He started in 25th and ended up leading – but then disaster struck, and his IndyCar miracle turned into heartbreak

The Road America IndyCar Grand Prix was, without question, the wildest race of the entire 2025 season. So much happened that the only normal thing was Alex Palou winning his sixth race of the year, having survived the carnage and nailed his fuel calculations to the last drop. He coasted over the finish line. Scott Dixon couldn’t say the same – after a spectacular charge from 25th to the front, he ran out of fuel and was forced into an emergency pit stop while leading. Palou inherited the position and the win, thanks to spot-on strategy work from his team and race engineer Barry Wanser.

Dixon disaster as Palou pounces

On top of the victory, Palou took a huge step forward in the championship fight. Kyle Kirkwood could only manage fourth, while Pato O’Ward ended up way back in 17th. After surviving the chaos of Road America, the Spaniard reached for his calculator – not to measure the gap to his rivals, but to figure out exactly when his car’s fuel light had come on. Because the image that best captured Sunday’s madness was half the grid coasting over the line out of fuel. Palou emerged even more dominant, now leading Kirkwood by 93 points and O’Ward by 111.

The chaos started from the very beginning. Palou had a poor launch and, in his effort to block Kirkwood, dropped back to seventh. That put him in dangerous territory. Not least because David Malukas – the same driver who sent him into the wall in Detroit – spun just ahead of him, triggering the first yellow flag of the day, which Dixon, as mentioned, took full advantage of.

Louis Foster held his own under pressure, keeping McLaughlin and Kirkwood at bay – briefly. At the restart, the Penske driver pounced, and so did Palou. The Spaniard showed a more aggressive side, pulling off a daring double overtake on Will Power and Kirkwood to move into fourth. Kyle was clearly hindered by Power and demanded the position back, to no avail. That scenario would flip later in the race.

Tensions were sky-high, as evidenced by the third yellow within just 10 laps. Amid the turbulence, it was Scott Dixon – unaware of the cruel twist to come – who found himself in the lead. After starting 25th and running against the grain, he was suddenly out front. Palou, who had pitted from fourth, came out 14th, just behind Kirkwood. From there, the show took off. Kirkwood got revenge on Power, and Palou pulled off another two-for-one move.

There were battles everywhere. The race turned into a series of skirmishes – a guerrilla war of attrition where survival was everything. Between feuding teammates and fights beyond track limits – like the clash between Josef Newgarden and McLaughlin that handed Palou two more spots – it was a battlefield. Then came the fourth yellow, thanks to Conor Daly, who, in his rush to get back on track, dragged along the tow strap that had pulled him out of the gravel.

So much for the calm IndyCar had enjoyed in terms of cautions all season. That tranquility ended with a bang in what became an unrelentingly nervous race.

The fifth caution came courtesy of a clumsy mistake from Newgarden. And again, survival was the name of the game. No one did it better than Dixon, the master of wringing miracles from the unlikeliest strategies. At the final restart, Palou sat in third, behind his teammate and Alexander Rossi. But the two ahead cracked.

The final stint became a test of who had guessed right on fuel and tire wear. Rossi pitted first, then Dixon, giving Palou clear air. After his last stop, he emerged in second behind Dixon. In the end, it was Chip Ganassi Racing – no surprise – who executed the smartest strategy. They ran two different fuel plans with one goal and hit the mark with one of them.

With both teammates up front, there was no fight for the win. Dixon ran dry, made a desperate splash-and-dash, and Palou, sitting in second, seized the win. Felix Rosenqvist finished runner-up, also benefiting from a late miscalculation by Rossi, who lost a podium place with four laps to go. Because in the end, this race was pure madness.

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