Defending NTT IndyCar Series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Alex Palou’s near-perfect start to the 2025 season came to a screeching halt in Detroit on Sunday (June 1). The Spaniard got caught up in an incident that forced him to retire from the race.
As a result of Palou’s retirement, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward has closed the gap in the championship to sit 90 points behind Palou with 10 races remaining this season.
Kyle Kirkwood is third in the championship following his second win of the season.
“It was a great day for the Siemens AWS Honda,” Kirkwood said after the race. “We were in control all weekend – strong in practice, qualifying and the race. Pace was king today, and we had it, especially on those restarts. It got hectic with the yellows, but we managed it.
“The amount of work that goes into this program is massive — not just for me, but especially from the engineers and crew who keep these cars ready for the weekend. I am just thankful for the whole Andretti team. Weekends like this do not come easy, and it is all their behind-the-scenes work that makes it happen.”
Colton Herta likewise contributed to Andretti Global’s success with a third-place finish after starting from the pole.
Christian Lundgaard continued his strong start to the season and is currently in fourth place in the championship standings following another top-10 finish for the Arrow McLaren driver.
Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet has moved up to fifth place in the championship following his fourth-place finish in the Motor City. He is currently the highest Team Penske driver in the standings. Despite retiring from the race in Detroit, Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing is sixth in the championship.
Scott Dixon in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda is seventh in the championship after ending the Detroit Grand Prix in 11th place and is 138 points behind leader Palou.
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 TireRack.com Chevrolet is eighth in the championship following his 12th-place finish.
Santino Ferrucci in the No. 14 Sexton Properties AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet would have moved into the top 10 in the championship after his second-place finish, but that has not come to pass. Instead, Ferrucci sits 15th in the standings after losing the 26 points he earned at Detroit as his car was found to be under the required driver ballast weight during post-race inspection.
Still, Foyt’s team has had two fantastic races in a row, following David Malukas’ superb second-place finish in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing last weekend. Despite his penalty, Ferrucci climbed to second place this weekend after starting in 21st!
Kyffin Simpson scored his career-best IndyCar result by finishing fifth in the race, having come from 19th on the grid! Josef Newgarden is in 13th place in the championship and heads to St Louis coming off a ninth-place finish in Detroit.
Despite failing to finish the race in Detroit, Palou maintains his massive championship lead over O’Ward with 10 races remaining in the 2025 IndyCar Series schedule.
The championship still looks like a one-horse race with the lead that Palou has managed to secure thanks to his fantastic start to the season, something we have not seen since A. J. Foyt in 1964.
The fight for second in the championship is really heating up, with 90 points separating eight positions in the standings, which is the same points gap between first and second!
It is interesting to see how Team Penske continues to struggle this season with Newgarden in 12th in the championship and it will be interesting to see what he can do at the next race in St. Louis, being the defending race winner.
The driver to watch out for over the coming races is Rosenqvist, as the Swede looks to bounce back from his retirement in Detroit.
In the race for the manufacturers’ championship, Honda has a lead of 121 points over Chevrolet, and for the first time in IndyCar history, they have won all seven races so far this season.
