Alex Palou scores his third victory of the season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

The NTT IndyCar Series concluded the weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday afternoon for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou started the race on the pole with Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood starting second.

Kyle Kirkwood took the lead on the first lap at Turn 1. He led the first 24 laps before making his first scheduled pit stop on lap 25 starting the first round of pit cycles. Alex Palou led two laps and Alexander Rossi led nine laps before Luca Ghiotto went off the track at Turn 4 hitting the wall for the first caution of the race. It was one of five cautions throughout the race.

On lap 41, Nolan Siegel got loose at the exit of Turn 2 for the second caution of the race. His car did not have damage and he stayed in the race finishing in 12^th place. Alex Palou was leading the race at the time of the caution.

On lap 75, Christian Lundgaard made contact with Marcus Armstrong forcing him off the track at Turn 4 before slamming into the wall ending his day. Armstrong finished in 22^nd place and Lundgaard was issued a drive-through penalty for the incident.

Before the crash, Alex Palou made his final pit stop on lap 70. The caution helped save fuel and his tires. On lap 83, Jack Harvey had mechanical issues at the start/finish line and came to a complete stop for the fourth caution, and on lap 87, Kyffin Simpson and Graham Rahal made contact at Turn 5.

The last caution set up a five-lap sprint. Alex Palou led the last 20 laps to win his third race of the season beating Colton Herta by 1.9780 seconds. Palou led a total of 48 laps. He has won the last two of three races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (2022, 2024). In addition, Palou finished second in 2021 and third in 2023.

The other drivers that led laps were Alexander Rossi (10), Colton Herta (8), and Josef Newgarden (5). The rest of the top five finishers were Alexander Rossi third, Romain Grosjean fourth, and Kyle Kirkwood fifth. With the win, Palou extends his championship points lead by 23 points over Will Power.

The NTT IndyCar Series heads to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sunday, July 7^th, at 1:30 pm on NBC. Subscribe to Fubo to watch all of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season. Purchase tickets for all IndyCar races today on StubHub and Viagogo.

Finishing Order: