Scott McLaughlin won the 2026 Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, while Alex Palou celebrated a fifth series championship already secured a week earlier at the Milwaukee Mile.
How it was won
McLaughlin started from the pole in the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet and controlled nearly the entire 95-lap race on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile Monterey Peninsula road course. Per INDYCAR’s official race report, he led 87 of 95 laps and beat Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood by 1.3739 seconds for his eighth career series win — and his first since Sept. 1, 2024, at the Milwaukee Mile, ending a 36-race drought.
The only full-course caution came on Lap 1, when Sting Ray Robb made contact with Dennis Hauger in Turn 6 and sent Hauger into the tire barrier. After the Lap 4 restart, McLaughlin pulled clear again. Team Penske’s pit work through three stops kept him ahead while Kirkwood, who started sixth, rose to second and shadowed the leader for much of the afternoon.
Kirkwood closed to about 1.2 seconds on Lap 72 on Firestone Firehawk alternate tires, but McLaughlin managed the gap on primary tires in the final stint. Kirkwood said Andretti took a methodical approach to lock up a career-best second place in the championship, finishing 86 points behind Palou.
Alexander Rossi completed the podium in the No. 20 Java House Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet — his first podium since this same event in 2024. Felix Rosenqvist was fourth for Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian; David Malukas fifth in the second Team Penske entry.
Championship punctuation
Palou finished eighth in the No. 10 DHL Lightning Bolt Chip Ganassi Racing Honda after winning this race the previous two years. He had already clinched his fifth NTT INDYCAR SERIES title — and a record-tying fourth consecutive Astor Challenge Cup — at Milwaukee the weekend before. INDYCAR’s Instant Recall noted six wins, 12 top-fives, and 15 top-10s across the 18-race season and an 86-point final margin.
Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing marked the title with donuts on the front straight and a post-race Astor Challenge Cup presentation. Dale Coyne Racing’s Dennis Hauger, despite finishing last after the opening-lap crash, still secured Rookie of the Year.
Results snapshot
| Pos | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske |
| 2 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Global |
| 3 | Alexander Rossi | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 4 | Felix Rosenqvist | Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian |
| 5 | David Malukas | Team Penske |
Key race facts (INDYCAR official): 95 laps · pole: McLaughlin · margin of victory: 1.3739 sec · laps led: McLaughlin 87 · cautions: 1 (Lap 1 Turn 6 incident)
Final championship picture (high level): Palou champion by 86 points over Kirkwood; Christian Lundgaard third in the standings after a sixth-place finish in the finale.
Purse / prize money: not published for this event — omitted.
History & significance
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca remains one of American open-wheel racing’s signature natural-terrain venues, famous for elevation change and the Corkscrew — dedicated as the Zanardi Corkscrew during this finale weekend on the 30th anniversary of Alex Zanardi’s 1996 pass. The Grand Prix of Monterey has frequently served as IndyCar’s season closer in recent seasons.
The 2026 finale also closed a landmark chapter for Scott Dixon’s 25-season Chip Ganassi Racing tenure (17th in the race) and capped a season that included a dramatic Indianapolis 500 and new street races. McLaughlin’s win gave Team Penske its third race victory of 2026; Chip Ganassi Racing led all teams with six wins on the year.
What’s next
The 2027 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season opens Sunday, March 7, on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. Offseason storylines include challengers trying to break Palou’s four-peat run and Team Penske carrying Laguna Seca momentum into the new IR-28 era.
Sources
- Scott McLaughlin Ends Drought With Dominant Laguna Seca Win — INDYCAR.com (Paul Kelly)
- Instant Recall: Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey — INDYCAR.com (Curt Cavin)
- Pato O’Ward Sweeps Milwaukee; Alex Palou Clinches Fifth Series Title — INDYCAR.com
- Still Plenty at Stake in Season Finale This Weekend at Laguna Seca — INDYCAR.com