Alex Palou in IndyCar, Tadej Pogacar in UCI Professional Cycling, and NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Gaige Herrera. These racers have recently redefined what it means to dominate their class. All have shown brief signs of vulnerability, but have mostly just calmly, decisively, boringly collected win after win in seemingly easy fashion. They don’t break a sweat, even on a raceday shortened by extreme heat like the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway was on Monday

The race was rain delayed from Sunday, giving Spaniard Palou a chance to watch and relish Spain’s World Cup win. The next day, Alex won on a type of circuit—an oval—not normally considered his best. Like Pogacar winning a sprint stage, or Herrera facing added weight and still winning. Wait—Gaige has done that in the past.

“That’s a pretty cool weekend for Spain,” Palou said. “It’s impressive what they did yesterday in the World Cup, and I’m happy to top it off today on Monday. My first-ever win on Monday – I’ve never raced on a Monday. So pretty cool.”

Reigning and four-time IndyCar series champ Palou took an 83-point lead – a gap of well more than a race’s worth of points – over David Malukas in the series standings with his fifth victory of the season and 24th career victory. There are just six races remaining this season as Palou attempts to earn a record-tying fourth consecutive Astor Challenge Cup as season champion and fifth overall title.

He started fourth in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and led the last 95 laps of the 225-lap race to beat the #2 Team Penske Chevrolet of reigning Nashville winner and recent series oval master Josef Newgarden by .8731 of a second. Malukas drove from 25th on the starting grid to finish third in the #12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

Scott McLaughlin put three Team Penske drivers in the top four in the No. 2 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet, while 2026 Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top five in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Honda.

Palou used a mix of speed and good fortune to climb to the lead shortly past the halfway point of the race. He wasn’t happy with the handling of his car during his first two fuel stints, but adjustments during his pit stops on Lap 123 and Lap 185 turned his yellow car into a rocket.

He also got some good fortune before the stop on Lap 123. Palou had just entered the pits three-tenths of a second before they closed when the second of three caution flags in the race unfurled for a collision between six-time series champion Scott Dixon in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet.

“I was just coming in and I guess he (Dixon) misjudged it or didn’t know I was pitting. Blindsided me in the attenuator and that was it,” said Rossi, although he was squarely in the racing groove when he suddenly slowed directly in front of Dixon. See for yourself:

Other members of the lead pack at the time, including Newgarden, McLaughlin, pole sitter Kyle Kirkwood in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda of Andretti Global and Rinus VeeKay in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, did not pit before the caution and were forced to wait until the pits opened.

Palou cycled to the lead on Lap 131 when those drivers made their stops and never trailed thereafter. But this was far from a stroll to the checkered flag in the remaining laps on the 1.33-mile concrete oval.

On their final stops ranging between 40 and 47 laps to go, Newgarden, Rosenqvist and Malukas each took the softer, grippier but less-durable Firestone Firehawk alternate tires for the dash to the checkered flag. Palou and strategist Barry Wanser bucked that trend and chose Firestone’s primary Firehawk tire.

That figured to play a role in the final restart on Lap 194 after rookie Dennis Hauger made contact with the SAFER Barrier in Turn 3 on Lap 181 to trigger the final caution. Palou appeared vulnerable on the harder primary tires compared to his pursuers on the grip-laden, softer alternate tires.

But Palou masterfully made minute adjustments to his racing line to keep Newgarden, Rosenqvist and Malukas at bay, maintaining a gap of two- to six-tenths of a second from Newgarden in the next 15 laps. You can see the “clag” flying through the air in the featured photo at the top of the page. “It was a close battle there with Newgarden,” said Palou. It just seemed like he had so much speed there, and I was flat-out for the last 30, 35 laps.”

Then Palou’s more durable primary tires kept their speed as he navigated lapped traffic in the last five laps, and he eased away to the victory, the third of his career on an oval.

“Saturday, I was not that comfortable in the car,” Palou said. “But Julian (Robertson, engineer) and everybody on the 10 and CGR prepared a really, really good car for today. The beginning of the race we were not that comfortable in traffic, but the last two stints I was just super comfortable. Just awesome to win here.”

Malukas was one of the stars of the show in sunny, steamy conditions, with air temperatures reaching the low 90s and track temperatures approaching 140 degrees. He climbed from 25th to the lead by Lap 33, using an alternate pit strategy, and led McLaughlin by nearly two seconds when he was caught out by pitting just before the caution involving Dixon and Rossi.

That dropped Malukas – who spent time Saturday afternoon in an area hospital after a hard crash in practice – to 14th on the restart on Lap 139. But he threaded his way back into contention and was up to fourth by Lap 194. “That was a team effort,” Malukas said. “I’ve never driven so hard in my life. I feel like I needed to a proper recovery.”

The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland on Sunday, Aug. 9 at Portland International Raceway. It’s the first of six races on five consecutive weekends in a feverish sprint to finish the 2026 season and settle the title race.

Although, like Pogacar’s Tour de France, this year’s IndyCar championship is firmly within the grasp of Palou’s momentum. Herrera is also on a winning streak, but faces a more hotly competitive Pro Stock Motorcycle field.

story by Tim Hailey with help by IndyCar and Chevrolet. Photo and videos courtesy of IndyCar