formula 1 car out of the circuit environment and put it on the streets of San Francisco.

Marina Boulevard became the stage, with the Bay providing the backdrop and the sound of a Formula 1 engine cutting through the waterfront. The event was free to the public and featured a wider collection of Ford Racing machinery and motorsport personalities alongside Tsunoda.

For fans accustomed to watching Formula 1 through television screens, the experience was dramatically different. The cars were no longer distant objects circulating around a permanent circuit. They were passing through the city itself, bringing the noise, speed and spectacle of motorsport directly to the streets.

And Tsunoda was the driver at the center of the show.

Yuki Tsunoda’s Return to the Cockpit

Tsunoda entered the event as Red Bull’s test and reserve driver after losing his full-time Formula 1 seat at the end of the 2025 season.

His career had already taken him from AlphaTauri — now Racing Bulls — to a promotion to Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen. By February 2026, his role had changed, but his connection to the Red Bull family remained.

San Francisco therefore represented more than just another promotional appearance.

It was a return to the cockpit.

And Tsunoda made the most of it.

Behind the wheel of the RB7, the Japanese driver attacked Marina Boulevard with the enthusiasm that has become part of his identity, performing high-speed demonstrations and donuts for the crowd. The historic Red Bull machine, already famous from one of the team’s championship-winning eras, suddenly had a very different backdrop: San Francisco.

When the Show Took a Dramatic Turn

The spectacle eventually became more dramatic than planned.

During a donut demonstration, the RB7 suffered a fire at the rear of the car. Tsunoda reacted quickly and exited safely while marshals dealt with the flames.

It was an unexpected moment in an event built around controlled chaos — but it also illustrated why a Formula 1 car remains such a powerful visual and sensory experience.

Fire, smoke, noise and speed suddenly filled the waterfront.

For photographers, it was the kind of moment that cannot be recreated.

More Than Formula 1

Tsunoda wasn’t the only driver bringing horsepower to the Marina.

The event also featured former Formula 1 and rallycross driver Scott Speed, who drove a Racing Bulls machine, along with Ford off-road racer Mitch Guthrie Jr. and freestyle motocross rider Aaron Colton. Ford’s involvement brought additional performance machines into the demonstration, expanding the event beyond Formula 1 alone.

But the Formula 1 car remained the centerpiece.

There is something particularly striking about seeing a machine designed for world championship competition placed against an environment as recognizable as San Francisco.

The Marina has its cyclists, runners, sailboats and weekend crowds.

On this day, it had Formula 1.

A Different Kind of Motorsport Stage

San Francisco is no stranger to major sporting events, but motorsport has a unique ability to change the character of a city.

A permanent circuit has its own visual language: grandstands, pit lanes, runoff areas and paddocks.

The Marina has none of that.

Instead, there was the Bay, the city skyline, spectators pressed along the route and an F1 car moving through an environment that normally belongs to everyday San Francisco life.

That contrast became part of the story.

The RB7 wasn’t simply another racing car on another track.

It was Formula 1 temporarily inserted into the fabric of the city.

And Yuki Tsunoda was the person driving it.

The Image That Remains

For The Production Nomad, the Red Bull Showrun was ultimately about more than speed.

It was about the collision of motorsport and place — a championship-winning Formula 1 car, a Japanese driver, a Red Bull spectacle and one of America’s most recognizable waterfronts occupying the same frame.

Tsunoda’s presence gave the event its human element.

The RB7 supplied the history.

San Francisco supplied the setting.

Together, they created a motorsport spectacle that looked unlike a traditional Grand Prix weekend — and that was exactly the point.

For one afternoon, Marina Boulevard belonged to Formula 1.

And Yuki Tsunoda was back where he wanted to be: behind the wheel.

Photography & Story: Anouar M. / The Production Nomad
Independent Sports & Visual Media
San Francisco, California

All photographs © The Production Nomad.