“My little girl had never seen me win”
His daughter Lucy was born in October 2024. His last win came on September 1, 2024, at the Milwaukee Mile. So she had never seen her dad stand on top of the podium.
That is sorted now. Scott McLaughlin won the Monterey Grand Prix at Laguna Seca overnight, the final round of the 2026 IndyCar season.
“Daddy’s coming home with a trophy, baby,” said the 33-year-old New Zealander. “Those guys and girls at Team Penske were behind me all the way.”
There was never much doubt about this one. Starting from pole, he led 87 of the 95 laps.
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Palou lifts the trophy, eighth on track
Alex Palou finished eighth. It stopped mattering a week ago.
The Spaniard had already sealed a fourth straight title, and his fifth in six years, with one race still to go. He ends the season with six wins and 631 points, 86 clear of Kyle Kirkwood.
At 29, he becomes the youngest driver in IndyCar history to win five titles. Scott Dixon holds the record with six. A.J. Foyt has seven in the open-wheel championships that came before IndyCar.
“I had a rocket,” he said of his car during the trophy presentation, before thanking Chip Ganassi Racing and the crew behind his No. 10 Honda. “A magical year.”
Kirkwood settles for the real title race
Kyle Kirkwood finished second at Laguna Seca, 1.3739 seconds behind. Enough to lock down second place overall.
“We ran a clean, methodical race,” he said. “We started on the alternate tyres, climbed to third pretty early, Palou went onto a different strategy and we took second place and held it to the end.”
Then came the line that sums up the season better than any table ever could: “Second place is best of the rest, and that’s the real championship for the last two years.”
Alexander Rossi, Swede Felix Rosenqvist and David Malukas completed the top five.
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